Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 69



Moorehouse Manor…

The towering old mansion was dark as a tomb when the SUV came screeching to a stop at the curb out front. Kane was out of the vehicle and flying up the stairs to the front door before Ravenwood had even yanked the keys out of the ignition. She grabbed her long-handled flashlight from under the seat, hooked it to her belt, and raced after him.

Standing next to him on the porch, she pulled her gun and gave him a nod.

Kane pounded on the door with his fist. “Police!” he shouted. “Open up!”

He tried the latch but the door was locked.

“Stay here,” Ravenwood said. “I’ll try the back.”

“F*ck that,” Kane said, aiming his gun at the door latch.

She wrapped a hand around his wrist like slapping a pair of handcuffs on a bad guy. “No, wait. You’ll wake up the whole damned neighborhood. Let me try the back door.”

She started down the stairs but he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. “Hold it,” he said, pointing to the large window just to the right of the porch.

Ravenwood looked at the window. “That’s got to be six feet up from the ground. How do you plan to get up there?”

“Not me. You.”

“What?”

“C’mon,” he said, pulling her down the stairs.

They crunched their way through the dried brambles and dead bushes in what had once been a garden along the front foundation of the house.

Standing under the window, Kane clasped his hands together to form a saddle for Ravenwood’s right foot and boosted her up. Once she had a grip on the window ledge she was able to swing her left foot over far enough to brace it against the porch rail. She was now stretched, spread-eagle, directly above Kane’s head with one foot on the porch rail and the other in his hands. Her black denims were ready to rip at the seams.

She glanced down and caught him enjoying the view. “Take a picture, why don’t you?”

“Would if I could. Just break the damned window, will ya?”

Using the butt of her gun she broke the window, chipped the shards away from the frame and managed to pull herself up and in without suffering more than a ripped sleeve and a scratch on her arm.

Kane looked around, hoping no one heard the shattering of the glass and then he sprinted back to the porch.

Ravenwood pulled the flashlight from her belt, switched it on, found her way to the front door and let him in.

“Nice work,” he said.

She straightened her clothes and brushed a tangle of hair back from her face. “I was a burglar in a former life.”

“Sure you were. Now, let’s find that crazy son of a bitch.”