Part 10 (1/2)

”No.” Sadie shook her head violently from side to side. ”Curiosity killed the cat, or in this case, the trauma-cleanup person.”

They all followed Sadie outside the house and to her car.

”I'm supposed to lock up,” Sadie said.

”Don't worry,” Louise replied. ”Gayla gave us a house key when she hired us.” She gave Sadie a sympathetic look. ”You go on home and take care. We'll lock up once we're done.”

Sadie scarcely remembered the drive home. Her thoughts bounced between the call from Zack and nearly being sucked into a demonized closet. Once she was back home, Sadie poured herself a large gla.s.s filled with vodka and a splash of club soda and then climbed into a hot bubble bath. A few gulps of her drink and she found she could almost stop thinking about being devoured by a closeted malignant spirit. Zack's matter-of-fact tone when he called was another matter. His words were on repeat play inside her head: I'm driving back tomorrow. I'll stop by and get my things.

She heard her phone ring a few times but there was no way she was leaving her warm, sudsy comfort zone.

Once the bathwater began to chill she lifted her wrinkled body from the tub, dried off, and headed straight for her bed. She drifted off praying that she wouldn't dream of demons, closets, or Mephistopheles in any way, shape, or form.

It felt as if she'd just closed her eyes in a vodka-induced stupor when she heard a sound from the other room. Sadie sprung up to a sitting position and strained to listen. She couldn't remember if she'd set her alarm before going to bed or not. The sun was peeking through the blinds. It was obviously morning. Maybe the sound she'd heard was her neighbors putting out their trash. She strained to remember if it was garbage day and concluded it wasn't. It could've been Hairy knocking over his ceramic food dish in the kitchen.

A soft thud sounded from the living room and every nerve in Sadie's body pinged fiercely. That was definitely not a Hairy thud. As quietly as she could, Sadie climbed out of bed and picked up her robe from the floor to quickly cover her naked body. Holding her breath, she reached for her purse on the nightstand and mined through chocolate-bar wrappers and receipts to clutch the small canister of pepper spray she'd begun to carry around with her.

She padded softly toward her bedroom door and listened. Sadie held her breath and stood to the side of the door, hoping whoever it was would go into her office across the hall and steal her laptop instead of checking the bedroom. She was positive this was the hooker-murdering, finger-chopping maniac. She stared at her bedside phone longingly. She should've dialed 9-1-1. Then again, if it was the maniac, he could chop off more than one digit in the time it would take for help to arrive.

She heard determined footsteps coming down the hall toward her. If he slipped into the den, she'd take off down the hall and, hopefully, get out the front door before he could catch her. As she was planning her escape route, the bedroom door flung open.

Sadie lifted her hand and blasted pepper spray directly into the face of the cutthroat killer . . . who turned out to be Zack Bowman.

”Argh!” Zack fell to his knees, screaming a bountiful slew of swear words that were all anatomically and religiously impossible.

”Oh my G.o.d, Zack! I'm sooo sorry! I thought you were a killer!” Sadie dropped to her knees and stared at Zack's usually handsome, rugged face-now an inflamed, sloppy mess of mucous. ”What are you doing here? Why didn't you call?”

”Shower,” Zack grunted. He climbed unsteadily to his feet and stumbled down the hall and into the bathroom. ”Bring Dawn,” he commanded.

”My sister?” Sadie asked, confused.

”Dish soap!” Zack yelled.

”Don't blow a gasket!” Sadie screamed back and headed for the kitchen to snag the liquid dish soap. She returned to the find him naked in the shower and holding his face to the spray. ”This isn't my fault, you know.” She thrust the bottle of dish detergent into his hand. ”You said you were coming today. Not at first morning's light.”

”Check your messages,” he groaned. ”And leave me alone.”

Sadie left the bathroom and then remembered the number of times her phone rang the night before when she'd been soaking in the tub. She checked her cell phone and discovered three missed calls. Two were from Maeva but Osbert was screaming in the background so she couldn't understand a word she was saying. The third message was from Zack, saying that he'd be coming by just after six in the morning to get his stuff because he had an early-morning job interview in Seattle. The voice mail said he'd try to be really quiet so as not to wake her.

”Still not my fault,” Sadie said to Hairy, who was crouched hopefully by his food bowl. ”Well, maybe it is a little my fault.”

Sadie picked up her bunny, buried her face into his softness, and felt tension roll immediately off her shoulders. If she could find a way to bottle Hairy and sell him as antistress meds the world would be a happier place.

Reluctantly she lowered the rabbit to the floor and filled his dish with kibble, topping it off with a yogurt treat like a cherry on top. Then she texted Maeva: Are you awake?

Sadie's phone rang in her hand seconds later.

”I'm always awake. The question is, why are you awake?” Osbert was screaming in the background. ”Never mind; you can tell me in a few minutes. I'm coming over. Please have coffee.”

By the time Maeva and Osbert had arrived twenty minutes later, Zack was still in the shower, but there was coffee made. Sadie poured them each a mug and placed the cups on the table before relieving her friend of her whimpering infant.

”Did you have a hard time sleeping after the episode last night?” Maeva asked over her steaming mug.

”No. I took a bucket of vodka into a hot bubble bath. Then I drank and soaked until I had no feeling in my extremities.”

”And then you called Zack and begged him to come home?” Maeva asked.

”No.”

”Then why is his Mustang in the driveway?”

”He came to pick up his things,” Sadie said, keeping her voice even.

Maeva tilted her head. ”So then where is he? Packing?”

”Showering.”

”He came to pack his stuff and leave you but then decided to have a shower.” Maeva waggled a finger in Sadie's face and Osbert blew a spit bubble at his mom. ”I get it. Makeup s.e.x.”

”No.” I wish.

”Then what? You just gave him one for the road?”

Sadie rolled her eyes. ”Of course not.”

”Are you sure you didn't just give him something to remember you by?”

Zack walked into the room, wearing nothing but a towel.

”She did give me something to remember her by,” he growled. ”She gave me a face full of pepper spray.”

”You pepper sprayed him?” Maeva covered her mouth and stifled her laughter. ”That's a little extreme, dontcha think?”

”I thought he was a finger-chopping maniac,” Sadie said, bouncing Osbert on her knee. ”Excuse me if I'm a little edgy after almost getting eaten alive by a closet last night.”

”Eaten? By a closet?” Zack shook his head ruefully. The look on his face said he wasn't going to miss this craziness. He slammed the bottle of dish soap onto the counter next to the sink. ”I don't even want to know.”

Zack poured himself a cup of coffee, then stormed out of the kitchen.

Sadie sighed and rubbed Osbert's back.

”You need to eat,” Maeva announced.

She got up and made them each a piece of toast and talked small talk to pa.s.s the time until Zack returned to the kitchen; then she excused herself on the pretense of using the washroom.

”I'm still working in Portland until I hear whether or not I've got the job today.” He took out his key chain, then slid Sadie's house key off the ring and placed it on the kitchen table. He lowered his voice and placed a hand on her shoulder. ”Look, once I get settled back in Seattle with a full-time job and a place of my own, I'll call. Maybe we can start from scratch. You know . . . dating.”

She'd heard those words before, but now Sadie leaned into the hand resting on her shoulder and bit her lower lip. ”I . . . I don't want you to go.”