Page 5 of Graveyard Dog

She raised her chin a visible notch. “You knowing the difference only confirms what I already suspected about you.”

He cocked a single brow. “Yeah? What’s that?”

“You’re a criminal, through and through.”

He shrugged. “I never said I wasn’t.”

The air left her lungs with his confession, and she inched toward a large, plate-glass window that led to the fire escape.

“How is he moving?” the girl asked.

For some reason, the woman kept the gun trained on him. If it made her feel safer, he was all for it. Her gaze darted to her dresser beside him for the third time, and he finally saw the Taser she’d electrocuted him with earlier. But it was closer to him than it was to her. Much closer.

He calculated how long it would take her to open the window and get her daughter and her outside. He would have more than enough time to intercept, but to what end? There were laws against holding someone against their will. And she could scream. He and cops didn’t usually get along.

He held up both hands, doing his best to calm her. “Look, lady, I don’t know who you are, but I got a call at two this morning about a heater on the fritz.”

“It’s not that cold. Why would someone call in the middle of the night?”

“Right?” he asked. Finally, validation. “I was asking myself that very thing.”

She reached over and unlocked the window. “Even if you’re telling the truth, I know the maintenance man very well. You’re not him.”

He ran a hand over his face. “He’s with his wife, my property manager. They are both out having a baby.”

She drew in a soft breath. “Allison is having her baby?”

“As we speak. And my maintenance tech is with her.”

“Right,” she said, the word drenched in disbelief as she tried to pry the window open. To no avail. “What’s his name?”

“Steve McBride. He works for me. I own the building. You can call him and ask. My name is Michael.”

Her gaze darted to the dresser again. Her phone sat right beside the Taser.

“Here.” He picked up the cell and tossed it onto the bed, praying she wouldn’t call the police. Hours spent at the station as he explained himself was all he needed.

The girl peeked out from behind her mother, wearing a grin that took up more real estate on her face than it had any right to. She wasn’t scared. Was this like a game to her? He hoped so. No five-year-old should know the evils of men. Well,othermen.

Relief flooded every cell in his body.

The woman reached for her phone just as his dinged with a text. He took it out of his back pocket. “It’s a girl,” he said, happy for the couple.

The brunette tapped three numbers, only three, and he knew his day was about to be even more ruined than it already was, but she paused before hitting the call button. “Let me see.” She gestured toward his phone with her chin.

He tossed that to her, along with the Taser, hoping he wasn’t making the biggest mistake of his life. But how else could he get her to trust him? To open up? Because he wanted to know who was after her. And why. And where he could find them.

She grabbed the Taser first and put it on the nightstand beside her, then his phone. After checking the messages, she slowly raised her eyes to his. “You’re really the owner?”

He spread his hands. “I’m really the owner.”

“I knew it!” the girl said, climbing up to sit on the bed. “I told you he was light. It’s everywhere. He’s like an angel.”

He glared at her. That was going too far. Most angels were dicks.

She giggled.

Could the kid see auras? He’d certainly witnessed stranger things.

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