Page 23 of The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist

I checked the clock: 5pm. I hurriedly looked up the time for sunset on my phone: 6.20pm. I had a little time to kill, time to sneak back into our apartment and get cleaned up. I was in the mood for a long, luxurious shower.

I was rinsing my hair and indulging in the warm water when a hand snaked in and touched my shoulder. My eyes were closed so I squealed and jumped, but the hand was followed by a very warm and naked man whom I instantly recognised.

‘I was trying to let you sleep,’ I said as I turned to face him. It was a very small shower. It would have been hard to pick up the soap if you dropped it, even if you were alone; it would have been impossible if you were sharing the minuscule unit with another person.

‘I can sleep at home. Right now you’re here, warm and wet in the shower and smelling of…’ he checked the shampoo bottle ‘…lavender and vanilla. How could I resist?’

‘If you want more than your hair washed, we’ll have to get out of this tiny shower. There is zero room to manoeuvre,’ I said with a flirty lilt in my voice.

‘You think so, do you?’ Connor gave a confident smirk.

I kissed him quickly. ‘I know so!’ Then I put my hands out and touched all three walls of the shower and the curtain. 'See? No room for shenanigans.'

Connor’s eyes twinkled. In a single move, he lifted me up against the shower wall. ‘Hey! That’s cold!’ I objected.

He grinned. ‘I’ve got a few ideas on how to warm you up.’

I shivered – and not because of the cold plastic tiles against my wet skin. ‘Oh, it’s like that is it?’ I wrapped my legs around him and leaned down to kiss him again.

It turned out that the small shower was big enough to get really dirty in.

When Connor dropped me off at the end of the Commander’s Weekend, I was exhausted. Between enjoying him and practising with Fluffy for our demonstrations, I’d had very little sleep – though I wasn’t complaining in the slightest. It was exactly the pick-me-up I’d needed, even if I couldn’t stop yawning.

I’d pushed the poltergeist’s ominous message to the back of my mind. I hadn’t mentioned the threat to Connor because he had a tendency to overreact to death threats to my person; also, it was hard to get worked up about Petty’s message. Something about the whole thing feltoff,but for the life of me I couldn’t put my finger on what. However, when we drove up the academy, it all came rushing back. It was time for me to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in.

I kissed Connor, ruffled Fluffy’s ears and collected my bag. ‘See you,’ Connor said simply.

I smiled. ‘See you.’ He would be on the island a little longer to look after Fluffy until it was time for his academy K-9 debut, so this wasn’t goodbye. I’d get to see him again soon, even if it was for only a handful of precious seconds as he dropped off and picked up Fluffy. I’d do my damnedest to make sure we had some time for fraternisation.

I waved them goodbye and turned back to the academy with a bounce in my step. I was going to solve Petty’s mystery if it was the last thing I did.

Chapter 21

Sidnee was excited to see me. ‘How was it?’ she asked, bouncing on the bed. I smirked. She threw a pillow at my head. ‘That’s not what I meant!’ She grinned. ‘Though I’m sure that part was good because you look exhausted. I meant finding out about you and Fluffy teaching the classes.’

‘You knew?’

‘Of course, I knew! Connor needed me to get in touch with Sergeant Marks and arrange it.’ She cackled a shade maliciously. ‘I cannotwaitto see Thorsen’s face when he realises he has to take a class from you!’

I hadn’t thought of that. I was almost hopeful that he would try to disrupt my lessons. Would I get away with ordering him to run laps if he disrespected me?

‘Did anything happen while I was gone?’ I asked. ‘Any – you know…’ I fluttered my fingers ‘…activity?’ I looked around as though I could see the poltergeist.

‘No, nothing as far as I know. It’s been quiet since we did the prayer and the cleansing.’

‘Were many people still around?’

She shook her head. ‘No, only a handful of us recruits with nothing else to do.’

I sat cross-legged on her bed and faced her. ‘So, whatdidyou do? After Stan dropped you back, I mean.’

The bouncing resumed. ‘Do you know what? It was great. I slept in, caught up on the reading for next week and watched a lot of stupid cat videos on my phone.’ She giggled. ‘It was actually a real winner of a weekend. And I ventured out to see Sitka, too. I bet I saw more of it then you did.’ She waggled her eyebrows.

I laughed. ‘I’m sure you did. All my spare time was spent preparing to do those three K-9 classes.’

She did the eyebrow thing again. ‘Not all of your spare time, I’m sure.’ She laughed, then sobered. ‘I’m not worried about the class. Fluffy knows what he’s doing, and you two have worked together for months. You’ve got this.’

I nodded. ‘I feel better about it now, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have any formal training. I don't even know the terms real K-9 handlers use, and neither Fluffy nor I speak German.’

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