Page 15 of Daddy's Protection
The first floor didn’t take long, either.
That left the basement.
It was easy, though, because it only contained a washer, dryer, ironing board, and a shelf full of detergent, fabric softener, and other laundry-related items.
Back upstairs, Isaiah said, “That front parlor to your right when you come in is where Cami said she saw the ghosts. I want to check it out.”
“For ghosts?” Ace asked.
“Nope. For projectors or something.”
Jack scratched his jaw. “You think someone is faking this haunting?”
“Don’t know. But I think that’s more likely than actual ghosts.”
They trio got to work, but their search didn’t turn up anything.
“Damn,” Isaiah said. “There has to be an explanation.”
“There might be,” Ace said. “It didn’t really happen.” He held up his hands to curtail Isaiah’s argument. “That’s not a knock against Cami. But you know how Littles can be. What if she just has an overactive imagination?”
Isaiah shook his head. “I believe her. She thinks she saw those ghosts.”
“I believe she thinks she did, too,” Ace responded. “But the mind is powerful. And it can play some tricks.”
Isaiah thought it over for a moment. Ace was right, and he knew it. This wasn’t an episode ofScooby-Doo.The odds that someone had gone to all the trouble to fake a haunting in Cami’s house were slim to none. It was far more likely that she’d imagined the whole thing, no matter how real it seemed to her.
That left one piece of the puzzle he still couldn’t explain, though.
“And what about the person I felt in here last night?”
He watched as Ace and Jack exchanged glances.
“Maybe you have an overactive imagination, too,” Jack proposed with a grin.
Isaiah chuckled, but that didn’t mean he bought the theory.
“Come on. I want to check something. I can’t believe I didn’t think about this until now.”
Once they were at the back door in the kitchen, he said, “There wasn’t time for someone to get out this door last night when I searched the house. Anyway, the deadbolt was locked. Unless they had a key, they couldn’t have locked it from theoutside after they left. Not in that short amount of time. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t leave later.”
He opened the door and pointed down at the patch of dirt just off the steps. Sure enough, a shoeprint was visible.
“Damn.”
The guys awkwardly jumped off the last step, careful to avoid trampling the evidence. Landing beyond it, they turned around and knelt to study the impression.
“That’s too big to be Cami,” Isaiah noted.
“Could be a prowler,” Ace stated. “Trying to look in the back door or something. Some sort of pervy Peeping Tom or something.”
The thought caused anger to roil in the pit of Isaiah’s stomach. Little Cami didn’t need to live by herself. Los Angeles could be a dangerous city. Especially for a sweet girl all alone.
She needed the protection of a Daddy.
He couldn’t get lost in those thoughts right now, though. He had a mystery to solve or his girl—thegirl, he reminded himself, as she wasn’thisyet—would still be in danger.
“Yeah, but the print is facing toward the yard. Not the house. And look at the way it’s smeared,” Jack pointed out, aiming a finger at the impression’s edges. “This was made by someone hurryingawayfrom the house. Not standing still lookingin.”
