Page 1 of Stay with Me

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May 28

Someone or something was watching her.

Sybil Huxham traced her fingers over a crack in the damp wall of the underground passageway, the chill in the stone just like the chill pulsing through her blood.

Normally it took loads to creep her out. Very few things could throw her off and genuinely stagger her.

But over the past three days, every time she came to Reider Castle to investigate, she hadn’t been able to shake the peculiar sense that she wasn’t alone. Especially now, in the dark bowels of the ancient dungeon. A strange presence seemed to hover nearby, one she couldn’t define.

She slowed her steps, the echo of her combat boots tapering until she paused altogether. Steeling her shoulders, she cast another glance behind her, hoping to glimpse whatever was trailing her.

The passageway was empty. No one was there. No one had been anywhere she’d searched. Not today and not during her other meticulous investigations of the various rooms of the abandoned castle.

Regardless, she held her mobile up higher, letting the torchlight illuminate the splotches of mildew growing in the cracks, as though to gag the walls from telling their secrets. If the stones could speak, what would they say?

“Go on,” she whispered. “Spit it out.”

She waited, her muscles tensing. A raspy rustling seemed to swirl in the dank air. Almost as if someone really was trying to talk to her.

A shudder worked its way up her spine, and she drew her black leather jacket closer around her body. She’d experienced moments over the past few years where she’d felt as if she were being watched, even followed. But this was different.

Was the fortress haunted? Like many other castles around Kent, this one had been built in the Middle Ages, making it seven or eight hundred years old. Maybe spirits of residents from long ago wandered the hallways.

She’d never been the superstitious type, but with all that had happened lately, she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.

“If you need something, then just tell me.” She spoke a little louder, as if that could convince the ghost—if that’s what it was—to answer.

Good thing the lab door ahead was closed, and Isaac couldn’t witness her loss of sanity.

After their breakup two years ago, she’d switched jobs to ABI, the Association of British Investigators, a private investigative company, needing some distance from him at Kent Police. They still worked together occasionally, like now. Thankfully, being around him had gotten easier with the passing of time, especially after he finally got over her and started dating someone else.

Regardless, she didn’t want him to hear her attempting to converse with ghosts. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it herself.

“Get a grip, Sybil.” She swung around and continued toward the lab, her long ponytail swishing out her frustration. She had to stop getting caught up in the particulars of the case she was working—the oddest and most perplexing of any she’d ever investigated. Instead, she had to focus on catching the criminal—Dr. Lionel—who’d gotten away when they’d raided his lab.

As she reached the heavy oak door, a garbled whisper passed by her, louder and more distinct than the last.

Prickles formed on her neck.

The sound didn’t mean anything. She was simply tired from lack of sleep from pouring all her energy into the search for Ellen Creighton—now Lady Burlington—who’d been kidnapped and held prisoner in Lionel’s lab. Now that Ellen was safe, Sybil needed to take a couple of days off to sleep. And hit the gym.

Yes, she’d have a rest and CrossFit workout, then she’d be getting on just fine. She’d sacrificed too many of her early morning classes lately. She had to be more consistent if she hoped to be ready for the Run, Swim, Run competition next month.

Regardless, she fumbled against the handle, unable to get the door open fast enough. As she pushed into the room, the modernized fluorescent lights and whitewashed bricks formed a stark contrast to the drabness of the remainder of the castle.

Isaac sat at the wall desk in front of one of Lionel’s computers that had been left behind, in the same hunched position as the last time she’d been down. He had a pen tucked behind an ear and held in place by his blond hair and glasses. Even with his receding hairline, he was a handsome man—stocky and muscular—the bodybuilding type she’d always been attracted to.

“Any luck?” She stopped behind his chair.

“Getting closer.” He was staring intently at the monitor at a long list of commands his fingers were rapidly punching on the keyboard.

As one of the best computer forensic investigators in the department, Isaac had already spent hours hacking the system. Now that he was in, he was attempting to recover any of Dr. Lionel’s data he could. She was hoping he’d unearth clues about other hidden laboratories, addresses, anything that could give her a lead to his whereabouts.

If only her team had been able to infiltrate the lab without alerting Dr. Lionel and the others of their presence. But despite their best efforts, the security cameras around the premises had picked up their movement, giving Dr. Lionel and his staff sufficient time to escape and flick a button to protect their data. Ever since, she’d done nothing but go over every detail she’d missed.

Stop beating yourself up for failing to apprehend the criminal.The past was in the past, and she had to move on and do her best now to hunt him down. And hunt him she would, even if she had to leave the country to do so. Her tracking skills had earned her a reputation as one of the best private investigators in the Canterbury area. That was why Harrison Burlington had hired her last year. And why he’d hired her again when Dr. Lionel had kidnapped Ellen.

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