Chapter Six
Three days later, Connor, Ash and Ross stood on Greg Davidson’s doorstep, waiting for him to answer.
“I can smell trouble,” Ash muttered darkly. “This place has got a million different scents.”
Connor snorted. “Not quite a million, Ash.”
"There's enough to be confusing," Ross murmured out of the corner of his mouth. "It’s not just Davidson here. There will have been police visiting as well, remember." The door opened just as he finished speaking and Ross smiled at Mr. Davidson.
“Good morning, sir,” he said, sticking out his hand. “We just came to see if you’d got that note back from the police?”
“Oh,” Davidson replied, looking flustered. “I—uh, no, I haven’t.”
“I see,” Ross said, attempting to look disappointed. “However, I was hoping you’d let us into your home for a moment?”
Distrust flashed onto Davidson's face before he covered it swiftly with a look of surprise. "What do you need inside my house for?"
Leaning forward, Connor kept his voice low, as though pretending someone might hear them. “We’ve found something that might help, Mr. Davidson.”
“Really?”
Connor nodded, his eyes serious. “It appears someone might have bugged your home.”
Ross tried not to laugh as Mr. Davidson attempted to appear shocked while hiding his obvious confusion. Since he was the man who had Jenny in his cellar, there was no way that someone could have bugged his home. However, he couldn’t risk telling them that.
“That’s why there are three of you?” he asked, glancing at Ross and Ash. “You intend to search my property?”
“We won’t touch a thing,” Ross promised. “And the cameras are most likely to be in rooms you occupy the most, so you could just point out which ones they are.”
“After all,” Ash broke in, his dark eyes watching Mr. Davidson intently. “We don’t want anything to happen to Jenny. I’m sure you’ll agree that any tip like this is worth investigating.”
His challenge lingered in the air for a few minutes, before Davidson eventually conceded.
“Of course, of course,” he muttered, holding open the door. “Please, come in.”
The house was larger than Ross had thought, his keen eyes searching out every nook and cranny. There were no lights on in the place, giving it an eerie look. His nose twitched. He could smell her almost immediately. She had been in this room recently.
“This is the living room,” Davidson said, leading them through a small hallway toward a larger room. “My bedroom is up the stairs, and the kitchen is through to your left.”
“If you could just show me where your bedroom is,” Ash said, wandering toward the stairs. “Then I can start a quick search there.”
Ross made a great pretense of beginning to search the room as both he and Connor ignored both Davidson and Ash entirely. They had to get him to believe that they were genuine.
“This way,” Davidson muttered, walking toward Ash.
The moment Ross heard footsteps on the stairs, he sprang into action. Heading to the kitchen, he sniffed hard, trying to find her scent.
“Here,” he whispered, finding a small door on the other side of the kitchen. Pushing it open, he found a tiny space with stairs leading below.
“I’ll warn you as soon as I hear him coming down,” Connor said, urging him on. “You’ve got about ten minutes at the most.”
Ross moved quickly down the stairs, not even turning on the light. His human senses were sharpened, thanks to his abilities, and he didn’t need the light to see.
The cellar was dusty, but Jenny’s scent was strong. Following it carefully and trying not to make too much noise, Ross made his way to another door and found it locked.
“Jenny?” he whispered, pressing his ear to the door. “Are you there?”
“Who is it?” came the wavering voice. “Who’s there?”
Ross struggled to explain. “It’s me. I saw you a couple of days ago, through the grate.”
Her reaction was instant, slamming her body against the door. “Help me, please,” she cried, turning the handle over and over. “I have to get out of here.”
“Just give me a couple of minutes,” he said quietly. Pulling out his lock-picking set from his pocket, Ross bent down and carefully began to work. Sweat trickled down his back, waiting for that final click that would let him know he’d done it.
“Two minutes,” he heard Connor whisper. At the same time, a click sounded, the handle turned, and, just as he got to his feet, a woman fell into his arms.
After a moment’s shock, Ross righted her carefully, seeing her frantic expression. “Are you Jenny?”
“Yes, yes, I am,” she whispered, her hands still clutching his arms. “Is he still here? Can we go?”
“No, no,” Ross soothed, hoping she was going to do what they’d planned. That had been one thing they weren’t sure of—whether she would do what they asked her to. That was going to be the worst bit. If she didn’t agree, their entire plan would go out of the window.
“Please,” he said quickly. “You need to listen. You can’t come with us now. We’ll leave the door unlocked.”
“What?” Jenny breathed, her eyes wide and staring. “You can’t mean to leave me with him!”
"No, no, I don't," Ross insisted. "But if you leave now, he'll know that we've been involved. We have to protect ourselves." He tipped up her chin with one finger, registering just how frightened she was. "We'll leave the door unlocked so that you're not trapped. Does he come downstairs often to see you?"
She shook her head. “Only when the others are here, and they were here last night.” A shudder shook her small frame. “He’ll leave me alone today. He always does.”
Ross nodded, giving her a small smile. “Then we picked the perfect day for it. Leave the door unlocked, and once you know he’s gone up the stairs to bed, that’s your chance to leave.”
Jenny’s face calmed, although he could almost smell the fear coming from her. “We’ll be right outside,” he said carefully. “Once he’s gone to bed, let yourself out and come outside. I can make sure the front door is unlocked.”
He could see the indecision on her face, inwardly begging her to agree. “I know this is difficult,” he said, hearing Connor’s urgent whisper. “But I have to go. He’ll be back any minute.”
“Please don’t leave me,” Jenny whispered, still clinging to him. “He’s going to kill me.”
“No, he won’t,” Ross replied grimly. “Remember, we’ll be right outside. As soon as you can, shift and then follow us. OK?”
“Ross,” Connor whispered, growing more and more nervous. “We have to go. I can hear his footsteps on the stairs!”
Jenny closed her eyes briefly, before letting him go. Ross let out a breath of relief as she walked back to the cellar.
“Thank you,” he murmured as the door closed. Hearing Connor’s urgent whisper, Ross took the stairs two at a time.
"Have you found anything?" Davidson asked as he studied Connor and Ross in the kitchen.
Ross turned away, pretending to inspect the bottom of the kitchen units while attempting to get his breathing under control. The last thing he wanted was for Davidson to guess that he’d been rushing up the cellar stairs.
“We did, in fact,” Connor replied, taking attention away from Ross. “In the living room.”
There was a brief silence. Evidently, Davidson was thoroughly surprised that someone actually bugged his house. Then again, he wasn't to know that Connor had just grabbed that stuff from the office. It was all to fool Davidson, and, from the look on his face, it seemed to be working.
“There’s nothing in the kitchen,” he added, still searching. “Although I haven’t looked at the light fixtures yet.”
“What?” Davidson breathed, his eyes going from brother to brother. “You mean, someone is actually bugging my home?”
Ross turned to face him, keeping his expression serious. “It appears that way. After all, whoever took Jenny might want to make sure you cooperate.”
“Cooperate?” Davidson echoed, looking confused.
“With the note you received?” Connor suggested, although his lips twitched as he attempted to hide his smile.
Ross climbed on the table, ignoring Davidson’s murmur of protest, and inspected the light fixtures. Seeing Davidson’s eyes on him, he surreptitiously pulled out a small bug from under his watch strap.
“Ah ha!” he exclaimed, bending to show Davidson the bug. “You might want to think about who’s been in your house lately, Mr. Davidson. Someone you know is trying to hear everything you’re saying.”
Davidson swallowed, his eyes fixed on the bug in Ross’s hand.
“Let’s go,” Connor said, walking from the room. “We’ll need to inspect these.”
Ross nodded, slapping Mr. Davidson on the back in a gesture of camaraderie. "Listen, we'll do everything we can to find out who's put these in your home. We'll let you know the instant we find something."
Mr. Davidson nodded, appearing slightly numb. “Thank you,” he muttered, still staring at the bug Ross was putting into a small, sealed bag.
“And if you can get that note for us too,” Ross suggested, helpfully. “That would certainly give us more to work with.”
That seemed to snap Davidson out of his reverie.
“Yes, of course,” he replied at once. “I’ll certainly try my best. You know how the police can be!”
Ross let out a harsh laugh. “Yes, unfortunately, I do. Don’t worry, Mr. Davidson. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Jenny will be safe very soon, I can promise you.”
Grinning to himself, Ross met Ash and Connor in the hallway and they walked out of the house.
“Do you think he fell for it?” Sarah asked the moment they arrived. “Did you find her? Is she OK?”
Ross held up a hand, laughing at Sarah’s questions. “One at a time, Sarah,” he replied with a grin. “Yes, she’s fine. Frightened, but not hurt.”
“Oh, I was so worried,” Sarah sighed with relief. “I can’t stand the thought of a shifter being locked up.”
“Coffee and donuts?” Connor suggested, walking toward the coffee pot. “Don’t know about you, but I’m pretty hungry.”
Letting out a bark of laughter, Ross nodded. It was a long-running joke that they kept coffee and donuts in the office just like any good detective agency—when in reality they preferred something a little…bloodier.
“Steak later, maybe,” Ash growled, walking in behind them. “Or maybe a good rabbit or two.”
“There’s going to plenty time for hunting later,” Ross grimaced. “We’ve just got to get Jenny out of there first.”
Sarah bit her lip until they’d all got something to eat and sat.
“So, it is Jenny that’s there?”
“Yup,” Ross replied, taking a sip of his coffee. He frowned. “She said something about how Davidson brings her out when the ‘others’ are there.”
“Others?” she queried, looking from one to the other.
Ash shrugged. “Probably the other hunters,” he suggested. “We have no idea who they are, of course.”
“That’s why Jenny is so important,” Ross agreed. “Hopefully we can get her to identify them.”
Now chewing on her lip, Sarah turned her troubled eyes onto Thomas. “Do you think you’ll be able to find any of them?”
He shrugged, nonchalantly. “If she gives me a good enough description, Sarah.”
Ross trusted Thomas completely. He was pretty much a computer genius, able to find anything and almost anyone, given enough time. On top of that, he was their resident sketch artist. So long as Jenny had gotten a good look at the other hunters, Thomas would be able to come up with a decent likeness. Ross wasn’t worried about that in the slightest.
“She was pretty anxious about getting out of there,” Connor muttered with a shake of his head. “I thought the whole thing was going to implode at one point, Ross.”
Thinking back to how terrified she’d looked, Ross’s heart clenched. He’d wanted to take her away right there but had forced himself not to. It would have been dangerous for all of them if he had, but there had been something about her that had almost forced him to act. Then she had swallowed hard, lifted her chin, and done what he’d asked her to do, even though it was clearly the exact opposite of what she’d wanted. That made him proud of her in a strange way. He didn’t even know her!
“Only a few hours to go,” Sarah said softly, breaking into his thoughts. “I hope she can wait it out that long.”
"I hope so too," Ross murmured. They had to wait until Davidson had gone to bed—so at some point in the late evening. They'd agreed to be out there by 10 p.m., even though in his estimate that was still pretty early. Better to be early than too late. The last thing he wanted was for Jenny to make her way out, only for them not to be there waiting for her. She needed to be protected from the very first moment she stepped out of Davidson's house. And then they would need to run.