ChapterTwo
NOAH
The woman squeaked. Her dog started sniffing my feet, its tail thumping my legs as it circled me excitedly. After its initial bark, this dog didn’t appear inclined to be intimidating.
“You know, it’s bad form to bring your dog to a break-in,” I commented.
Even though I didn’t know who this woman was, I was pretty sure she wasn’t a threat. But shewasin my family’s old home, deserted and quiet in the darkness. Considering that the driveway was long enough that the front of the house wasn’t visible from the road, it didn’t really matter that she’d left her headlights shining on the house outside.
Maybe having my gun out was overkill, but then, when I came into the back of the house, I didn’t know she had a dog, nor that she was a woman. I watched her hands slowly lift in the shadowy hallway.
“My hands are up,” she said in a shaky voice. “I promise I didn’t break-in. I have a key. Thea gave it to me.”
The second she said my little sister’s name, I lowered my gun and tucked it into my holster. I shouldn’t have even been wearing my holster, but old habits die hard and all that. I’d left at the end of a long day at work in the FBI in Boston and come straight here. “Who are you?”
“Sasha, Sasha Hilts.”
“Sasha?”
“I think it’s only fair you tell me who you are,” Sasha returned.
“It’s Noah, Noah Tate. You know, Thea’s older brother.”
Sasha let out a giant sigh that echoed in the hallway. Her dog was still circling me, and I leaned down to stroke the dog’s head. “What’s your dog’s name?”
“Matilda.”
“Hey, Matilda,” I said conversationally as I scratched behind her ears. Matilda loved that and leaned into my hand.
“There’s no power,” Sasha announced.
“There’s power. I just have to turn it on outside.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good. What are you doing here?”
Sasha followed me as I turned and walked toward the back of the house. I went through the archway that led into the kitchen and straight to the screen door at the back. I’d left it open when I came inside.
“Do you need help?” Sasha asked as we stopped at the doorway.
“Nah. Give me a sec.”
The snow was still falling as I tromped through it to the outside power box about ten feet away from the kitchen doorway. Using a small flashlight I’d slipped in my pocket for the sole purpose of doing this, I held it in my teeth and quickly turned on the main switch to the house. Since my siblings and I, who shared our childhood home, were rarely here, we always turned off the power outside at the main circuit. We also drained the pipes and turned off the water main. I’d turn the water on once we had some light.
In a few seconds, the hallway light Sasha must’ve switched on when she came through the front turned on, along with the kitchen lights. Sasha held the door open for me as I walked through and closed it behind me. I knocked the snow off my boots. Matilda was busy sniffing around the edges of the kitchen.
I lifted my head, and my eyes collided with Sasha’s. I hadn’t seen Sasha in years. She was one of Thea’s closest childhood friends and four years younger than me, just like my sister. She’d been cute when she was a teenager, but now, she literally grabbed my breath and snatched it right out of my chest.
Her dark hair was pulled up in a messy bun with loose tendrils dangling around her face. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and her green eyes were bright as she stared back at me.
I gave myself a mental kick. “Well, long time, no see,” I finally said.
Her eyes searched my face. “It’s definitely been a while.”
After a beat, I noticed she had her arms wrapped tightly around her waist and was shivering slightly.
“Let me make sure the boiler is up and running. We need some heat, and I’ll turn on the water.”
Striding past her, I crossed into the hallway and down the basement stairs. Matilda followed me, with Sasha coming as well. I turned on the water main and flicked on the switch to fire up the boiler. Like the power, we turned it off when we weren’t here.