Chapter 2

Darwin bumped his thigh gently against his partner to warn Kellan to behave in a professional manner. Kellan coughed and cleared his throat, but the man didn’t look repentant. Darwin suppressed a long-suffering sigh and bit his lower lip to prevent himself from telling Kellan off. They got along great most of the time, but he felt Kellan was too relaxed at times, especially when they should be behaving properly. That had led into some pretty intense arguments between the two of them. Fortunately, they liked and respected each other very much, so they never let their differences get in the way of their friendship.

“Oh, right,” Lucinda mumbled out loud while bobbing her head up and down a couple of times. “I was scrubbing the dishes with plenty of liquid soap. Nothing strange happened then. Everything was all right. It wasn’t until I grabbed the last plate that I felt it.”

Darwin observed Lucinda’s trembling hands with interest. “What did you feel, Miss Taylor?”

Lucinda wrung her hands a few times, staring at them with her eyes wider than before, before answering. “I…I will sound like a crazy and delusional person, like a certifiably insane woman, but I thought I felt someone’s hands brushing across the back of my neck. I…I was certain it wasn’t the wind, and neither was I being oversensitive. I really felt the movement. It was light, but I wasn’t imagining it.”

“Of course, you weren’t,” Kellan spoke up before turning toward Darwin with mirth in his eyes. Darwin ignored his partner’s sarcastic eye-roll, as well. Then Kellan faced Lucinda once again. “What occurred after that?”

Lucinda’s gaze darted all over the floor for a few seconds before she replied to the question. “I…I was shocked. Naturally, I had to check and make sure nobody was standing behind me. There was no one at all, which was the way it was supposed to be. I live alone, after all.”

“Is that the only incident?” Darwin prodded while attempting to appear sympathetic to Lucinda’s distress. “Any others?”

Lucinda hesitated for a moment. “The same thing repeated two more times. All three of them happened at night, and I noticed they were always around the same time. I’ve never been bothered by those…those entities in the daytime.”

“I see,” Kellan muttered under his breath before clearing his throat loudly.

Darwin could tell Kellan was about to lose it, so he scooted closer and used his left index and middle fingers to pinch the skin of his partner’s forearm, causing the man to flinch and jerk away a little bit. He ignored Kellan’s dirty look, which was directed at him, and concentrated on Lucinda instead.

“Why did you decide to contact our agency?”

Lucinda stared at Darwin as if he was an idiot. “The local police force is incompetent and unreliable. I need someone to investigate this important matter promptly. Now, I could have sold this house and moved elsewhere, but I’ve resided here for years. I refuse to let anyone, including the supernatural entities, drive me out of my lovely house.”

Darwin suppressed an annoyed sigh. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”

Lucinda shook her head. “That’s all there is to it. Would you like to check out the scene of the crime?”

Kellan answered before Darwin could do so. “That will be wonderful. Lead the way, please.”

Darwin narrowed his eyes at Kellan the moment Lucinda got on her feet and walked toward the direction of the kitchen. He leaned closer to Kellan and whispered at his partner, “What the hell are you playing at?”

Kellan snorted. “I’m curious to know how far gone she is. I can’t tell if she’s an excellent but loony storyteller, or if she’s telling the truth.”

Darwin scoffed. “We’re partners at a supernatural agency. Why have you agreed to become my partner if you’re such a damn skeptic?”

“I’m not,” Kellan insisted before pointing at himself. “You know of my ability, but I hate people like her. She makes people with real powers like me turn into a laughing stock. She sounds like a damn attention-seeker who thinks her delusions are important enough to call in some private detectives to resolve them.”

Darwin was about to retort when Lucinda called out from the direction of the kitchen.

“Coming, gentlemen?”

Kellan snickered softly. “I need to be naked and actually stroking my dick to achieve that.”

Darwin rolled his eyes. “Grow up, man.”

Kellan scoffed. “Fuck you. You should pull that stick out of your ass once in a while. You’ll be less of a joy-killer that way.”

Darwin ignored Kellan and got off the couch. He had no time to play silly, immature games with Kellan at the moment. They had a job to do. He reached the kitchen a moment later. Kellan entered the room right behind him, while Lucinda continued to stand about a feet away from it. There was nothing strange with the room. It was a standard kitchen. There were the stove, a dishwasher, a sink, a refrigerator, an oven, a pantry, a microwave, and several fitted cupboards. He was about to call it a day when he noticed Kellan was rooted on the spot a few inches away from the sink.