She barks one more time at me then walks over to the door leading to James’s bedroom.
“Uh-uh. No way,” I tell her. “I’m not sleeping in there.”
Mitzy barks at me again, clearly agitated, and it dawns on me that maybe she just wants me to open the door for her so she can go to her own bed.
Sighing, I walk up to the door to James’s room and open it for her.
Suddenly excited, Mitzy gives me a little yip then she darts in.
I pause for a moment, wondering if I should close the door again or leave it open so she can get out if she needs to. Deciding it’s probably best to leave it open, I walk back to the guest bedroom.
Mitzy runs out of James’s room and starts barking at me again.
“Good grief,” I groan. “I told you, I’m not sleeping in there.”
Growling, Mitzy lunges for my leg but I manage to jump out of reach just in time.
“Mitzy!” I squeal. “What the hell?”
Yipping at me, she circles around me, then lunges again.
I jump back and tell her to, “Stop. Please. Dammit, Mitzy, stop!”
Not realizing as she keeps growling and lunging at me that she’s purposely maneuvering me into his room until it’s too late.
Once she has me nearly to his closet, she darts around me and disappears inside it.
Afraid she might run back out and start attacking me again, I book it for the door, totally planning on slamming it behind me.
Then she starts barking again.
There’s an urgency in the way she barks this time, an urgency that calls out to me. Like she’s trying to alert me to something.
My curiosity getting the better of me, I hesitate at the doorway then decide to take a little peek to make sure she’s okay before I leave and lock her in.
The first thing I notice once I step inside and flip on the light is that James has an enormous closet, but it’s only half full.
And not half full in the way that he doesn’t have enough stuff to fill it. No, one side of it is completely empty. Like maybe someone’s stuff was there but now it’s gone.
My stomach sinks at the sight of it.
Did he have a girlfriend that lived with him? I don’t remember seeing anything about it in his folder, but I didn’t see anything in there about this house, either.
Mitzy keeps barking, her barks becoming more urgent.
Shoving away the sinking feeling, I start to push through his many suits and shirts to reach her.
I find her in the very back corner, barking at a white cardboard box on the floor.
“What’s wrong?” I ask as I squat down beside her. “Is there a mouse or something?”
Fluffers always yowls at me when she finds a mouse instead of taking care of it herself.
Mitzy barks and nudges the box with her nose.
Thinking she wants me to move it, I pick it up and look for whatever was hiding behind it.
But the spot is completely empty.
There’s only a rectangle of dust on the hardwood floor from where the box was sitting.
With a scowl, I look back at Mitzy and say, “There’s nothing there…”
She starts barking again at the box that’s now in my hands.
“Is it in the box?” I ask, hoping I’m wrong.
Mitzy pauses for a second then she yips happily as if she’s saying yes.
“Shit!” I yelp as I toss the box to the side, afraid a mouse is going to jump out at me.
The box hits the wall and the lid slides off as it falls to the floor.
A dozen or so photos tumble out as I scramble back.
My heart racing, I keep expecting a mouse to jump out of the box, but nothing happens.
Excited now, Mitzy yips at the photos on the floor.
Tearing my eyes away from the box, I look at her, ready to tell her off for scaring me like that, then blink in surprise.
Not believing what I’m seeing, I grab the closest photo and hold it up to the light. Then the next. And the next. Until I have them all in my hands.
Her mission accomplished, Mitzy quiets as I stare at the photos in shocked disbelief.
No matter how many times I blink or close my eyes though they don’t change.
They’re all pictures of me…
9
James
Walking into Lucifer’s office, I smirk when I see I’m the first to arrive. “Where’s the Spider?”
“A doctor’s appointment, I believe, with Meredith,” Lucifer says then gestures for me to take a seat. “He’ll be along shortly.”
Nodding my head, I take off my jacket and toss it onto the chair Simon always sits in before sitting down. “How’s the kids?”
“Very good. Spring soccer for Evie, and Adam has decided he’s ready to skip another grade,” Lucifer says with a smile.
I let out a low whistle. “Damn, I guess brains really do run in the family.”
“They assuredly do,” he agrees then leans forward. “James, will your dear brother be hearing the sounds of small feet pitter-pattering around your home soon?”
I roll my eyes at him. He only calls me that shit when it’s just us, and he only does it to get under my skin.
“Nah, I got a vasectomy back when I was over in Kuwait,” I say with a grin.
Eyes widening in anger, he almost snarls. “You what?”
I shrug my shoulders at him. “No need for kids when I can play uncle to yours and Meredith’s.”
“James,” Lucifer says quietly.
“Matthew,” I say just as quietly and smirk at him. “You tell sis that she’s got a bastard brother yet?”
“I… No, I have not. And I do believe…” he says before I wave him off.
“Don’t tell her and don’t let Simon.” At his scowl, I raise my hands up in a placating manner. “Don’t worry, I don’t want to succeed. There will be no fratricide here. No fucking Cain and Abel. This bastard doesn’t want the Devil’s throne.”
“Truly?” Lucifer leans back with a smirk of his own. His eyes filling with that twinkle he gets sometimes right before he blows the back of someone’s head out.
Or when he sees Evie score a soccer goal.
“Why would I?” I stretch up to yawn, listening as my spine pops.
“No aspirations of something bigger and better?” he asks.
“I own roughly twenty-eight million in property. My liquid assets are even more. I like my job, I like my house, and I like you being the target of so many people’s anger.” I grin at him.
“Ah.” He smiles and shakes his head. “So how’s the wife?”
I splutter at the term. “Fuck you, asshole. This is all your fucking fault. First you… Then I had to get fucking hexed by John… We’re not married.”
“You will be, and I’m sure your testicular issue can be reversed easily enough,” Lucifer says right as I hear Simon walk into the office behind me.
“His testicles are still intact,” Simon says as he flings my coat off his chair and sets his laptop bag on the small desk he keeps in the office.
I turn my head toward Simon and glare at him in annoyance. “Fuck off. And what? Do you have a bug in here?”
Simon sighs and shakes his head. “It’s the same line I’ve heard you tell Jude when you two were together. It’s a lie. The last body scan we did of you proves that fact. Also, since it’s getting close to the time of your yearly checkup, I’ve set up a reminder to push to your phone calendar.”