Death by Chocolate (The Davenports 2)

“Because this place is open until about three a.m. and will deliver warm cookies and milk.”

“Oh my God. Why didn’t anyone think of this before now?” Daize gushed.

Micah chuckled. She liked the rich sound. “The best ideas always make you ask that question, don’t they?” He opened the door. “And to answer your question, news delivered with chocolate is always better, and what I have to say isn’t that awful. You just looked like you could use a pick me up.”

“To say it’s been a rough week would be an understatement. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.” Don’t treat a casual business meeting like a date. It’d been a while since she had a steady beau, and with his dark hair, wicked sense of humor, and kind, brownish-green eyes, Micah was just her type. Wrong place. Wrong everything. I know my house is being haunted, and I’m freaked out, but let’s date doesn’t compute.

The smell of freshly baked cookies and the mouth-watering arrangement in the plastic case chased away her lingering doldrums. They had the classic snickerdoodle, chocolate chips, and sugar along with more exotic breeds of baked goods like the S’mores.

“We’re going to need a twelver,” Micah says.

“A what?”

“A box of twelve. I like you pretty well, but I draw the line at sharing my favorite cookies fresh from the oven.”

She laughed. “Good, then we’re on the same page.”

He grinned roguishly.

“This time, the food is on me.”

“I’m never going to object to a beautiful woman buying me dessert.” He winked.

She glanced away, secretly pleased by his flirting.

After placing an order for an assortment of cookies and two large milks, they retreated to the bar against the window. Watching the students travel to and from, she enjoyed the flavor of melted marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. Her taste buds sang, and the chocolate soothed her nerves like an old supportive friend.

“Are you ready to talk now?” Micah asked.

“As ready as I’m going to be. I’m ready to take my medicine.”

“There’s something there. Whether its residual energy from an event that happened or an imprint that’s playing on a loop we’re not sure. It could be an item there that a spirit is attached to.

We didn’t get any activity other than an EVP, and a few phrases on the spirit box.”

“Oh.” She sat up straighter. “That’s not what I expected.”

“Here’s the not so great part. The voice said it was hungry and below. Starving.”

“What the hell does that mean?” The words formed a hard ball in her stomach.

“We’re not sure.”

“Is it ...” she glanced around and leaned in, “from hell?”

“We don’t believe so—”

“But you don’t know,” she finished.

He nodded. “One thing I won’t do is lie to you. We’re researching the land your building sits own, the surrounding area, and making a plan for another session. We want to search for any particular hotspots for paranormal activity.”

“Why didn’t it do anything while you were there?”

“It might’ve been exhausted from the big display.”

“Or hiding.”

“That is another possibility. Carl did detect a presence. We’re not going to call the case solved and walk away until we’re confident we’ve done all we can, and you’re going to be fine on your own.”