Page 6 of Daddy’s Protection (The Daddy Guard #3)

Isaiah unlocked the door and swung it open to reveal the spooky world inside the old Victorian home’s walls.

With him were Jack Kimble and Ace Riggs. The other Guard members were out on another assignment. No one thought a haunting—or supposed haunting—warranted everyone getting involved.

Isaiah was thankful for the help. It wasn’t that he was afraid. Despite the chilling events of last night, he still didn’t believe in ghosts. He wasn’t ruling out other kinds of threats, but whatever was going on, it had nothing to do with spirits.

No, he was glad to have the guys along because two extra sets of eyes were better than just his.

“You were right. This place is creepy,” Ace said.

“Would make a good haunted attraction,” Jack opined. “’Tis the season and all that.”

Isaiah watched as Jack turned around and slowly took in the sights of the entryway. His eyes even went to the ceiling and up the staircase.

A true detective. Isaiah had known his friend would come in handy here.

“Where do you want us to start?” Ace asked.

On the drive over, Isaiah had talked to them on the phone, briefing them on everything that transpired the night before.

“First things first, let’s sweep the house and make sure we’re alone.”

Ace arched an eyebrow. “You think someone is lurking about?”

Isaiah spread his hands. “It’s possible. I’m pretty sure someone was here last night. I didn’t want to alarm Cami, but my cop instincts are still pretty sharp. There was something going on.”

Ace and Jack exchanged glances.

Once they returned their gazes to Isaiah, it was Jack who spoke first. “That would significantly change things. We’d need the rest of the guys for this.”

“Maybe,” Isaiah admitted with a nod. “But they’re working on some stuff and I didn’t want to distract them with something unsure. I felt someone more than I saw them last night. Does that make sense?”

The other guys nodded.

“Anyway, you remember how it was on the force. We cleared houses with less than three of us.”

Ace and Jack chuckled, indicating they indeed remembered those tense times.

“So how do you want to play this?” Ace asked.

“You don’t have any ideas?” Isaiah shot back.

Ace held up his hands. “I just flew choppers. It’s been a long time since I breached a house.”

Isaiah grinned. “Then follow my lead.” He grabbed the thin yet bright LED flashlights he’d had in the front pockets of his jeans and passed them out.

The electricity worked just fine in the house, but he suspected there might be a crawlspace or dark corners they had to clear, and he was determined to check them all. If anyone was hiding out in Cami’s house, he’d find them.

He led them to the top floor, figuring they’d work their way down. It felt strange not having a gun, Isaiah thought, but he didn’t carry one any longer. Still, memories of him breaching houses with fellow officers, guns drawn as they swept room, flooded his mind.

Thankfully, this didn’t feel quite the same as all those times. He wasn’t terribly worried about getting shot. Though that might be a possibility, he figured. But not likely.

The third floor was just an attic, but there was a lot up there and the guys were thorough in their search. Isaiah was thankful for the flashlights, because the single bulb hanging overhead only cast a dim light upon the eerie setting.

“Why the hell would someone keep a bunch of creepy old mannequins?” Jack asked, shining his light on the three objects resting in one corner.

Cobwebs—one end attached to the mannequins—floated in the bright beam.

“Who knows,” Isaiah said. “By the looks of those things, they’ve been here a while. Long before Cami took ownership.”

“You could sure say that,” Ace chimed in. “Look at the way they’re dressed. Those clothes are probably from the forties or fifties.”

Isaiah’s focus was now on the old trunk that rested nearby. He walked toward it. “I’m not going to find a body in here, right?”

“Only one way to find out,” Jack responded. “But that would explain the haunting.”

Isaiah turned sideways so he could see his friend. “You don’t really believe in ghosts, do you?”

Jack shrugged. “They say our mansion is haunted.”

“Theda Bara. You believe that?” Isaiah countered.

Jack just shrugged again.

Isaiah returned to the trunk. “Here goes,” he muttered.

The lid was coated in dust. For a moment, he thought it was locked or sealed shut, but after tugging for a few seconds, it loosened, and he was able to pull it up.

Inside, he found some more clothes—all of them from the same era as the outfits on the mannequins—and he used his hands to rake them aside and check the entire trunk.

“Musty old shirts and skirts.” He closed the trunk.

“Doesn’t seem to be anything crazy up here,” Jack announced as he finished his own search.

“Nothing over here, either,” Ace said, leaving the corner he’d checked out. “Just a lot of old stuff. That bed frame over there looks kind of cool. Antique. Might be worth something if Cami wanted to clean it up and sell it. That goes for a lot of this stuff up here.”

“Surely she’s been up here,” Isaiah said as he led the way from the attic and down the stairs to the second floor. “But I’ll mention it to her. All right, let’s split up and clear the bedrooms up here.”

That didn’t take long. There were only three, and each man was able to verify they were free of intruders rather quickly.

The first floor didn’t take long, either.

That left the basement.

It was easy, though, because it only contained a washer, dryer, ironing board, and a shelf full of detergent, fabric softener, and other laundry-related items.

Back upstairs, Isaiah said, “That front parlor to your right when you come in is where Cami said she saw the ghosts. I want to check it out.”

“For ghosts?” Ace asked.

“Nope. For projectors or something.”

Jack scratched his jaw. “You think someone is faking this haunting?”

“Don’t know. But I think that’s more likely than actual ghosts.”

They trio got to work, but their search didn’t turn up anything.

“Damn,” Isaiah said. “There has to be an explanation.”

“There might be,” Ace said. “It didn’t really happen.” He held up his hands to curtail Isaiah’s argument. “That’s not a knock against Cami. But you know how Littles can be. What if she just has an overactive imagination?”

Isaiah shook his head. “I believe her. She thinks she saw those ghosts.”

“I believe she thinks she did, too,” Ace responded. “But the mind is powerful. And it can play some tricks.”

Isaiah thought it over for a moment. Ace was right, and he knew it.

This wasn’t an episode of Scooby-Doo. The odds that someone had gone to all the trouble to fake a haunting in Cami’s house were slim to none.

It was far more likely that she’d imagined the whole thing, no matter how real it seemed to her.

That left one piece of the puzzle he still couldn’t explain, though.

“And what about the person I felt in here last night?”

He watched as Ace and Jack exchanged glances.

“Maybe you have an overactive imagination, too,” Jack proposed with a grin.

Isaiah chuckled, but that didn’t mean he bought the theory.

“Come on. I want to check something. I can’t believe I didn’t think about this until now.”

Once they were at the back door in the kitchen, he said, “There wasn’t time for someone to get out this door last night when I searched the house.

Anyway, the deadbolt was locked. Unless they had a key, they couldn’t have locked it from the outside after they left.

Not in that short amount of time. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t leave later. ”

He opened the door and pointed down at the patch of dirt just off the steps. Sure enough, a shoeprint was visible.

“Damn.”

The guys awkwardly jumped off the last step, careful to avoid trampling the evidence. Landing beyond it, they turned around and knelt to study the impression.

“That’s too big to be Cami,” Isaiah noted.

“Could be a prowler,” Ace stated. “Trying to look in the back door or something. Some sort of pervy Peeping Tom or something.”

The thought caused anger to roil in the pit of Isaiah’s stomach. Little Cami didn’t need to live by herself. Los Angeles could be a dangerous city. Especially for a sweet girl all alone.

She needed the protection of a Daddy.

He couldn’t get lost in those thoughts right now, though. He had a mystery to solve or his girl— the girl, he reminded himself, as she wasn’t his yet—would still be in danger.

“Yeah, but the print is facing toward the yard. Not the house. And look at the way it’s smeared,” Jack pointed out, aiming a finger at the impression’s edges. “This was made by someone hurrying away from the house. Not standing still looking in .”

That thought made Isaiah just as mad, though. It meant someone had been inside.

What if they’d hurt Cami?

Just being in there, spying on her or whatever they were doing, was enough to make him want some revenge.

He tried to forget about that, too. It was best to keep a clear head.

For Little Cami’s sake.

“You’re ever the detective,” he told Jack.

Jack already had his phone out, photographing the print. “This is a distinct pattern. Maybe we can match it with someone. At some point.”

Isaiah stood. “We best get Cami’s car back to her and I’ll pick her up. She’s probably about finished at work now.”

If she wasn’t, he wouldn’t mind waiting on her. He just wanted to have eyes on her.

For two reasons.

First, he wanted to make sure she was safe. He hated the idea of someone stalking her. Or worse…

Second, he just loved looking at her.

Because she was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen and he couldn’t get enough.