Page 19 of Wanted 2

A flame danced against the wall when the candle was lit.

I held my breath. I saw myself standing at the edge of the screen.Yes. This was it. And there was the Count, moving toward the—

What the hell?

I hit the pause button and stared at the computer screen. What the hell was I looking at? Clothes? Just…clothes? I could see the Count’s shirt and pants…but no head…or hands.

Was the camera defective?

I hit the play button. The clothes walked to the painting and the painting slid aside. I fast-forwarded through the footage. No head. No hands. Just his clothes, moving around the room, along with the floating stack of money.

“Has to be the camera,” I muttered under my breath as I reached for the next camera, the Velcro one, and downloaded the file. Nervously, I clicked the play button.

“Nothing. Nothing. Nothing,” I mumbled as I sped through the file showing the empty office. “There, the light.”

The candle was lit and the Count approached the safe, this time from a different angle.

And…this time…shit. It was the same. I saw myself enter. I had a head. And hands. As expected. But…the Count?Where the hell were his body parts?

I rewound and played the file again, probably a dozen times or more, trying to understand.

It wasn’t until the last time I ran through the footage that I saw the safe keypad and the little lights flickering around each number as the Count’s invisible fingers depressed the keys.

The code. I’d captured the code.

In a daze,I returned Jeremy’s laptop. I think he asked me something, but I really don’t recall. I just stood there, leaning against the kitchen island as I massaged the back of my neck.

“Good afternoon,” a voice spoke behind me.

I screeched and whirled, only to see Leonard entering the kitchen, suitcase in hand.

“Forgive me, Miss Kassandra,” he said with a warm smile on his gaunt face. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

I swallowed. “You’re back.”

“I am,” Leonard acknowledged.

He vanished through the door and returned with a large antique chest, banded with iron and securely fastened with a padlock. After setting it down next to his suitcase, he straightened and dusted his hands.

“Did you enjoy your vacation?” I asked. He looked even thinner than when he’d left—and he’d been rail thin to begin with. Didn’t people usually gain weight on holidays?

Leonard’s eyes flicked to the chest and then back to me. “A success. Thank you.”

Success. I batted down a budding interest in the chest’s contents. Really, I wouldn’t want to know. What if it was something weird? Like a pair of walking clothes?

“And I’m glad to be back,” Leonard continued, and then turned toward Jeremy. “And this, I presume, is your brother?”

I nodded. It was odd, wasn’t it, just how much these people seemed to know. First Don, and now Leonard…but then, to be fair, who else would the boy in the kitchen be besides my brother? And I’d probably told Leonard about him… hadn’t I? Or likely the Count had communicated with Leonard in his absence. That made the most sense.

“I’m Jeremy,” Jeremy introduced himself, apparently growing impatient for me to do the honors.

“Pleased to meet you,” Leonard bowed. “Call me Leonard, if you please.”

As they exchanged pleasantries, my mind wandered back to the odd video footage. No. Freaking. Clothes. There had to be an explanation. I grabbed my phone, searched on the internet for camera malfunctions, and began scanning the various articles.

“Miss Kassandra?”

I blinked and looked up. Jeremy had vanished from the kitchen. Leonard hadn’t. He stood next to his chest; his eyes locked onto me in open curiosity.