Dev’s eyebrows creased, his forehead furrowing. “Okay, good. That’s good. Are you, uh, hungry, or thirsty maybe?”
“I could use a glass of water.”
He reached over to the nightstand to pluck up a glass of water, gently handing it to her. “Thanks,” she murmured.
After draining the water, he took the empty glass and set it down. He reached for her hands, but hesitated before actually grabbing them, as if asking for permission. She didn’t give it so he dropped them.
They spoke over each other.
“What’s going on, Dev?”
“What do you remember?”
They both chuckled. She winced. Note to self. Don’t laugh.
“Why don’t you tell me what you remember first, Kate. I’ll try to fill in the holes.”
Kate started shaking her head, but the pain made her stop. She had a whopping headache. “Can you get me some aspirin, please?”
“Yes, sure. I’m sorry. I should have offered that.” He disappeared into the bathroom with the empty water glass, reappearing a minute later with the aspirin and a fresh glass of water.
“Thanks.”
After she’d taken the medicine, he asked, “Okay, let’s start with what you remember.”
“I’m not really sure I quite remember what I saw, or what I think I saw. It’s all a little fuzzy. I think maybe I have a concussion or something.” What she thought she remembered didn’t make a lick of sense.
“Just try me, okay?” He added with a small smile, “Please.”
“Okay. Well, I woke up and you weren’t in bed and I was a little thirsty so I went downstairs to get some water.” She left out the hurt feelings and the shots of tequila, as she didn’t want to sound like clingy stalker girl, even though she suspected she was leaning that way.
“Then I was kind of awake and all of the lights were on, which I thought was odd in the middle of the night, so I went to the game room to see if I could find Manny or Ren to play pool with.” Dev stiffened slightly, his lips drawing into a thin line at the mention of the two men.
“Go on.”
“And no one was there. But I…I…”
“You what?”
She looked down at the bed. In a small voice, she confessed, “I heard a noise.”
“Okay. What kind of noise?”
“A whooshing sound.”
“A whooshing sound. What exactly is a whooshing sound?”
“See. I told you I’m not even sure if all of this happened. Just…never mind,” she said in exasperation.
“No, I’m sorry. Go on…you heard a whooshing sound.”
“Yes, I heard a…sound. It sounded maybe like a flowing river or strangely enough like blood pounding in my ears, or something like that. I don’t know.” Dev jumped off the bed and stood, brows drawn together.
“And I just knew it was coming from below me. I felt, I don’t know…compelled somehow to seek out the source of this noise, so I searched the rest of the house for a staircase downstairs and didn’t find one. I ended up back in the game room, where the noise was the loudest. I searched until I, quite accidentally, found a hidden entrance behind the pool rack and I followed the noise downstairs. This is where things get really fuzzy.”
She paused, and he nodded for her to continue. “That’s when I found you, Ren, and others that I haven’t seen before. I thought maybe one of them was attacking me, so I turned and ran and then I remember you in front of me suddenly on the stairs. I don’t know how you got there so fast. I lost my balance and after that…I don’t remember anything.”
Dev started pacing at the foot of the bed. “How did you find the boardroom?”
“The what?”
“The boardroom. That’s where we were. It was pitch black down there. How did you find it?”
“I…I don’t know. I just followed the noise. It was pretty dark, but I could see well enough, I guess. It was kind of spooky how quickly my eyes seemed to adjust to the dark.”
Oh Christ.
“Why did you say that?”
Dev looked at her questioningly. “Say what?”
“Oh Christ. Why did you say that? What’s the matter?”
“You heard that?”
“Yeeesss? “ Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
Looking a bit somber, Dev came back and sat on the foot of the bed. “Nothing.
It’s nothing. Explain the noise more.”
Kate threw her hands in the air, frustrated. “I don’t know, Dev. It sounded like whooshing. I don’t know how else to explain it. I’ve never heard anything like it before.”
“Can you hear it now?”