Page 38 of Cadaver Lab: Mind Over Murder

His small smile revealed his sexy as hell dimple as he stopped by the door and glanced back to say, “See you later.”

Apparently, he was serious about not being long. It wasn’t more than ten minutes later, Natalie barely had time to brush her teeth and change into PJs, when the back door flung open wide and Liam barreled inside.

He slammed the door closed and locked it. Both locks.

With wide crazy-looking eyes he swept the room with a glance. When his gaze landed on her, seated on the sofa with the remote in her hand, he said, “Hey.”

“Hey,” she repeated, but hers sounded more like the question it was. “What’s up? I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

“Uh, nothing. I just decided the work can wait until the morning.” After a glance behind him at the locked door, he moved to the sofa and sat down close to Natalie. “What are we watching?” he asked, in a tone of voice that sounded nothing like his usual.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she answered turning to stare at her man.

This was not normal. Something was wrong and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

Liam hadn’t acted like this when they’d been tied up by Gabe’s murderer. Not even when he’d been accused of being her accessory to murder.

Although now that she thought about it, about their history together, there was one other time Liam had looked completely spooked and thrown off kilter. That had been the first time she’d revealed, and had proven with Gabe’s help, that ghosts were real and that she could really see them.

This freak out was about a ghost. And after all they’d been through together in this area, it had to be bad to have him acting like this.

She sat sideways on the sofa to face him, taking both of his trembling hands in hers.

Trembling.

Liam didn’t tremble. Not unless it was from a super long, exceptionally good marathon session of sex. But not from fear.

This was bad.

“Liam. Tell me. What happened at the lab that has you so spooked?”

He drew in a shaky breath through his nose then said, “There’s something evil in the lab and it feels like it wants to kill me.”

Natalie absorbed the meaning behind the flood of words that had tumbled out of Liam on a single burst of breath.

She had to admit what he’d just said and how he’d said it was definitely not what she’d been expecting. Worse, it mirrored what Margaret had described a bit too closely because what Margaret had felt had almost killed her.

There was something in Mudville. In that lab. And she feared she was the one who was going to have to find it.

Picking up her phone, she typed in a quick text with fingers that refused to hit the correct letters.

“What are you doing?” Liam asked, watching her from under furrowed brows where he sat looking traumatized on the sofa.

This was the man who’d threatened to kick in every door of the Hotel Utica to get to her when he thought she was in danger inside.

Yet here he was with his forearms braced on his thighs, slumped forward in a position just a few degrees short of putting his head between his knees as if he were about to pass out.

Whatever was over there was bad. Very bad.

“I’m calling in reinforcements,” she answered.

“What’s that mean?” he asked.

“I’m asking Harper to send Gabe over… just to get his take on this,” she lied.

She’d face this thing in Liam’s lab, whatever it was, but she wasn’t going to do it without Gabe. But she also knew Liam would never let her go over there without him. And he was in no shape to be of any help.

Liam reacted as she expected and looked annoyed at the mention of Gabe’s visit. She could use that.