Howling in the Darkness by B.J. Daniels

Author:B.J. Daniels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2002-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

IT WAS AFTER nine-thirty when the headlights of Kat’s car illuminated the sign up to the Manning estate: Private Road. No Trespassing. She turned down the narrow paved lane that cut a thin swath through the woods. Not even a glimmer of a moon or stars shone through the branches as the road wound its way up the hillside.

The isolated, tree-choked mansion had always creeped her out. Gnarled and misshapen by the wind and weather, the trees seemed to stand guard around the massive house, as protective as trolls under a bridge, as malformed as Frankenstein’s monster.

She knew that wasn’t all that was creeping her out. She’d made a call on her cell phone as she left Elizabeth’s to her source inside the FBI. What she’d heard about Jonah Ries was true. He had been ousted from the FBI and was still facing criminal charges. What was a man like that doing asking questions about her—and her mother’s murder?

Her attention was drawn back to business as the twisted road straightened, the trees drawing back a little for Dr. Manning’s old mansion. A ten-foot-tall electric fence encircled it.

She stopped at the hulking gate but didn’t even have time to press the intercom button before the gate swung open as if by magic. With more than her share of qualms, she drove through.

She’d heard stories about Dr. Leland Manning since she was a girl. Along with the silly rumors that he was a vampire and got his blood from the fresh corpses he used for his research were tales of a secret society of mad scientists who did Frankenstein-like experiments in their laboratories around Moriah’s Landing. Dr. Manning, it was said, was the ringleader.

Kat discounted rumors. But she realized as she parked in front of the haunted-looking house, this isolated place would be the perfect hideaway for a vampire. Or a leading mad scientist.

As she opened her car door, she was struck by the quiet. In the woods around Moriah’s Landing, the spring night had been alive with the reassuring sound of insects and birds. Here, she heard nothing in the impenetrable stillness. Not even a hint of a breeze. The leaves on the trees hung lifeless. Not a breath of air stirred the spring night. No scent of the sea. No whisper of life. Just one small light burning inside the house.

With her purse clutched next to her body—the Beretta and her cell phone tucked inside should she need either—she climbed out of her car. She was almost to the massive wooden door at the front of the structure when, like the gate, it swung open, startling her. She stared at an aging woman in a bad dress.

“Ms. Ridgemont,” the woman said, her voice deep, her accent old-world European. “The doctor will see you in his study.” The woman didn’t wait, just turned on one of her blocky heels and started down a long dark hallway.

Kat followed, surprised at the furnishings. She’d expected the inside to match the outside: dated furniture, thick musty drapes, foot-worn Oriental rugs, walls gloomy and dark with aging wood.

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