Harlequin Holiday Collection - Four Classic Seasonal Novellas

intended for anyone else to know at this point. Maybe she should just ask him if he had something against her.
    But she had no proof. Just…nothing.
    “Log in from my station and I’ll see what I can find.”
    “No problem.”
    When she’d settled in at Flemming’s station, Jacob joined her. Her pulse skipped.
    “Is everything okay?”
    She liked that he worried about her. There she went, making too much of things again. “Flemming thinks there might be some glitches in the access of my account. He’s checking it out.”
    “I’m glad they’re taking seriously whatever is going on.” He hesitated as if he had more to say.
    She held her breath.
    “I hoped we might have dinner tonight.” He searched her eyes, his own uncertain. “There’s a very nice place in town.”
    “That would be awesome.” She knew she was grinning like an idiot. She couldn’t believe it! They had a date!
    He touched her arm before walking away and it warmed her all the way to her toes. Slow it down, girl.
    Too late. She was running with it.
    Unfortunately, the day went downhill from there.
    A multiple homicide sent Callie, Flemming and O’Shea to the scene. Callie called in and warned Jacob that it was going to be a long one and that he should join them. With the rest of the lab staff already on location at other scenes, that left only Olivia to hold down the fort.
    It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Sixteen
    As if she’d needed anything else to go wrong, the lights in the lab had started to blink half an hour ago.
    Security had called up and warned her to brace for the coming storm. It was promising to get ugly. Spotty power outages were being reported around town.
    Olivia reminded herself that the generators would kick in if the power went out. She didn’t have to worry.
    But she did anyway.
    Callie and her team hadn’t returned. They were trying to get a second sweep of the scene in before the storm hit the area too hard.
    A little more data compilation and Olivia could call it a night anyway. The drive to her apartment might be a little hairy, but she was more than ready to get home.
    Anticipation welled in her chest. She and Jacob had a date. God, she should hurry home to change. What if he was held up?
    No, she wasn’t going to think that way.
    She printed her hard copies and took them to Callie’s office, which wasn’t locked. Odd. She always locked her office when she left the lab. Olivia shrugged and pulled the door closed as she left. Maybe Callie had just been in a hurry.
    One final test check and Olivia was out of here. She would compile the data Monday morning since it wasn’t a high priority.
    She’d just started back to her station when the lights went out.
    Olivia froze. No need to fall over anything or bump into a door. Just stay still until the generators brought the power back on.
    She checked her cell phone. Watched the minutes tick off. First one, then another. Okay, the generators should have kicked in by now.
    Using the meager light from her cell, she made her way to the nearest station and reached for the phone. No dial tone. She checked all the lines, including the intercom. Nothing. That wasn’t supposed to happen.
    Fine. She would call security on her cell.
    Except she didn’t know the number. If she needed to contact security there was a button for that on each phone in the lab.
    “Dammit.”
    She would just have to make her way down the stairs to the lobby. If she took her time, she could make it with her cell phone as a poor excuse for a flashlight.
    The corridor leading from the lab to the reception area was pitch-black. She kept having to hit a button or reopen her phone to keep its dim light glowing. As little help as it was, it was better than nothing.
    It was so damned quiet.
    Creepy quiet.
    When she reached the stairwell door she relaxed marginally. Three flights down and she would be in the lobby. Security would be there and they would have flashlights. There were flashlights back in the lab, but she felt better heading straight for the lobby rather than feeling her way to where they were stored in the lab.
    Truth was, she was spooked.
    Second floor.
    First floor.
    “Thank God.”
    She opened the door into the lobby and found it wasn’t much better. The wall of windows facing the front parking lot revealed that the cloud cover had obscured the moon. She tried to open one of the exit doors but it was locked. Strange.
    Okay. All she had to do was get to the security