The Drifting Gloom (Maddy Wimsey Book 2) Read online

  “All right. Call me if anything else happens, okay?”

  “Sure, Sam. Hey, I’m the one who should be worried about you getting hurt.”

  “I’ll be extra careful. This file I’m working on has a bad attitude. I think it’s planning to cut me.” I chuckle to myself, but my sister’s right. Sometimes I do wind up in dangerous situations. People abusing the HUD program can get violent when we show up, which is the reason we pack heat.

  “Bye.” Mary Lou hangs up.

  “So, what was that all about?” asks Chad.

  “My sister thought she saw someone trying to break into her house, but she’s always been overly cautious.”

  Chad, looking at me, adds too much of that green stuff to his next piece of sushi and makes a wild face when he eats it. His cough blasts the smell of horseradish into the air. “Oof. Little too much wasabi there.”

  “Even our food is trying to kill us.” I raise one eyebrow at him.

  Laughing makes him choke more. He dabs his mouth with a napkin and wipes a tear from his eye. “She’s right to be vigilant. Woman home alone with kids? It’s either nothing or an opportunistic burglar who panicked and ran off when he noticed someone there.”

  “Yeah,” I say, not meaning it. Tammy describing some shadowy thing has me on edge, and inexplicable, crippling fear hand-in-hand with my kid seeing a shadow figure isn’t the sort of topic one can openly discuss around federal agents without risking an appointment with a psychiatrist.

  Chad holds up his chopsticks, a piece of ginger pinched between them. “Don’t worry. If some guy meant to hurt her, he’d have broken in long before the cops got there.”

  I stare across the table at him, my expression flat. “Thanks. That’s reassuring.”

  “That’s why I’m here.” He winks and eats the ginger.

  Maybe I shouldn’t worry just yet. Mary Lou and her family have lived in that place for years without anything happening. It’s weird that two days after that thing shows up on the beach, it’s at my sister’s house, too. Wait. What? That thing? I’m really thinking about this like some actual ghost or whatever is stalking… Tammy? She’s the only common link. I fidget in the chair, barely able to keep from leaping to my feet and rushing off to make sure she’s all right. But, Tammy didn’t seem the least bit afraid of it.

  Stop. I rub my forehead, trying to force sanity through my skull. There’s nothing phantasmal stalking my daughter, or me, or my sister. I must’ve reached some critical point of boredom at work that my brain has kicked into overdrive and I’m making shit up.

  “You okay?” asks Chad, sounding sincere. “The police are there, and I’m sure it’s nothing. We can swing by if you want. Say we were doing a property inspection.”

  “And then we’d have to falsify a report about a property we didn’t really inspect.” I sigh. “Nah, it’s fine.”

  He grins. “Not if we really stopped by a place. These inspections don’t have time parameters.”

  “No, really. It’s okay.” I manage a smile.

  A playful argument about paying starts when the check arrives. Our usual routine is to alternate, but he’s ‘forgotten’ who’s turn it is, and points out his $22 lunch was more expensive than my $13 soup. I relent this time, but make it clear tomorrow’s on me.

  We’re not back in the office two minutes when Nico Fortunato, our boss, leans out of his door at the end of the row and gives us the ‘get in here now’ wave.

  Uh oh.

  New Moon Rising

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  Other Books by J.R. Rain

  STANDALONE NOVELS

  Winter Wind

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  Dark Side of the Moon

  Vampire Requiem

  Moon Love

  JIM KNIGHTHORSE SERIES

  Dark Horse

  The Mummy Case

  Hail Mary

  Clean Slate

  Easy Rider (short story)

  THE WITCHES SERIES

  The Witch and the Gentleman

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  The Witch and the Huntsman (with Rod Kierkegaard)

  THE PSI SERIES

  with A.K. Alexander

  Hear No Evil

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  Speak No Evil

  NICK CAINE SERIES

  with Aiden James

  Temple of the Jaguar

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  DEAD DETECTIVE SERIES

  with Rod Kierkegaard

  The Dead Detective

  Deadbeat Dad

  Ghosts of Christmas Present (short story)

  THE ACCIDENTAL SUPERHEROINE

  with Kris Carey

  The Accidental Superheroine

  My Big Fat Accidental Superheroine Wedding

  THE WATSON FILES

  with Chanel Smith

  Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Shakespeare

  Sherlock Holmes and the Lost Da Vinci

  WINTER SOLTSICE SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Convergence

  Containment

  MADDY WIMSEY SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  The Devil’s Eye

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  ICE WOLF SERIES

  with H.P. Mallory

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  MAJOR QUATERMAIN ADVENTURES

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  ALEXIS SILVER SERIES

  with Matthew S. Cox

  Silver Light

  THE SPINOZA TRILOGY

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  The Vampire Who Played Dead

  The Vampire in the Iron Mask

  The Vampire on the Train (short story)

  THE ALADDIN TRILOGY

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  Aladdin Relighted

  Aladdin Sins Bad

  Aladdin and the Flying Dutchman

  THE WALKING PLAGUE TRILOGY

  with Elizabeth Basque

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ge

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  with Scott Nicholson and H.T. Night

  Bad Blood

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  Spider Bite

  SHORT STORY SINGLES

  Vampire Road

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  The Bleeder

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  COLLECTIONS

  Moonlight & Monsters: Ten Vampire Tales

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  Dark Rain: Stories

  Blood Rain: Stories

  Black Rain: Stories

  Red Rain: Over Forty Bestselling Stories

  Naughty or Nice

  The Indomitable Ten

  Chronology

  Primetime

  Rainy Nights: Four Novels

  Rain Dance: Four Novels

  The Map: Four Novels

  Crime After Crime: Four Novels

  L.A. Rain: Four Novels

  Murder Latte: Four Novels

  Dark Spells: Four Novels

  Vampires: Three Novels

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  Other Books by Matthew S. Cox

  STANDALONE NOVELS

  The Menagerie of Jenkins Bailey

  Axillon99

  Wayfarer: AV494

  Caller 107

  Operation Chimera (with Tony Healey)

  The Summer the World Ended

  Chiaroscuro: The Mouse and the Candle

  Nine Candles of Deepest Black

  The Eldritch Heart

  Citadel: The Concordant Sequence

  Out of Sight

  Sophie’s Light

  THE AWAKENED SERIES

  Prophet of the Badlands

  Archon’s Queen

  Grey Ronin

  Daughter of Ash

  Zero Rogue

  THE DIVISION ZERO SERIES

  Division Zero

  Division Zero: Lex De Mortuis

  Division Zero: Thrall

  Division Zero: Guardian

  TALES OF WIDOESWOOD SERIES

  Emma and the Banderwigh

  Emma and the Silk Thieves

  Emma and the Silverbell Faeries

  THE DAUGHTER OF MARS SERIES

  The Hand of Raziel

  Araphel

  Ghost Black

  TEMPORAL ARMISTICE SERIES

  Nascent Shadow

  The Shadow Collector

  THE ROADHOUSE CHRONICLES SERIES

  One More Run

  The Redeemed

  VIRTUAL IMMORTALITY SERIES

  Virtual Immortality

  The Harmony Paradox

  THE FADED SKIES SERIES

  Heir Ascendant

  Ascendant Revolution

  VAMPIRE INNOCENT

  A Nighttime of Forever

  A Beginner’s Guide to Fangs

  MADDY WIMSEY SERIES

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  The Devil’s Eye

  The Drifting Gloom

  THE WINTER SOLSTICE SERIES

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  Convergence

  Containment

  SAMANTHA MOON ORIGINS

  with J.R. Rain

  New Moon Rising

  Moon Mourning

  ALEXIS SILVER SERIES

  with J.R. Rain

  Silver Light

  ANTHOLOGIES

  The Far Side of Promise

  The Divergent Fates Anthology

  Valcoria: Awakenings

  NON-FICTION

  The Dysfunctional Conspiracy

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  About J.R. Rain:

  J.R. Rain is the international bestselling author of over seventy novels, including his popular Samantha Moon and Jim Knighthorse series. His books are published in five languages in twelve countries, and he has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.

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  About Matthew S. Cox:

  Originally from South Amboy NJ, Matthew S. Cox has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Since 1996, he has developed the “Divergent Fates” world, in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, The Awakened Series, The Harmony Paradox, and the Daughter of Mars series take place.

  Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems, and a fan of anime, British humour, and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.

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