—THE SCARLET TENANT—
CHAPTER ONE (v1.04)
Buried in the Cage Garden
On orders from her employer, Theresa Leone had spent the last month breaking, entering, and ransacking the most storied estate on the Scottish coast. In that time, the locals hadn’t noticed a thing, thanks in no small part to some simple fibs and wise bribery on Theresa’s part. The mansion’s eccentric owners, the Remingtons, were a dead bloodline, or at least timezones and hemispheres away.
Despite this, Theresa had nothing to show for her efforts. She would not leave empty-handed.
One comfortable, slow morning, Theresa noticed an animalistic yelp come into earshot over the crash of the morning surf. She exited onto the terrace to listen.
She smelled the ocean and the verdant slime thick on the rocks. Water foamed. Wind tugged.
Her breath halted short when the animal yelped again, a throaty, warm cry, like a dog’s.
