And with that, she hurried out of the bathroom.
She did indeed lock the door, and Addie immediately glanced around to find Bennie. He was in the open doorway of her bedroom, and with his gun ready, he was peering into the hall. Or rather, he had been until he heard her behind him, and he threw her a quick look from over his shoulder.
Correction: a quick glare.
Addie could see that even though the only illumination in the room came from the twins’ night-light and the light in the hall.
“You’re supposed to stay in the bathroom,” Bennie reminded her in a hoarse grumble.
That had indeed been the plan when Judson had left to hurry up to the roof. But that was when the attacker had still been outside. The broken window had changed everything.
“I have my gun,” she replied. “And there’s no window in the bathroom. The killer will have to get through us to get in there.”
Bennie muttered some profanity, but he didn’t order her back into the bathroom. He just continued to keep watch of the hall. “Rory thinks there could be two of them,” Bennie whispered. “So, keep an eye on the windows in here.”
Sweet heaven. She had already known that was a possibility, but it shook her to the core to hear Bennie spell it out. Rory and Calvin would also be aware there was a pair of attackers, and that probably meant they wouldn’t be coming into the house to help. They were likely looking for the second one before he or she could get inside as well.
Since there could be two of them working together, did that mean this was Jennifer and Elijah? Or, heck, Jennifer and Shane?
Maybe.
But it could be none of them if they’d gone the route of hiring thugs to do their dirty work. That didn’t make the situation any less dangerous. Just the opposite. Because they might not be dealing with amateurs but rather trained killers.
That thought was eating at her like acid, so she had to nudge it aside. Addie also had to tamp down her breathing so that she didn’t risk hyperventilating.
Her heartbeat was a problem, too.
It was so loud in her ears that it was making it hard for her to hear, which was critical when it came to stopping someone trying to get in through the windows or approaching up the hall.
She kept a firm grip on her gun. Stayed vigilant. Listening. Waiting. She also calculated that it’d been less than two minutes since she’d first heard that sound of the breaking glass.
Not long.
But it felt like an eternity.
If Judson had heard the glass, too, he would have likely made his way off the roof by now and was racing through the attic to get to the ladder in the second-floor hall. So, Addie listened for his footsteps as well.
And she heard something.
After a few more seconds, there was a heavy thud above her. Maybe the sound of Judson dropping from that ladder to the floor. If so, he would have immediately broken into a run, which meant he’d be here in under a minute.
And that caused every muscle in her body to twist and knot.
Mercy. Judson could be running straight into the killer. In fact, the killer might be waiting in the shadows to gun Judson down. Then, he or she would have a clearer path to getting to her.
She was about to call out to Judson, to warn him, but as she opened her mouth, the night-light blinked off. So did the overhead light in the hall, plunging them into total darkness.
Oh, God.
The killer had done this.
Had somehow managed to cut the power. Which wouldn’t have been hard to do, if he or she had gotten to the fuse box on the kitchen wall.
But then she remembered something. One of the ranch hands was supposed to be in the kitchen. Had the killer knocked him out? Or murdered him? She prayed not, but if he was capableof it, the hand would have probably called out to let them know there was immediate danger.
Once again, Addie had to try to level her breathing so she could stay focused and listen. And she soon heard something.
Footsteps.
