Finally, she speaks. “It stinks like hell up here.”
“You get used to it,” I tell her.
I heave myself up.
“Go slow,” Emily cautions.
So we do. We climb the last two steps, and I duck my head before stepping into the darkness. Behind me, Emily starts gagging. “God!” She presses her sleeve over her mouth and nose. “What on earth is that smell?” She squints at something, leaning forward. “And what the bloody hell is on that wall?”
I don’t answer. I pull my phone out of my pocket, flick the torch on, and freeze.
Emily finally stops gagging and creeps over to me. “What’s wrong?” she whispers through her sleeve.
The hairs on my arms shoot up. I stand very still at the top of the stairs, heart thudding. “Look!” I shine the weak light at the floorboards.
“Oh my God.” Her fingers dig into my shoulder. There in the dust are footprints.Dozensof them. It looks like someone’s been pacing in here. Pacing in frenzied circles, back and forth, back and forth, like a crazy person.
“We should get out of here,” Emily hisses, grabbing my hand.
I pull away, shuffling forward. I lift my hand and direct the beam toward the back of the attic, where the cradle sits.
Oh my God. Shakily, I raise a finger and point to the cradle. Tacked to the headboard is another damn note.
“Stop!” Emily grabs my hand desperately, but I march forward, heart lurching. I bend down, rip the note from the headboard, and shine the torch on it.
Emily scurries over. “What does it say?”
The words are small and scribbled like the person who wrote it was in a hurry.
My name is Amanda Vale.
There’s something wrong with this house. No one believes me.
They come at night.
SHOCKING TWIST IN BLACK WOOD CASE:
JOE COSGROVE FOUND ALIVE
July 5
ABC News, Melbourne
Joe Cosgrove, husband of author Sarah Slade, has been found alive. The twenty-three-year-old Beacon resident was presumed dead by the public after two bodies were found at Black Wood House. The bartender had not been seen or heard from in over two weeks.
But in a shocking twist, Cosgrove has turned up in Beacon, alive and well after camping in a remote part of Victoria.
Beacon residents aren’t convinced. “It’s a bit convenient, isn’t it? Who suddenly decides to go camping before two bodies are found in your own house?”
“I don’t trust him,” said another resident. “There’s something about him that rubs me the wrong way.”
“Now that a next of kin has been found,” a source said, “police can finally tell us whether the body is Sarah Slade’s.”
Chapter 34
Emily
The note makes no sense. I got home from Sarah’s a few hours ago, but it’s impossible to sleep. Not after all that mess at her place. I roll over, staring at the empty spot where Gabe sleeps. He took the kids to his dad’s, finally. I’ve been asking for months. I love the kids, but God, they wear me out. And lately…I stare at the flaking paint on the ceiling and add it to my endless to-do list…. Lately, I feel like I give so much to everyone else that there’s nothing left for me.
