“You didn’t know.”
“But I should have. You’re my best friend. I should have trusted you.” Lila took a shaky breath. “Can I come see you? Bring you anything?”
“No. It’s not safe. Just...stay where you are. Stay away from my work, my apartment, anywhere someone might be watching.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“I’m scared too.” The admission came easier than Nora expected. “But the detective—Carson—he’s keeping me safe. He’s going to catch the other guy. It’s going to be okay.”
“This detective. You trust him?”
Nora thought about Carson’s hands on her face. His promise that they’d finish their conversation. The way he kissed her like she was something precious.
“Yes,” she said. “I trust him completely.”
They talked for a few more minutes before Nora ended the call. She felt better for having told Lila the truth. For letting someone else carry a piece of this burden.
A knock at the door made her jump.
“Ms. Bell?” Officer Euton’s voice. “Detective Black asked me to check on you. Are you okay in there?”
“I’m fine.” Nora moved to the door but didn’t open it. “Has there been any news?”
“Not yet. But the detective should be back soon.”
Nora returned to the bed and pulled out her laptop, trying to distract herself with work emails. But she couldn’t focus. Every sound in the hallway made her tense. Every shadow made her pulse spike.
She was safe. Carson said she was safe.
So why did she feel like she was being watched?
Why did every instinct in her body scream that something was wrong?
The lights in the room flickered once. Twice.
Then went out completely.
Nora froze in the darkness, her heart hammering.
“Euton?” she called toward the door. “Did the power just go out?”
No response.
“Euton!”
Still nothing.
Nora fumbled for her phone, using the flashlight to navigate to the door. She looked through the peephole.
The hallway was dark. And Euton was gone.
Terror flooded through her. She grabbed her phone with shaking hands and dialed Carson.
It rang once. Twice.
Then the connecting door to the adjoining room—the one Carson had left unlocked—opened.
A figure stood in the doorway, backlit by emergency lighting from the hallway.
