They’re here! whispered the voice. They’ve come for you!
Faith’s whole body shook violently. He was downstairs, walking around, looking for her.
Remember the trial? said her now-panicked friend. Remember how he told you to be quiet and you weren’t? He’s free now! And his partner is, too. There’s more than one, Faith. That guy drugged you and tried to kill you. Drugged you. That’s why you feel so sick right now. You can’t think straight because you’ve been drugged. Poisoned. Now they’re gonna come up here and take you and chop you up. Chop. You. Up.
She heard footsteps on the stairs. She put her hand over her mouth to hold in the scream.
She crawled back into the closet and closed the door. She backed up until she hit the wall and the pile of Jarrod’s suits. The police! Call the police! The thought finally made it through the sludge. But she had no phone. It was too late to call for help. She covered herself in Jarrod’s clothes and tried to hide.
Did the murderers know that Jarrod had left her? Did they know she was all alone?
Yes, that’s why they’re here! answered the voice.
What would they do? Would they drag her out and finish her off here in her own bedroom?
Chop, chop, chop, said the voice. Remember what that woman said about her daughter? ‘I don’t even have all the pieces …’
The bedroom door opened. She could hear it. They called her name. They called her to come out.
The closet door opened. She squinted as the light from the bedroom flooded the closet. A large faceless figure stood in the doorway.
‘Where the hell—’
She pulled the trigger. The muzzle flashed, and the closet exploded. Her body slammed back against the wall. Her ears rang. She could hear nothing, only the awful ringing, like a thousand church bells in her head. She sat up.
There’s two of them! screamed the voice.
She looked about frantically, untangling herself from Jarrod’s suits and the dresses that had fallen down on her. She picked up the gun again and aimed.
Maggie was standing over the body that was lying motionless on the floor of her closet.
Faith still couldn’t hear, but she didn’t need sound to see that Maggie was screaming.