CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

 

The phone rang again at six-ten a.m. and Selene’s eyes popped wide open. Her mind was alert, as she hadn’t been able to sleep soundly after the last call. Her thoughts had shifted between disbelief and repeating the caller’s chilling words.

Now she feared he was calling again. She tried to will the phone to stop ringing.

After three rings, Quinn woke up. Selene sensed him looking at her in the morning light while she pretended to be asleep. He sat up and waited a moment, as if trying to decide whether or not to answer it.

When Quinn reached across her, Selene made no attempt to stop him from grabbing the phone, deciding that this was too much for her to handle alone. She listened as Quinn practically yelled into the receiver, “Hello!”

Opening her eyes, as if his voice had given her permission, Selene waited for the ball to drop. She watched the changing expressions on Quinn’s face as he listened to the caller.

“Hold on,” Quinn said and handed the phone to Selene. “It’s for you.”

Selene gulped and asked tentatively, “Who is it this early in the morning?”

“It’s Harriet.”

A sense of relief swept over Selene that it wasn’t the man with the muffled, scary voice. Maybe he was just a crank caller after all who got some perverse thrill out of phoning women living in The Woods with such a terrible accusation, hoping for a reaction.

She took the phone, never taking the time to consider why Harriet would be phoning at this hour.

“Hi, Harriet.” Selene made her voice sound pleasant, not wanting Quinn, who was watching her, to know how terrified she had been a moment ago.

Selene’s relief vanished when Harriet told her that S.A.W. House was on fire.