“Sharon!” I climb on my hands and knees up the stairs, my pulse beating in my ears, fear coursing through my veins. I can’t breathe. I think I hear him behind me. I hear him scuttling in the darkness. A gust of cold air hits the back of my neck as I rush up the stairs.

I reach the top step, clamber to standing, and grab the doorknob, twist, but it holds fast. It’s locked. I choke on my tears and beat against the door with my fists. It’s like a flashback, a nightmare. I’m locked in, and there’s no escape.

Finally, the door flies open, and Hayes is standing silhouetted against the light behind him.

“Molly!”

I nearly jump into his arms, shaking.

“What the hell happened?” He brushes my damp hair off my face. “What were you doing down there? Sharon said you went home.” He walks me to the counter and hands me his water bottle.

Alice comes out of the office. “What happened?”

My pulse eases down, and I feel foolish. They’re both looking at me, concern all over their faces. “I don’t know. I got locked down there somehow.” I try to stifle my tears. “Panic attack, I guess.”

Hayes hugs me, and I take a deep breath against his sweater.

“After all you’ve been through,” he says, “no wonder you got scared.”

I peep over his shoulder and out the plate-glass front window. The man with the Frankenstein book is standing across the road under a streetlight looking up at the store.

CHAPTER 38 - Molly

CHAPTER 38

Molly

WHEN I WAKE UP, IT’S NEARLY ELEVEN A.M. HAYES DROVE ME HOME last night and sat up with me until midnight. We shared a bottle of pinot noir and talked about books and movies, our favorite topics during normal times, while Alice watched a documentary on the rain forest on TV. Finally, I felt sleepy, like a child who’d cried herself out, and they went home.

The afternoon is gray, with thick winter clouds, but no snow other than what’s already on the ground. I plug in the Christmas tree, and the white lights and colorful ornaments twinkle. I really should take it down, but I can’t. Not yet. It’ll seem like another way of putting Jay away, wrapping him up and moving on.

My doorbell chimes, and I rush to my laptop to check the camera. Kim. Shit. I haven’t seen her since before I discovered Josh and Laken at the spa. We’ve spoken a few times on the phone, but I made the conversations short.

We sit in the kitchen after hugs at the door. She seems okay. Josh must not have told her yet. Damn him.

“I wanted to make sure you were all right after what happened at the mountain house,” Kim says.