The baboon had been in this room, too—its bloody tracks were everywhere—but it seemed to have left the body alone. There were no scratches or bite marks on the skin. Lauren’s dad must’ve been dead by the time the thing got loose.

Sam looked at Dani. He was trying to think of what to say, when suddenly she flinched hard and drew back from the corpse, just barely suppressing a scream. Sam followed her stare to the body.

Its eyes were open and looking up at Dani.

A second later the man coughed, and shifted his focus back and forth between the two of them.

“Oh my God,” Dani said. “Oh my God … we need to get him help … an ambulance…”

Sam was nodding, already backing toward the doorway. “If you want to stay with him, I’ll ride to town and call 9-1-1.”

“Do it.”

But before Sam could turn to run, the man shook his head violently from side to side.

“No,” he croaked, his voice hardly stronger than a whisper.

Sam hesitated. He traded a look with Dani. Then Dani knelt and took hold of the injured man’s hand.

She spoke gently. “Mr. Coleman, you need a doctor.”

The man coughed again. He drew a breath, which seemed to require all the effort he could muster.

“I’ll be dead either way,” he whispered.

“We have to try,” Dani said.

Mr. Coleman shook his head again. “You have to listen.”

His voice was getting weaker by the word.

Dani looked at Sam, then back at the dying man.

“But Mr. Coleman—”

He suddenly gripped her hand harder. His frail arm shook with the exertion.

“If you care about Lauren…” he whispered, “listen.”

Dani stopped protesting. She met the man’s stare and nodded.

Sam returned to Dani’s side and knelt down next to her, and waited for the man to speak again.

Mr. Coleman’s eyes defocused as he considered what he had to say. Sam guessed he was trying to put it in the fewest words possible. He only had so many left.

“Is it still Thursday?” the man whispered.

Sam and Dani both nodded.

“What time?”

“A little after eleven,” Sam said. “In the morning.”

Mr. Coleman seemed relieved by that answer. He gathered his thoughts for another few seconds, then said, “There’s a barn. Out by the old schoolhouse.”

“Echo House?” Dani said. “The barn near there?”

Mr. Coleman nodded. “Tonight. Two in the morning. You have to be … watching.”

By the last few words he was barely audible. Both Sam and Dani were leaning close above him, straining to hear.

“You want us to watch the barn near Echo House at two in the morning?” Dani said. “Is Lauren going to be there?”

Mr. Coleman nodded.

“Can we just call the police and get them out there?” Dani said. “Or get a message to someone in charge around here?”