My stomach tightened as I looked into the dark. I had no idea what I would find there, but there certainly wasn’t any way out from where I was standing.

I forged ahead.

The cat stayed with me, following by my side. I had no idea what I was looking for, but maybe I could find a door that led outside. Or upstairs. Although, if I was in the Bates mansion as I suspected, going upstairs could be fatal.

“Mew.” I heard the soft sound behind me and realized the cat had stopped. I turned, barely able to make her white form out in the dark. She was standing next to the wall … no, not next to it—half-way inside it!

I bent down to find a crack in the wall. It was about five inches, big enough for the cat to wriggle through. She disappeared behind it, the reappeared a few seconds later.

“Meow!” She jerked her tail at me.

“Sure, I’d love to follow you, but it’s too small. Guess I shouldn’t have had dessert last night.” I stuck my arm through and tried to wedge my shoulder in. It just wasn’t big enough.

I pulled my arm out … or tried to. It was stuck.

“Meow.” The cat weaved around my ankles.

“Yeah, thanks. This is just great.” I jerked my arm and it came free, but not before I felt the stones shift slightly.

Was it my imagination … or had the opening widened?

I put my arm in again and this time more of my shoulder fit through. I wriggled and pushed. Pain shot through my bad leg as I used it for leverage, but it worked. The crack opened up enough for me to fit and I slid in.

I was in a narrow passageway. The cat flicked her tail impatiently before me as I stifled a sneeze from the dust tickling my nose. I could barely make out a set of stairs in front of me. At the top, thin slats of light that I assumed were coming from between the boards that made the passage allowed for minimum visibility.

Where was the light coming from?

The cat started up the steps and I followed.

We got to the top and there was an intersection. I peered through one of the lighted gaps into a large kitchen. It was empty, but the stainless steel appliances gleamed on top of black and white checked tile.

I limped a few more feet and peeked through another gap. This one revealed a sitting room decorated in pale blue. I realized I must have been in a secret passageway somewhere inside the house. All I needed to do was find a way out, hopefully in an unoccupied room with a door to the outside so I could make a clean get-away.