Amy followed the beam of Basil’s flashlight across the Bright and Shining Path to the Sylbian bedroom display. It was purple with white trim that made it look like an elderly woman’s guest bedroom, and Amy had always imagined that it smelled like lavender. In the back left-hand corner was a doorway leading to a short hall fitted with the Mesonxic closet organization system. That’s where Carl stood, staring at them.

“You really scared us,” Basil said.

Amy could see the wound pulled across Carl’s throat, his blood black in the flashlight beam. His eyes were bulging. One of his eyes had rolled up inside his skull so that only the white was showing, while the other stared sightlessly up and to the left. Still grinning, he stood completely motionless.

Then Carl raised one hand and beckoned them closer.

“Oh, crap,” Amy said.

“We’re getting out of here,” Matt said.

Carl slipped sideways into the walk-in closet, disappearing from view. Basil started forward, taking the light with him. Matt grabbed his arm. “Amy’s right,” he said. “This is crazy. Let’s leave this for the professionals.”

“I am a professional,” Basil said. “This is what being a professional means. You can’t just walk away from a disaster and hope someone else cleans it up.”

He went after Carl, and Matt and Amy followed. Staying in the darkness was not an option. If Basil had the light, they had to follow. They stepped into the Sylbian bedroom set and the maple floor creaked beneath their feet. They walked to the rear of the bedroom display, the air getting thicker with every step, and rounded the corner into the narrow closet.

The short hallway was designed to showcase the Mesonxic closet storage system—a series of shelves, cubbies, drawers, and hanging rods that made optimal use of even the smallest space. Three white dress shirts on display hangers swayed slightly in a cold breeze. At the end of the narrow purple hallway was another fake wooden door, like the one Amy had shown Ruth Anne earlier. A cheap optical illusion cut into drywall to fool the eye.

The door was ajar.

“I’m going to throw up,” Amy said.

“Not on the stock,” Basil said.

“It doesn’t open,” Amy said. “That door doesn’t open. It can’t open.”

Basil pulled on the handle and the door swung open, revealing the entrance to a long dark hallway. Until he’d opened the door all the way, Amy could pretend that maybe this was just a mirage, a weird shadow, something to do with the EMF stuff Matt had been talking about. But this was no trick. This hallway couldn’t be here. This hallway was impossible.

And if this door opened, what about the other fake doors? What about the fake windows? If she went around the store and lifted all the blinds, what would she see?