For a big man, Cooper was light on his feet. He had a big stride. Archie had to take two steps for each of his. But Archie caught up, and as he neared the door on Cooper’s heels, he could hear it, too—a muffled shuffling coming from the other side. Cold sweat tickled the back of his neck. He reflexively reached for his weapon, but his hand found only air. Cooper leaned a shoulder against the wall to the left of the door. The door opened in, and the doorknob was on the left-hand side. Cops learned to approach a closed door from whatever side the knob was on—that way you could avoid placing your body in front of the door, where you might get shot. Cooper was approaching the door like a cop. The next noise was louder. It was the sound of something or someone making contact with the other side of the door. Cooper lowered the elbow of his firing arm and moved his gun to his rib cage in a close-contact firing position.

Archie felt Susan come up behind him. “Get back,” he hissed at her. Her freckled face was pale. Over her shoulder Archie could see Karim, now standing, back near his place at the settee.

Susan didn’t move. Her eyes were fixed on something past Archie, something at the bottom of the door. He followed her gaze to the floor. The floor at the door’s threshold was darker than it should have been. Archie inched forward. It wasn’t a shadow. It wasn’t the grain of the wood. Archie glanced at Cooper. Cooper’s wild eyebrows lifted. Archie moved Susan against the wall behind him and then crouched as low as possible. Cooper was waiting, watching him, his hand poised to turn the doorknob. His breathing was slow and steady. There were no more sounds on the other side of the door. Archie reached and slid a finger along the crack where the door met the floor. His finger touched something wet. He knew by the feel of it that it was blood.

Archie heard Susan say something and felt Cooper shift, leaning closer. Something scraped against the other side of the door. The source of the noise was closer to the ground than the other sounds they’d heard—only a few inches above the floor. Cooper stepped back and aimed his weapon at the noise.

Archie looked at the blood on his finger and moved in front of the door directly into Cooper’s line of fire. He pressed his ear against the door and listened. He closed his eyes. He could hear the scraping noise again, louder. And then a faint rattling. It grew louder and then faded, and then repeated the pattern. It was breathing.