“Still no service,” she grunts. She looks up at the door and calls out, “Shane, you said there’s a landline, right? Where is it? We have to call the police.”

“It’s next to the bookcase!” he calls back.

Quick as a flash, Kayla goes over to the bookcase. She picks up a cordless phone. She pushes a button on the phone and presses it against her ear. She frowns, pulls the phone away from her ear, and presses another button.

“Shane!” Her voice has taken on a hysterical edge. “The phone isn’t working!”

A crack of thunder shakes the house, although it is softer than earlier in the evening.

“Shane!” Kayla screams.

After a few seconds, Shane comes into the house, slamming the screen door behind him. His face is slightly pink and his hair and shirt are damp. He strides over to where Kayla is standing with the cordless phone and grabs it out of her hand. Kayla watches him, wringing her hands together.

“It’s dead,” he declares. “Storm must have damaged the phone lines.”

Kayla’s eyes fly around the room. “So there’s no way to call the police?”

“No.”

She shakes her head. “Then I’m getting out of here. Chelsea, where are the keys to your car?”

Shane presses his lips together. “Kayla, will you calm down for a minute?”

Lightning flashes, illuminating Kayla’s small face, making her look almost demonic. “No, I will not calm down. Someone was just murdered in this house, and now the power and the phone are out. I’m getting the hell out of here right now. If you don’t want to come, I’ll send a police car when I get back to town.”

Shane grimaces. “Kayla…”

Kayla gives him a look. “We need to leave, Shane. Why don’t you want us to leave?”

Kayla makes a good point. We don’t want to leave a crime scene, but we have to contact the police. And if the phone lines are down, we have to drive to the station. My parents are going to absolutely demolish me when they find out what I’ve been doing tonight, but I can’t think about that. Someone is dead.

And there’s a very real chance that somebody in this room is responsible.

Chelsea rises to her feet, her eyes still moist. “Kayla is right. We have to get out of here. I don’t know who did this…” She raises her eyes to look at Shane, and then at Tim, who is lingering in the doorway. “But we are obviously in some kind of danger. We need to get out of here.”

I concur.