“What do you say we go home tomorrow? I think we’ve stayed here long enough.”

“I like it here. And Aunt Nellie will be lonely.”

“She’ll have Eunice back again tomorrow. And besides, I have to get back to my work.”

“Can’t we stay a little longer? “

“We’ll see.”

Vicky pouted. “’We’ll see.’ Whenever you say ’We’ll see’ it ends up meaning’no.’ “

“Not always,” Gia said with a laugh, knowing that Vicky was right. The child was getting too sharp for her. “But we’ll see. Okay?”

Reluctantly: “Okay.”

She put Vicky back between the covers. As she went to the door to switch off the light she thought of Nellie in the bedroom below. She could not imagine anyone sleeping through Vicky’s screams, yet Nellie had not called up to ask what was wrong. Gia turned on the hall light and leaned over the bannister. Nellie’s door was open and her bedroom dark. It didn’t seem possible she could still be asleep.

Uneasy now, Gia started down the stairs.

“Where’re you going, Mommy?” Vicky asked with a frightened voice from the bed.

“Just down to Aunt Nellie’s room for a second. I’ll be right back.”

Poor Vicky, she thought. She really got a scare.

Gia stood at Nellie’s door. It was dark and still within. Nothing out of the ordinary except an odor… a faint whiff of putrefaction. Nothing to fear, yet she was afraid. Hesitantly, she tapped on the doorjamb.

“Nellie?”

No answer.

“Nellie, are you all right?”

When only silence answered her, she reached inside the door and found the light switch. She hesitated, afraid of what she might find. Nellie wasn’t young. What if she had died in her sleep? She seemed to be in good health, but you never knew. And that odor, faint as it was, made her think of death. Finally she could wait no longer. She flipped the switch.

The bed was empty. It obviously had been slept in—the pillow was rumpled, the covers pulled down—but there was no sign of Nellie. Gia stepped around to the far side of the bed, walking as if she expected something to rise out of the rug and attack her. No… Nellie was not lying on the floor. Gia turned to the bathroom. It stood open and empty.

Frightened now, she ran downstairs, going from room to room, turning on all the lights in each, calling Nellie’s name over and over. She headed back upstairs, checking Grace’s empty room on the second floor, and the other guest room on the third.

Empty. All empty.

Nellie was gone—just like Grace!

Gia stood in the hall, shivering, fighting panic, unsure of what to do. She and Vicky were alone in a house from which people disappeared without a sound or a trace—

Vicky!

Gia rushed to their bedroom. The light was still on. Vicky lay curled up under the sheet, sound asleep. Thank God! She sagged against the doorframe, relieved yet still afraid. What to do now? She went out to the phone on the hall table. She had Jack’s number and he had said to call if she needed him. But he was in South Jersey and couldn’t be here for hours. Gia wanted somebody here now. She didn’t want to stay alone with Vicky in this house for a minute longer than she had to.