So what did I do then when there was no answer? Of course, I acted out scary movie cliche number two. I ran upstairs on my own. My feet thumped on the stairs, their beat only a little louder and more frantic than my heart. As soon as I reached the top, I called my aunt’s name again. There was still no answer. And unlike that famous scene in Psycho, no homicidal maniac with a big, long knife jumped out to stab me in the heart.

But as I started to approach the closed door to my aunt’s room, a long-fingered hand suddenly grasped me hard by the elbow.

“Maddy, don’t run off like that,” Roger said.

Mr. Patel was close behind him. They had come up the stairs after me. The two of them apparently were unwilling to follow the “Let’s split up and get gruesomely killed one at a time” scenario.

I took a deep breath. I needed to get a grip on myself and start acting like I still had some sense. I closed my eyes for a moment, listening for the memory of my dad’s voice, thinking what he would say to me right now.

Be calm, Nittaunis. Maumaneeteantass. Be of good courage.

“You’re right,” I said.

“We will stay together now,” Mr. Patel said, looking down over Roger’s shoulder at me. “Yes?”

I nodded my agreement. Then, together, the three of us thoroughly checked out each of the five upstairs rooms. We looked behind the doors, in the closets, under the beds, and in the stand-up wardrobes. We even peered up at the ceilings, but all we saw hanging there were a few small spiderwebs, no Dracula-fanged black-robed figures waiting to fall on us from above.

Together we went back down the stairs. There was still no sound of approaching police sirens. I looked at the hall clock. It seemed as if we had been looking for my aunt for hours, but our search had taken us no more than five minutes so far. We made a semicircle through the house, walking through the entranceway, the sitting room, the front dining room, the small back porch, the closet under the stairs. Just as before, we found nothing. No sign of Aunt Lyssa, not even her purse.

But there was one more place to look. The one place I had unconsciously saved until last because I didn’t want it to be the place where we had to go. As we entered the kitchen, I opened the cupboard and pulled out the largest flashlight, an electric lantern that was as big as a club.