“He’ll understand. But we’ll walk around first, see if anything is unlocked.”
None of the doors were unlocked, probably because the police had been here earlier this morning. So Ryan broke one of the small window panes in the mudroom, reached in, and unlocked the door.
They walked in dripping water onto the tile floor and Avery breathed a sigh of relief, even though the house was eerily silent. Not even the hum of an appliance. Except one faint tick of a grandfather clock, the pendulum moving back and forth. She shivered.
Ryan flipped a light switch. Nothing. He tried another. Still nothing.
He walked over to the telephone on the wall and picked it up. “Phone’s out, no dial tone.”
“I need to call my mom, let her know that I’m okay.” Her voice cracked. Avery had been trying not to think about her family as she and Ryan walked here, and fortunately there had been enough to distract her. But now she was so close to home… yet it was almost impossible to get there. What if her mom or Jake went out to look for her? What if one of them got caught up in one of the flooded ditches? Or stuck in the mud? Or trapped by one of the many fallen trees? Or what if they knew someone had kidnapped her, because by now they would have gone to the Mendozas, right? Since Ryan had talked to Jake about Bobby being stuck in the equipment shed.
“My mom’s probably freaking out,” Avery said. “I have to find a way to let her know I’m okay.”
“My dad, too,” Ryan said. “We need to get out of these clothes, then we’ll look for a radio. Baldwin has to have one someplace.” He took off his boots and left them in the mudroom. Avery followed suit. She felt weird being here with Ryan. She of course knewBaldwin’s house well and had been here many times, but never alone. Even when she and Lyla fed and exercised his horses when he was out of town, they never went inside the house.
“Um, Greg’s bedroom is at the top of the stairs to the right. I’ll go to Monica’s room.” Monica was Greg’s daughter and close to Avery in size and shape. They started up the stairs together. “This feels so weird,” she muttered.
“Yeah,” Ryan concurred. “But what choice do we have? I don’t think Greg would mind.”
“No, he won’t,” Avery said. “I really hope he’s going to be okay.”
They parted ways at the top of the stairs. Avery went to Monica’s bathroom, stripped off her clothes, and hung them over the edge of the tub, though she’d probably throw everything out. Her shirt was stained, her jeans torn, even her underwear had holes in it.
She grabbed a towel and dried off. Her skin was cold and raw from the wind and rain; her hair a frizzy mess, her eyes looked bruised. Ugh. The insides of her thighs were so severely chafed they were blistered and bleeding.
She searched through the medicine cabinet and found petroleum jelly. She lathered it on the chafed skin. Though it still hurt, it felt so much better.
Avery opened the dresser, awkward and embarrassed and vowing to send Monica flowers or something as a thank-you and an apology all at the same time.
Monica was a senior in college, but fortunately visited often enough that she still had some clothes here. Avery put on underwear, found sweatpants, which felt much better than jeans against her damaged skin, and a long-sleeved T-shirt that was just a little too big. She brushed her thick, frizzy hair as best she could and then braided it down her back. She slid on a pair of wool socks and they felt amazing, though her feet were still cold, blistered, and sore.
She stepped out into the hall as Ryan emerged from Greg Baldwin’s room, tugging at a pair of sweatpants that were far too big on him. Avery grinned as he pulled the drawstrings as tight as possible.
“I feel like a kid wearing my dad’s clothes,” he grumbled.
She looped her arm in his. “Let’s find a radio. I’ll look in the kitchen, you look in his office.”
They split at the bottom of the stairs. Five minutes later, Avery found a radio in the pantry, oddly behind baking supplies.
“Ryan! Found it!”
He came into the kitchen looking sullen.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she turned on the radio. It came to life; the batteries were working.
“There was dried blood on the floor of this office.”
She shivered, then reached out and touched his arm. “I’m sorry.”
“They really are bad guys,” he said. “They shot himandhis dog. And they took you.” He held her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed it. She felt him shaking. “All for nothing.”
“They didn’t take anything?”
He shrugged. “I mean they probably did, I don’t know what it was. My dad texted me this morning when I was at school, so I don’t have details. He just said something like they made a mess but didn’t take his guns, which are right out in the open. But these people hadyou, Avery. They could have killed you.”
A chill went down her spine. “They didn’t,” she said and gave him a hug.
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
