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She looked to the door, drew her weapon, then reminded herself that the alarm had been on so no one could be inside.
She slipped her car keys in her back pocket, raised her weapon, and crept toward the door. She waited for the jingle of Miss Casino’s bell, but it didn’t come and her chest squeezed a little tighter.
Something was wrong.
She paused at the door, listening.
The only noise she heard was her heartbeat whooshing through her ears.
She gently, silently, turned the doorknob and opened the door.
No bell, no jingle.
Anna crept forward, moving toward the kitchen.
The house was cold and quiet, like it should be, but it felt different tonight.
She began to doubt herself. Maybe meeting up with an FBI agent was causing her mind to play tricks on her.
She paused in the hallway, holding her breath as her ears strained to listen, but she didn’t hear a thing—not a whisper of a breath.
She exhaled a shaky breath, peering around the corner.
The room was empty and everything was in place.
She continued on, glad she lived in a townhouse and not a huge house she’d have to spend an hour searching.
Anna paused at the closed bedroom door, which was closed like she always left it.
She squeezed her eyes shut, inhaled deeply, then turned the knob. It was empty.
She searched the spare bedroom, her bathroom, her closet. The house was empty, but where was Miss Casino?
Anna ran back to the kitchen and turned on the outside lights, her heart calming with relief when she saw her cat in the backyard. She opened the door and called out to her, but the cat didn’t come—she didn’t even look at her.
Anna moved toward her, her eyes narrowing as she realized Miss Casino was licking something. She lunged for her cat, pulling her away when she saw the bloody flesh. Her heart was in her throat and every inhale felt like fire in her lungs. It was a black cat with a pink collar and a bell.
It looked exactly like Miss Casino. Same collar.
She looked over her shoulder at her house, feeling eyes on her, but she couldn’t see anyone.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, then glanced at her house and back at her cat.
It could be a coincidence that this cat had the same collar, but it was not a coincidence that this cat—collar aside—resembled Miss Casino. She knelt, holding out her hand, and Miss Casino purred into it, nudging Anna’s hand as she always did. The collars hadn’t been switched. Miss Casino was alive. But someone was sending her a message—a threat. Her first thought was that she’d been followed to Jackson’s house. But if they knew that, this cat would’ve had a blue collar like the one that she’d seen in his backyard. Her heart raced and she fought to think clearly. This must be related to the killings in the maze. Maybe it was just intended to scare her, or maybe this was a show of what was going to happen to her. Her chest tightened and she felt ill.
She picked up Miss Casino, cradling her in her arms while she continued to stare at the bloody mess on her lawn. Eventually she walked to the side of the house, grabbed a shovel from the rack of tools she rarely used, and went to the garden bed. She dug a small hole, laid the cat in it, then covered it over with dirt.
She pressed the dirt down, her hands sinking into it.
At least the cat had been laid to rest. That was more than Olivia had been given.
As she looked at the small mound, the base of her neck tingled.
She was running out of time.
She knew it. It was no coincidence a cat exactly like hers had been slain in her backyard.
She looked back at her house once more.
