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It could be nothing—between the downpour shooting raindrops like bullets and the wind blasting waves across the ocean, it could’ve been Mother Nature.
As if emphasizing this point, lightning and thunder make themselves known again. For a split second the ground floor illuminates in a flash of white light among the dark and the deep rumble from the thunder tells us there’s more to come.
In the few minutes since the power’s gone out, my eyes have adjusted to the darkness. A cold chill ices the air now that we’re without the central heating. Part of me wants to turn to Delphine and tell her to go upstairs and lock the bedroom door.
Then I remember how, only a minute ago, I was about to flip the fuck out because I assumed she had mysteriously gone missing. It might be better if we stick together. At least ’til I know what the hell is going on.
At the bottom of the stairs, I’m at a crossroads, standing in the middle of the hall. Left leads to the front of the beach house. Right leads toward the back. I point the flashlight from my phone in either direction, verifying nothing’s off.
Probably really is just a power outage.
Though I can’t place a call to security or the electric company to confirm. The reception has gone out on my phone, dropping to zero bars.
“Where’s the electrical panel in this house?” I ask Delphine, pocketing my phone.
“In the basement.”
“Which I get to by?”
“Outside. The cellar doors on the side of the house.”
I glance at her from over my shoulder. Even in the dark, she gets what the look means.
“Not the most convenient location, I know. My mom meant to have the house remodeled when she inherited it, but the project never seemed important enough. And you know how often I’ve bothered coming up here.”
We walk down the hall into the kitchen as another burst of lightning flashes and then fades just as quickly. Delphine shadows me, half a step behind.
I peer out the rain-speckled glass portion of the door and locate the sloped hatch in the ground she’s talking about. They’re almost entirely out of view from where we stand—about a twenty-foot trek in the pouring rain to reach them and make it inside.
Her slender fingers bunch up tightly in the back of my shirt. “Jon, let’s just go upstairs. It’s probably an island-wide power outage. No use messing with the circuit breaker.”
“Stay here. I’m going to be quick. You see me running back, open the door, let me in. I’m about to be soaked.”
I don’t give her a chance to protest.
I wrench the door open and take off, crossing over to the side of the house. I’m soaked through within seconds. The downpour’s bone-chilling, a heavy spray of cold water that feels like a plunge into an ice lake.
It’s only as I’m coming up on the basement doors that I realize I’m not alone.
Delphine’s followed me.
“Phi,” I grit out. “What the fuck are you doing? You were supposed to stay inside.”
Not that I should be surprised—she’s known to do what she wants even when she shouldn’t.
I pry open the doors in the ground and descend the stairs, shining my cell phone’s flashlight into the dark abyss below. “Stay here. I mean it.”
This time she listens. She stays on the top few stairs as I head deeper into the basement and check out the electrical panel.
It’s a waste of time. There’s no blown fuse. The power really is out.
I emerge up the stairs, positioning myself behind Delphine as if I’ll somehow be able to shield her from the rain. It’s no use considering we’re both drenched.
But we run. She darts back inside while I pause quickly to slam shut the sloped basement doors.
Lightning brightens the grayish, purpled sky. It’s in the flash that I notice it—sunken into one of the steeper sand dunes on the beach is my security crew’s patrol truck.
Both guys on duty have gotten out and are attempting to push the truck out of the wet sand.
