AllFreeNovel
Share Us
FRIDAY
Sasha
Sasha’s scream pierces the night. She was outside when she ran into the detective. Jen didn’t scream but Sasha gave her a scare.
‘What are you doing here?’ Jen snaps. ‘We told you to stay inside.’
‘I can’t stay in the house on my own. He might still be in there, or he might creep back in. I’m afraid he’ll hurt me.’ She doesn’t need to try to sound convincing because it’s not a lie. If Olly finds her, she’s pretty sure he’ll hurt her. She’s got to hand it to him, she never expected him to flee. She thought he would stand his ground, try to talk himself out of trouble. She feels as if he’s outwitted her. Her betrayal of him hasn’t quite worked out as expected. She hoped he would be in handcuffs by now, or at least being questioned, giving her a chance to plan her next move.
Hal arrives, out of breath, and Finn is there a few seconds behind him. ‘Is everyone okay?’ Hal asks.
‘It’s nothing. I ran into Sasha out here,’ Jen says. ‘After I asked her to stay inside.’
‘Please,’ Sasha says. ‘I don’t feel safe on my own. Can I stay with you?’
‘Jen,’ Hal says. ‘Could you drive her to the Barn? She can sit tight with Nicole and Anna.’
Sasha would rather be here, where she can steer the police away from the septic tank if necessary. She also doesn’t want to be on her own, and she very much doesn’t want to be at the Barn. She needs to get her head and her story straight before she sees Anna or Nicole again.
‘Don’t you need me here?’ she asks. ‘I know this place way better than any of you.’
82
FRIDAY
Nicole
Nicole and Anna look at one another. The dot on Nicole’s phone remains in the sauna.
‘Can you lock him in there with the app?’ Anna whispers.
‘I don’t know,’ Nicole says. ‘I don’t think the sauna door has a lock. It’s a safety measure.’
‘Can you lock him in that area of the house?’
‘I can try.’
She brings up the menu and they look at the options. The house is divided into zones. Nicole taps on ‘Fitness Suite’ and gets menus relating to lighting and climate control. There are also specific controls for the steam room and sauna so you can turn them on and off.
‘Go back to “Security”,’ Anna suggests.
They look at the security options. It’s hard to see one that will lock internal doors.
She checks the plan. The dot remains in the sauna. But for how long? Hopefully the lights coming on spooked him and he reckons his best bet is to stay there if he wants to remain undetected. Nicole doesn’t think he knows she saw him. She feels sick at the thought of him hiding in her home.
‘Should we call the police?’ Anna asks.
‘Just a minute,’ Nicole says.
She returns to the main menu.Think, she tells herself. Tom was proud of their systems; he over-specced every one of them. There must be something she can do to confine Olly to the fitness suite.Come on, Tom, she implores him, in her head.Tell me what to do.
Her eyes run down the options once more. What she needs must be in the ‘Security’ menu. She taps on it again and focuses.
Anna points. ‘What about this?’ she asks.
Nicole taps on an option titled ‘Emergency’ and it offers her two choices: ‘Lockdown’ and ‘Alert emergency services’.
‘Shall I?’ she asks, her finger hovering over the ‘Lockdown’ button. Anna nods.
