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There should have been cobwebs, Sonya thought. But the basement proved as clean as the rest of the house.
“Molly keeps busy.” Sonya stuck close to Cleo.
“If you didn’t watch so many horror movies, you wouldn’t be thinking of Freddie or Jason or, who is it, Michael Myers.”
“Don’t say the names!”
She heard the men talking about tankless water heaters, furnaces, support beams. And headed in that direction.
At the top of the stairs, the door slammed shut.
And the lights went out.
“Oh shit, oh God. Jesus. Cleo?” She groped for Cleo’s hand, gripped it.
“I’m here. Where—”
Since Cleo’s voice came from the left, and the hand she held was on her right, Sonya didn’t even think about stopping the scream.
Whirling, she ran into someone—something—screamed again.
“It’s me! It’s me!” Cleo held tight, and they heard feet running. Saw dim light bouncing.
“Sonya!”
“Something’s in here.”
When Trey reached her, he wrapped one arm around her, held his phone with the flashlight in the other. Beyond the door, the dogs barked like maniacs.
“Are you hurt?”
“No, no, but—”
“Got your phone?”
“Yes, sorry, yes. The door. The lights.”
She fumbled out her phone as Owen moved past her and toward the steps. “Locked, from the other side.”
“There were tools in the back.”
“Why don’t you get those? We’ll take it off the hinges.”
“We’re fine,” Trey told Cleo. “Just give me a minute.”
“Wait.” Cleo held up a hand as the lights flickered. “Try the door again.”
“I just did.”
“Again,” she snapped. “Look at the lights. She’s either finished or she can’t keep it up. Try it.”
When the knob turned in his hand, he glanced back at her. “You’re right.”
The lights came on full as he opened the door. The dogs jumped, wagged, shivered. Since she didn’t consider pride an issue, Sonya took the stairs two at a time.
“I’m sorry. I panicked. But she can have the Gold Room and the basement. When the lights went out, I took someone’s hand, and it wasn’t Cleo’s because she was on the other side of me.
“I’m going up,” she added. “It wasn’t Cleo’s or either of yours. I took someone’s hand. I held it.”
