Chapter 4 Lori #2
Tessa nodded, her face pale but determined.
They called Misty, who reluctantly left her post at the basement door to follow them.
They moved quickly through the dark cottage, Lori’s phone providing just enough light to navigate by.
The office was at the front of the house, a small room with only one window and a solid door.
They got inside, and Lori locked the door behind them, her heart hammering in her chest.
“We’re in the office,” Lori said into the phone, her voice steadier now that they were behind a locked door. “The door’s locked.”
“Good,” Mitch said. She could hear him moving fast, hear Ryan’s voice in the background asking questions she couldn’t make out. “We’re crossing the lawn now.” He breathed heavily like he was running. “We’re at the house. I’ll call you when you can come out.”
“Be careful,” Lori said, meaning it with every fiber of her being.
“I always am,” Mitch said, and disconnected.
They barely heard the front door open, the sound muffled by distance and the solid office door between them and the rest of the house. Misty moved toward the office door and whined softly, her body tense with the desire to protect but also to obey.
“Good girl,” Tessa said, crouching beside the dog. She stroked Misty’s head, her movements gentle and soothing. “Shh. It’s okay, sweet girl.”
Lori wrapped her arms around herself, feeling like a coward. “We shouldn’t have just left them to go in there on their own. What if someone’s still in the house?”
Tessa straightened and turned toward her, her expression understanding but firm.
“I used to feel that way too. Every time Mom or Dad or Trent went into a dangerous situation, I wanted to help, to do something. But they drilled it into me over and over again that the best thing civilians can do is stay out of the way. When they know we’re safe, they can focus completely on the threat instead of dividing their attention between dealing with danger and protecting us. ”
“I know,” Lori agreed, intellectually understanding the logic even as her emotions rebelled against it. “But still...” She swallowed hard, starting to feel foolish now that the initial fear was fading. “It’s probably nothing. Just a blown fuse or a tripped breaker.”
“I doubt Misty would’ve reacted like that to a blown fuse,” Tessa said reasonably. “Dogs sense things we don’t. If she was that agitated, there was a reason.”
Lori couldn’t argue with that. She’d only ever seen Misty act that way when she felt there was a threat. Otherwise, the German Shepherd was typically calm, friendly, and gentle.
They waited in the darkness of the office, Lori’s phone the only source of light. Minutes crawled by with agonizing slowness. Lori found herself straining to hear sounds from the rest of the house, but everything was eerily quiet.
Six minutes after Mitch had hung up, her phone rang, making both women jump. Lori looked at the screen. Mitch.
“Hi,” she answered breathlessly.
“You can come out now,” Mitch said. His voice was calm, but there was something underneath it, something that made Lori’s stomach tighten.
She unlocked the office door and pulled it open. Mitch stood in the hallway, his flashlight creating dramatic shadows across his face. Despite the fear still coursing through her, despite the uncertainty of the situation, Lori’s heart did a little skip at the sight of him.
She mentally shook herself. Not the time for those kinds of thoughts.
“I’m sorry,” Lori said, stepping out into the hallway with Tessa right behind her. “It was probably just a raccoon, a tripped circuit breaker, or a blown fuse—”
“Actually,” Ryan said, appearing behind his father, “we think someone was in there. We found the basement window standing wide open.”
Lori felt the blood drain from her face. “What?”
“And the fuse wasn’t blown,” Ryan continued, his expression serious in the flashlight beam.
Mitch turned his flashlight toward her, and she could see the grim set of his jaw. “Someone took the fuses. Removed them completely from the box.”
“Took them?” Lori repeated, not understanding. “A fuse box?”
“The house still has the original fuse box,” Mitch explained, his voice tight with frustration.
“I’ve been telling Carrie for years she needs to upgrade to circuit breakers, but she kept putting it off.
With fuses, you can’t just flip a switch.
You need replacement fuses, and they’re not the kind of thing most people keep lying around anymore. ”
“And that’s exactly the point. Whoever did this knew the cottage has an old electrical system. They knew removing the fuses would leave you in the dark with no quick way to restore power,” Ryan added.
Cold washed through Lori, settling deep in her bones. She heard Tessa’s sharp intake of breath beside her.
“Why?” Lori asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “Why would someone do this?”
“To make sure you were in the dark for the night,” Ryan answered. His eyes moved between the women and then to his father. “Which raises an interesting question. Did whoever did this do it to get to Lori and Tessa?” He paused, his gaze settling on Mitch. “Or to see what you would do, Dad?”
All eyes turned to Mitch, who stood very still, his expression thoughtful and deeply concerned.
“Why would they do something like this to get to your father?” Tessa asked, confusion evident in her voice.
Ryan’s explanation was methodical, logical. “If whoever is doing this is after my father, they would know one thing for certain: he’d never leave you and Lori alone for the rest of the night. Not after something like this.”
Tessa’s eyes widened as understanding dawned. “So Mitch would insist on either us staying at his house, or he’d stay here himself.” She looked between the two men. “Which means they either want to get into one of the houses while it’s empty, or...”
Mitch finished the thought, his voice carrying a chill that made Lori shiver. “Or they want us all together because it’s easier to trap us that way.”