how she’d maneuvered herself from this point. It seemed that she needed to bring one leg forward and get her foot on the sill. But which leg would be better to start with?
She flinched as Toby touched her.
His hand was underneath her skirt, an open curve against her thigh. Slowly, it drifted upward between her legs.
The curtain settled against her face. She turned her head aside.
She wanted to yell. She wanted to clamp her legs together. She wanted to reach down and stop Toby’s hand.
But any quick moves might make her fall.
And if she tried to stop him…
Just let him.
Kneeling on the sill, she remained motionless except for her breathing and the quivering of her muscles as Toby’s fingers stroked her, spread her, delved.
The curtain rubbed her cheek.
She felt Toby’s thumb.
The gun’s on the middle shelf, she told herself, trying not to think about what he was doing. I oughta just make a run for it. It’s all set to go. One up the chute, five or six more in the magazine. All I’ve gotta do is pull the trigger.
Chapter Twenty-five
Toby took his hand away, but he didn’t say anything. Twisting her head around, Sherry looked down at him. He was licking his fingers. As he slid his thumb into his mouth, he noticed her watching. He slowly pulled his thumb out. “Go on in,” he said.
Though every muscle in her body seemed to be trembling, she struggled off her knees and managed to get both feet onto the windowsill. The curtain, briefly blown inward, came silently back at her. It slipped between her thighs, brushed against her face.
She couldn’t see. The darkness was bad enough, but the curtains blinded her completely.
Reaching out with her left hand, she swept the curtain out of her way.
And lost her balance.
Left shoulder first, she started falling forward into the darkness.
Toby grabbed her skirt. She felt a rough tug at her waist. Her fall almost stopped. But then came a pop and a rip. The skirt went loose.
Loose but not gone, it snared her feet and kept them high as she plunged toward the floor.
On the way down, she struck nothing. She was apparently dropping into the narrow space between her bed and the side of her desk.
With her hands, she tried to break her fall.
They were bashed out of the way and her head struck the floor. For a moment, she felt as if she’d been propped upside-down and crooked against the wall. Then her legs started to drop. Her rump and back followed them toward the floor.
Shit!
She bent her back and jerked her knees toward her chest.
Instead of slamming down with a stunning crash, she rolled quietly to a sitting position.
She jerked her head around.
The blowing curtain let her see Toby as he boosted himself onto the windowsill. When his body blocked the wind, the curtain swept toward him.
Sherry struggled to her feet. Her bedroom doorway was straight ahead, its opening darker than the walls. She staggered over to it. In the hallway, she dodged to the right and broke into a run for the living room.
From behind her came a heavy thud—Toby hitting the floor?
The people under us must think…
No, they’d moved out a few days ago. There isn’t anybody under us.
“Sherry?” Toby’s voice was a harsh whisper. “Sherry!”
She suddenly heard his footfalls.
Here he comes!
After the deep darkness of the hallway, the living room seemed almost bright. The curtain across the picture window looked like a dimly glowing wall. It cast a gray luminescence over the couch and the coffee table, but it left the front door in utter blackness.
Sherry couldn’t see the bookshelf at all.
She raced for it, anyway, dashing past the coffee table then turning toward the door.
Toby sounded as if he might already be in the room.
She hurled herself against the door, reached out past its jamb and slapped the light switch. The room filled with light. She heard Toby gasping, running, but she didn’t look at him.
Instead, she twisted away from the door and lunged for the bookshelf.
The place near the front edge of the middle shelf, where she’d left her pistol, was empty.
No!
As Toby pounded toward her from behind, she raced her eyes up and down the whole bookcase.
It has to be here!
She suddenly remembered Duane.
Because her Jeep was in for repairs, Duane had come here to pick her up for their evening together. But she hadn’t been quite ready to leave, so she’d left him alone for a few minutes. Coming out of the bathroom,