and I was going to go upstairs and get ready for bed, but thought I might take a little nap here on this couch, and then I heard the door, and you were here.”
“Anyone else come by?”
“Anyone else come by? Here? No. Just you. Do you want to kiss again?”
I leaned in and kissed her, hoping to keep it short, but she opened her mouth and pressed hard against me. My eyes were open, but her hair was falling in waves and for a moment I couldn’t see anything. I stopped the kiss and brought her head down to my chest.
“That’s nice,” she said, then mumbled something I couldn’t understand.
We were like that for a minute. I could tell she was falling asleep on me, and I let it happen while I looked around at what I could see. It looked just as it had when I left, our coffee cups still on the dining room table in front of the bay window, a single lamp still on by the table. And what I could see of the kitchen was lit by the under-cabinet lighting. The house was quiet, although I thought I could hear Brian snoring in the downstairs guest room. I wasn’t sure. But if it was him, it was a good sign. He was still alive.
I knew that Charlie was in the house.
I’d already constructed a scenario. He’d followed me here tonight, probably waiting outside while I was inside having dinner with Brian and Tess. When I’d left, maybe he’d been planning to follow me, or maybe he’d been planning on breaking into Tess and Brian’s house. But then an opportunity had presented itself. Tess had rushed out to give me Brian’s book, leaving the door open behind her and unlocked. Charlie snuck inside. And then what? He’d hidden in the house, and somehow, he had managed to put something in Tess’s coffee, probably whatever it was that he’d spiked Pruitt’s whiskey with. I didn’t believe she was drunk, or that she was any more drunk than she’d been when I’d left two hours earlier. No, she’d been drugged. And then I’d arrived before Charlie had done anything else to her. And now here we all were in the house together. Where was Charlie, exactly? Where would I be, if I were him?
I slowly eased Tess off my chest, and onto the couch, then stood up.
“Where you going?” Tess said, but her voice was low and mumbled. She tucked a hand under her cheek and breathed deeply in through her nose, her eyes still closed. I walked as quietly as I could into the kitchen. A side door led to the first-floor hallway; from there you could get to a half bathroom, and to the guest room where Brian was sleeping. There was also a closet, if I remembered correctly. I went to the counter and found the rolling pin I’d noticed earlier, picking it up in my right hand. I thought of getting a knife instead, but I liked how the rolling pin felt. It was a heavy piece of wood, obviously useless if Charlie had a gun. But it was something, and I felt better with it in my hand.
I considered staying in the kitchen, just standing there with my view on both the swinging side door and the large cutout that led to the dining and living room area. I could stand here all night, waiting for Charlie to make a move first. But I was also worried about Tess. Whatever was in her system might be enough to kill her. In what I hoped was my normal voice, I said, “I know you’re here,” out loud to the empty kitchen.
Nothing.
I waited for what felt like another five minutes and began to wonder if I was just being paranoid. Maybe Tess had just kept drinking after I’d left, and she was simply drunk. And maybe Charlie had been playing with me at this point, trying to manipulate me into rushing over here for nothing. I walked slowly back through into the living area. Tess hadn’t moved; she was still curled up on the couch, a hand under her face. I crouched down and could hear her steady breathing. I turned left toward the hallway, aware that the old floor was creaking under every step. After I walked past the stairway, I pushed open the door to the bathroom. There was enough light from a lamp in the hallway for me to see that it