She’s been saying more and more words lately, and tonight she points to a picture of a dog dressed in a sheriff’s outfit and says, “Ev” very softly.
I suck in a breath, my heart just about breaking in my chest at how proud that makes me. “That’s right,” I tell her, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. “He’s a sheriff. Do you think he’d come by lemonade from a fox?”
She thinks about it and then nods, a smile spreading over her face.
“I think so too. He’s nice like that, when it comes down to it, right?”
We finish up the book and then I take her upstairs, getting her settled in bed without any trouble. Cora drifts off, curled upwith her stuffed elephant, and I ease out of her room, heading back downstairs.
Now that she’s asleep, and I’m the only one up and about, the house is too quiet. When the men are here, there’s always some noise. Cash humming random songs, Lincoln muttering to himself, Everett tapping his fingers as he works on paper work. But now the house is just still, and it’s unnerving.
I grab a book from the shelf and try to read, hoping to take my mind off how oppressive and heavy the silence feels, but I can’t focus.
Every gust of wind outside makes me glance toward the door. This has all been so stressful, but the quiet and the waiting are the worst parts.
Still, I nearly manage to doze off on the couch after a bit, a blanket over my legs and the book sliding out of my hand. I startle awake after a bit, and it takes me a second to realize what snapped me out of the doze.
There was a noise downstairs.
I’m used to most of the sounds this house makes now. The way the kitchen faucet sometimes drips if you don’t turn the handle just right when you turn it off. The way the wood creaks and settles through the night. Even the radio static of the deputies outside has started to blend into the usual sounds of this place.
This was not one of the usual sounds. This was a deliberate noise. A floorboard creaking under weight, where no one should be there to make it happen.
My whole body goes still and I try to breathe as quietly as I can, listening.
Something is definitely wrong.
Chapter 43
Harper
My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it, but I listen past it, and—there. The sound sharpens, and I realize they’re slow, heavy footsteps. They’re not rushed or accidental. Not the familiar pacing of one of the deputies doing a check or the confident stride of one of the men coming home.
Someone’s in the house.
My body goes cold, and for a second, I just sit there on the couch, frozen in place by my fear. Someone’s in the fucking house. They got past the deputies somehow, and they’re here, coming to find me. Coming to get me and—fuck.
Cora.
Thinking about her kicks my brain back into gear. I can’t freeze up now. I can’t fall to pieces. The only thing that matters is getting Cora safe.
I get up quickly, moving fast, but quiet. My heart is still pounding, and I have a delirious second of worrying that the sound of it might give me away. There’s no time to think about how the hell someone got past the patrol car or the guy doing rounds outside. No time to figure out if the guards are dead or distracted or what the fuck else. I just have to get to Cora.
I have to get to her and hide her before anything else can happen.
Every sound I make feels amplified. The shift of my weight on the stairs, the creak of the floorboards in the hall. But no one stops me.
I make it to Cora’s room and slip inside, waking her gently. I put a finger to her lips before she can even make a noise. Her eyes are sleepy, and they go wide as she clutches onto her stuffed animal.
I pick her up immediately and carry her down the hall to the closet in the master bedroom. It’s big and lined with soft blankets, and I push them into the corner, building a sort of nest.
“Listen to me, baby, okay?” I whisper. “You need to stay in here for me. You’re going to curl up in these blankets and stay quiet.” I try to keep the fear out of my voice, making it sound more like a game.
She’s played hide and seek with the men before, and I try to remember how that went.
“You remember how important hiding is? Remember last time when you got ice cream because no one could find you?”
She nods. Her eyes are still wide, and I can feel her shaking slightly against me. She’s scared, but she’s not freaking out, and I’m so grateful for that.