Page 103 of I'll Be Waiting

Someone took the cloth and locked me in the basement.

I hurry the rest of the way, grab the knob, twist, and…

The door flies open. I scramble out and see the cloth behind the door.

So now what?

How about jumping in the car and leaving?

I shake my head. I’m the only one in danger, and I haven’t experienced anything worse than a dull spade to my shins, which didn’t even break the skin.

If whatever is here wants to talk to me, I’ll be in the living room, enjoying my first coffee of the day as I figure out what to do about this.

TWENTY-SEVEN

I decide to tell Cirillo what’s happening. Yes, I don’t trust him not to use my story, but it’s not as if he’s planning to sell movie rights.

He’s the expert. He’ll know what to do.

I don’t get a chance to talk to Cirillo. Before breakfast, he’s in his room working, coming down only for a coffee and then heading back up before I can get to him. I consider knocking on his bedroom door, but it’s six in the morning.

Everyone convenes for breakfast, which means I have no chance to speak to him privately then. After we eat, Jin has to leave and before he does so, he needs—apparently—to be really, really sure that I’m not going to start the last séance without him.

I agree, and I mean it. Yes, it’d be easier to do the séance without Jin. I could tell Cirillo enough about my past to explain why I need to ask Anton about someone named Roddy. But I have enough common sense—and self-preservation—not to do it without Jin around. I don’t trust Cirillo to stop the séance if things go wrong, and Shania will trust my judgment. In short, I need someone who can and will stop me, even if answers are dangling right in front of my nose.

I don’t walk Jin out. The bugs are back, not as bad as they’d been at the height of their invasion, but enough for me to hand Jin my keysand wish him a safe journey… and then slam the door shut behind him as he races to my car.

Once he’s gone, I find Shania in the kitchen, cleaning up. Cirillo has retreated to his room again.

I do my nebulizer therapy and then put on my vest. If Cirillo doesn’t come down by the time I’m done, I’m going up.

I’m in the sitting room, hooked up to the vest, trying to concentrate on my book. I hear Shania in the hall, and I wait for her to enter, but she backs off. She must realize where I am and decide to leave me alone, in case Anton reaches out.

In case Anton reaches out.

After last night, I have no idea what to think. So much is happening and so much of it is contradictory that my puzzle-loving brain has thrown this aside as unsolvable.

Temporarily unsolvable, I should say, pending either more data or more caffeine. Anton used to buy me books of logic puzzles, and some that definitely fell into the too-challenging category, but I never gave up. I just set them aside. That’s what I’ve done here. Set aside—

“Nic?”

My head jerks up.

I look around the room. The voice seemed to come from behind my head.

“Hey.”

The word is a whisper, as if we’re someplace quiet and he’s trying to get my attention. But it definitely sounds like Anton’s voice, coming from my left this time.

“Anton?”

The whisper comes from behind me again. “I love—”

There’s an odd popping noise, and the voice stops. Then another pop, louder.

“It’s okay,” Anton’s voice whispers to my left, but I ignore it now, my brain fixated on that double pop. It sounded mechanical.

I turn off the vest and remove it. I’ve never heard it make that sortof noise, which doesn’t mean it couldn’t, but the sound seemed to come from behind and above me.

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