Page 27 of The Woman in the Garage

Sure enough, the light clicked right off.

“That’s just asking for trouble,” I decided aloud as I waved an arm out, waiting for the light to go back on, then started forward—lights flicking on as I went, and off behind me—until I got to my uncle’s unit.

It was one of the bigger ones in the building, and there was dread in my stomach as I unlocked it and placed the deadbolt in one of my dress’s handy-dandy pockets. Knowing him, this unit was going to be filled to the absolute gills with stuff I would eventually need to get rid of if I wanted to stop paying for the unit.

With no small amount of grumbling, the garage door lifted up and I reached inside to flick on the overhead light.

To find… a mostly empty unit.

“What the hell?” I said, stepping inside.

The walls were lined with black metal shelving units and there was a row right down the center of them as well.

The thing was… there was next to nothing on them.

There were a handful of those plastic garage totes with the black bottoms and yellow tops.

But that was it.

Why did this man’s house and office look like a not insignificant tornado had blown through them, but the unit was perfectly organized and mostly empty?

“You were a real puzzle, Uncle Phil,” I murmured, feeling a little guilty about my boxes of junk as I put them on one of the many empty shelves.

Finished with that, I turned my attention to one of the plastic totes.

But before my fingers could unclasp the top, there was a familiar clicking noise that accompanied one of the motion lights turning on.

My heartbeat tripped into overdrive, and my chest went immediately tight as I inched toward the open garage door.

There was nothing to panic about.

Other people needed to access their units too.

There was no reason to assume anything scary was going on.

Sucking in a shaky breath, I leaned outward to find one of the cross halls had a bit of light glowing somewhere down at the end.

Nothing.

Just another person accessing their unit.

Or, like, a rat or something.

Steadying my nerves, I went back out, leaving the unit open since there was nothing important in it, then went back to the car to grab another couple of boxes.

As I came back in, though, I noticed the lights rapidly turning off.

Leading away from my unit.

Like someone had come from that direction.

My stomach twisted as my heart punched against my ribcage. Adrenaline surged through my system, making my skin feel like it was sizzling.

What was I panicking about, though?

This was apublicstorage facility. Literally hundreds of other people had units and needed to access them. I had no reason to assume I was alone here.

And there were, like, security cameras.

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