Page 55 of Shrouded Past

Those were Bryce’s exact thoughts.

“Let’s go back to the living room. It’s cold in here.” Bryce headed for the door when the room was plunged into darkness.

Piper screamed and slammed into his back. “What’s happening?”

There could be only one option. “The power’s gone out.”

She grabbed for his hand.

“Hang on a second. Let me turn on my flashlight app.” He clicked on the app, and the room illuminated. “I believe the house has a generator. I’m not sure if it will automatically switch on or not.”

He pulled the door open. Still holding Piper’s hand, he led the way to the others.

“I’m going to check on the generator.” Katrina grabbed a flashlight from the counter, and she and Janine hurried toward the basement door.

“I’ll check in with JT and see if service is out all over town.” Rachel grabbed her phone.

Bryce’s beeped an incoming message from Will. He scanned the screen, not surprised by the news. The body found was confirmed to belong to Darby. He tried calling Will back, and the call wouldn’t go through. A fast busy signal warned of trouble with service.

“My call isn’t going through either,” Rachel told him. The storm had knocked out cell service. There wasn’t a landline. It would be up to them to handle whatever problems arose . . . even if a killer showed up at their door.

“This just keeps getting worse,” Piper whispered, and he put his arm around her.

“Once the generator comes on, at least we’ll have lights.” He tried to put a positive spin on things, but it felt as if between the storm and the killer coming after them, their means of protecting themselves were dwindling.

He shared the news about the body’s identification. “No real surprise. There was no word about the ex-wife, though.”

“Do you think she’s in on this in some way?” Piper watched and waited for his response.

“It’s doubtful.” In his mind the ex was dead somewhere. The killer had chosen to separate them to make it harder to tie them together. With the storm raging, she could be anywhere. Maybe even washed out to sea.

“Why don’t we give Katrina and Janine a hand with the generator?” Bryce kept Piper close. He wasn’t about to let her out of his sight. His cop’s instincts warned the killer was going to make a move soon.

As they started for the basement, the lights suddenly flickered on.

Bryce stopped short. Katrina and Janine opened the door and stepped into the kitchen.

“That was quick,” he told them.

“Yeah, not much to it.” Katrina turned off the flashlight. “All we had to do was flip a switch. Strange that it was off. It should have come on automatically.” She shrugged. “I guess maybe someone accidently hit the switch and turned it off.”

Bryce didn’t buy it for a second. The killer had been in the house. Had he somehow managed to turn off the generator to insure when the power went out they’d be in darkness?

Piper told the two women what Will said about Darby.

“So we can assume he’s not the one who’s coming after you,” Janine said. “There’s no way he could have gotten to another island after he left here. Traffic alone would have prevented him leaving, and the waters are far too rough to try boating across.”

“So, whoever it is, he’s still here,” Piper murmured, every syllable laced with fear. “He’s here and waiting for the right moment to strike.”

???

The thought was terrifying yet somehow settling.Piper would face off with the man who took her, and soon. All the pieces of the puzzle were in place for a life and death struggle. She wasn’t worried about herself, but for Bryce and the other innocent people who might be injured in the process.

“There’s plenty of fuel for the generator. We should be safe enough here in the bay area. The fireplace is wood burning.” Rachel ticked off the different things they had going for them.

Piper pulled in a deep breath and tried to relax, yet the wailing wind made that impossible.

“Why don’t we find a room that doesn’t have so many windows, just in case?” Bryce told them there was a media room that should be safe.

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