Page 67 of Shattered Sanctuary

“We need to cover all the other windows. We don’t want him to know where we are. There’s some tin foil and scotch tape in the kitchen. We’re going from room to room to close curtains, cover windows or sliding glass doors.” She frowned at Erin. “How many magazines did you bring for your gun?”

Erin shook her head. “I wasn’t actually planning on being targeted by a serial killer. I have one in my gun and a spare in my gun box.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t either. I brought three magazines. We should be okay.”

Erin’s mouth dropped open. “We have two guns and five magazines between us. If we need more than that to takeAllen out, we’re doing something wrong. I mean, he’s not superhuman.” She frowned. “I always keep a spare magazine in my gun box. Why did you bring three with you? Were you planning on World War Three this week?”

Kaely shrugged. “Sorry. I fell back on my FBI training. I realized I didn’t actually need three magazines when I declared my gun at the airport, but now I’m glad I brought them.”

“Me too. If I miss the first thirty times, you should be able to get him.”

Kaely laughed and shook her head. “It’s always better to be prepared, I guess. But you’re right. He should be more worried than we are. I’m going to look for candles. We have four lamps and lots of batteries. After we make certain he can’t see inside the house, we’ll put the lamps and candles in the most important places. We need to be able to see where we’re going while we keep him from seeing us.”

“Okay.” Down at her feet, Chester whined. “Oh, shoot. He needs to go out again. We rushed him last time. What are we going to do?”

“We can’t let him outside,” Kaely said. “Even though Allen likes to stab his victims, we can’t rule out the possibility that he has a gun too. I know serial killers like to stick to their MOs, but we can’t take a chance.”

“I have an idea,” Erin said. “I’ll take him out on the balcony outside my bedroom. With the lights out, I don’t think he’ll notice us. And unless Allen is a long way away from the house, he won’t have a clear shot. I doubt he’s too proficient with a gun. Doesn’t seem like the type.”

“Okay. Let’s try it. I’m going to follow you upstairs. We can take care of the windows and doors up there while we’re taking care of Chester.”

Erin found the belt and attached it to Chester’s collar. He immediately began tugging toward the front door. She pulled him back.

“No, Chester,” she said. “Let’s go upstairs.” Before she headed toward the stairs, Erin said, “One thing’s that’s still bothering me. We believe Allen fits the profile of our killer. But what if we’re wrong? I’m still wondering about Timothy.”

Kaely sighed. “Well then, we’re going to have to be especially careful. The unknown can be a lot scarier and unpredictable than what’s known, and Timothy’s been trained to shoot.”

As Erin climbed the stairs with Chester beside her, Kaely’s words rang in her head. Were they really prepared for what was coming? She could only hope that Kaely’s God would protect them both.

FORTY-FOUR

Adrian tried several times to call Erin and Kaely, but their cell phones weren’t working. The storm had affected several cell towers in the area. Thankfully, the station’s landline was still working, but so few people had landlines anymore, there weren’t a lot of people who could call the station if they needed help.

He was a little worried about the women since they were cut off. At least they had a generator, so they would stay warm. Quite a few people in town had lost power. The snow wasn’t terribly deep yet. It was the wind that had caused so much havoc.

As it got darker, more and more residents headed to the emergency shelters to keep warm, get something to eat, and ride out the storm with friends and neighbors. Thankfully, the generator at the station was keeping up with their needs even though it was much older than the one at the cabin.

Adrian noticed Jake staring at him. Every time the wind howled and the building shook, rattling the old windows, he whined as if it was Adrian’s fault.

“Just wait until it’s time to go outside,” he told his worried dog. “I guarantee you neither one of us will enjoy it.”

Lisa came into his office. “We can’t find Timothy,” she said. “Not sure where he is.”

“I sent him out earlier to check with anyone who lives just outside the city limits.” Adrian frowned. “Maybe it’s just taking him longer than we planned.”

“I hope so. I’m a little worried about him. He left his radio behind again.”

Adrian sighed. For some reason, Timothy had a hard time remembering his radio. He suspected his officer didn’t like the rather clunky instrument and preferred to use his cell phone. Today made it clear as to why that wasn’t a good idea. Police radios weren’t affected by the weather the way cell phones might be. “If we don’t hear from him soon, I’ll go out to look for him. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.” Timothy wasn’t flaky. Adrian trusted him, so he wasn’t really worried. Just a little annoyed.

Just then, a call came over the radio. A traffic accident near the resort. Since all of his officers were already dealing with other issues, Adrian decided to go himself. After messaging the officer who phoned it in, he put on his jacket and his radio and headed for the door. Jake came running after him. For a moment, he thought about asking Lisa to watch him, but if he tried that, Jake would be distraught. He wanted to go everywhere with Adrian, so he took him whenever he could.

“Okay, let’s go. But no complaining. I mean it.”

He took Jake’s silly smile as his agreement to Adrian’s warning. As they set off for the site of the accident, Adrian just couldn’t get Erin and Kaely off his mind. If he had the time, he’d probably drive out there and check on them.

Thankfully, taking Chester out on the balcony worked. Erin noticed that he’d stopped limping. The last time they’d changed his bandages, the wound looked much better already.

It took them a couple of hours to make sure there was no way to see inside the house. They kept one of the lanterns upstairs on a hallway table. The other three were downstairs. They also set up several candles. Erin and Kaely put on a couple layers of clothing, but as long as they stayed in the living room by the fire, they were pretty warm. Kaely kept checking outside, but she couldn’t see anything. If it was Allen Dunne who had disabled the generator, where was he? Of course, the post office SUV was black. Not easy to see at night.

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