Page 81 of His Loving Wife

“Must be,” Dan says. “I never forget a face.”

Vincent offers another smile and returns to the stove.

“I’ll show you the fuse box,” I say, nudging him in the direction of the garage.

“Sure.”

He follows me, and Andrew follows him. Right now, my plan is to simply extend his presence in the house for as long as possible. As we enter the garage, a flashlight leading our way, I squint in search of a paper or pen. Something I could write a message on. Of course, even that would be hard to do with Andrew so close.

“Here we go,” Dan says, opening the lid of the breaker box. “Sometimes the system gets overwhelmed. You can give it a little flick, and the power will come back on. Care to hold the light up for me?”

I dangle it overhead. Beside me, Andrew stands with his arms folded. I hear the impatient tapping of his foot on the concrete.

“Dad?” It’s Willow calling from the other room. “I need your help with something.”

“In a minute.” His tone is so harsh that Dan and I reflexively look over our shoulders.

“I can’t get into the bathroom,” she calls. “The door is jammed.”

“Just a minute.”

“Please, it’s an emergency!”

“You better go help her,” I whisper.

Andrew looks at Dan who is busy fiddling with the breaker box, then he stomps back into the house, leaving us alone in the dark.

“I think I found your problem,” Dan says. “It looks like someone accidently flicked the main switch. This should fix—”

I stop his hand from touching the box and pull the flashlight close to my face.

“Dan, I need you to listen to me,” I whisper. “That man in there, his name is Vincent Fowler. He’s dangerous. I believe he wants to hurt our family, and I think Andrew might somehow be involved.”

“Kate, what are you—”

“Vincent is on the run. I believe he plans on hurting us, and I’m scared. They’ve taken our phones. They’ve cut the power. I need you to leave here and call the police. Can you do that?”

“Sure.” He nods, but he looks shaken. His eyes wide and watery.

I hear footsteps and shine my light back on the box.

“Fix the lights, and then leave.”

He nods. He flicks the switch, and the room illuminates. When I turn, I see Andrew standing in the doorway.

I smile. “See? That was easy.”

“Thank you, Dan,” Andrew says as unenthusiastically as possible.

We walk back into the living room. Noah and Willow are still sitting at the dining room table. Vincent is in the kitchen chopping something on a cutting block. When he sees us, his face lights up like the room around us.

“Let there be light,” he says, in a mock roar.

“Just a simple fix,” Dan says. I can tell he’s trying hard to disguise his nervousness.

“It makes it much easier to cook now,” says Vincent. “Thank you for your time.”

If Dan calls the police right away, someone should arrive within the next ten minutes. And if that doesn’t pan out, now that the power is back on, I might have a chance at sneaking back to the computer and sending a message.

---