Page 59 of A Simple Mistake
No answer.
He took the stairs two at a time, the step in the middle creaking like it always did—too loud, but he couldn’t worry about that now.
“Nico!”
The door to the workroom flew open.“Is that—?”
“I heard glass breaking.Then the alarm.Someone’s trying to get in.”
“Upstairs.Now.”
Daniel raced ahead, while Nico locked the workroom door.
A locked door is a lure.And people are nosy.
He held the bedroom door for Nico, slammed it shut as soon as they were both inside, and shot the bolts.One, two, top and bottom.Behind him, Nico had loosened the latches, and together they swung the bookcase across the doorway just as they’d practised.
There.Safe.
“You think it’s real?Someone breaking in?”
They hugged each other.Daniel’s heart was trying to hammer its way out of his chest, and he struggled to breathe.“Gareth.We need to call Gareth.”
“Yeah.”Nico reached into the front of his hoodie.“Oh, shit!”
“What?”
“Where’s your phone?Mine’s in the workroom, with our damned headsets.”
Daniel started shaking.
His phone.
His phone was in the kitchen.Sitting on the counter beside the slabs of chocolate sponge.Stupid.He never forgot his phone.
Panic clogged his throat, made it hard to breathe.
Don’t panic.Don’t stop.Get upstairs.Lock the door.Call us.
“Give me a hand!”Nico was pulling at the bookcase, but even with the pivot, it needed them both to move it.“Daniel!”
Daniel stared.“What are you doing?We can’t open the door.”
“We need our phones and the headsets.”
“You cannot take the stairs.They’ll hear you.”He pushed against the bookcase, even as Nico pulled.This was his fault.He was so stupid.He hadn’t stuck to the rules.Like at the deli.Feeling watched and telling only Nico.This was all his fault.Because he hadn’t… hadn’t told anyone.He couldn’t let Nico go down the stairs.He’d lose him.Lose Nico and then—
“Daniel!”
“What?”
Nico had the window half open.“I’m getting our headsets.”
Daniel stared at the bookshelf barring the door, then back at Nico with his fingers tight around the rope ladder.He remembered the grim tone of Nico bracing himself to step in front of Daniel.
“Nico….Don’t.Don’t leave me.”
“I’ll only be a moment.We need the headsets.”He dropped the ladder and straddled the windowsill.“Pull up the monitor.Gareth will need to know what we’re dealing with.We can give him intel.”
