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She was justprepping her salad when the doorbell rang. She wasn’t in the mood to walk allthe way to the front door, so she checked her Ring app to see who it was.Unfortunately, it looked like the thing was acting up again, as the image wasfuzzy at best.
The bell rangagain, and she reluctantly went to answer it. The gardener, who wasn't supposedto be here until this afternoon, occasionally showed up early. And even thoughhe had a key to the side gate, he wouldn't go in the backyard unless he knewsomeone was around to authorize it. He'd explained that a neighbor once calledthe police on him when he was working at a house. Since then, he never took achance.
Avery lookedthrough the front door peephole and saw that it wasn’t the gardener at all.Surprised, she opened the door.
“Hi,” she said,trying to be pleasant despite her mild irritation. “I thought we weren’tmeeting up until after the new year.”
“I know,” hervisitor said. “I’m sorry to just stop by. But I was in the area and thought itmight be worth checking in, just in case.”
“I would havethought you’d call or text first,” Avery said, aware that she was beingungracious but not caring that much. Her salad time was quickly evaporating.
“I actually lostmy phone,” her visitor said. “Truthfully, I think it might have been stolen,though I can’t prove that. That’s another reason I figured I’d come by. Until Iget a new one later today, I don’t know who’s been trying to get in touch withme. But if this is a bad time, I can always come back.”
Avery didn’t likethe idea of having to go through all this again soon, so she decided to bitethe bullet.
“No, come on in,”she said. “But we’re going to have to multi-task. I have some appointmentssoon, so I’m putting together some lunch. We can talk in the kitchen. Close thedoor behind you.”
“Actually,” thevisitor said as they closed the door, “do you mind if I use your bathroomreally quick? I’ve had to go for a while.”
Avery stifled asigh of frustration and pointed down the hall. “It’s the second door on theleft,” she said. “Just come back this way when you’re done. The kitchen is downon the right.”
The visitor noddedand headed down the hall. Avery returned to the kitchen and was just startingto chop some carrots when she heard a familiar sound. It was the creak that thestairs made as someone reached the step at the halfway point. Her heart beganbeating rapidly.
Other than her andthe visitor, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone in the house right now. Willemwas at work. The kids were at her sister’s house for the day. The maid hadFridays off. Could the visitor be sneaking upstairs for some reason? Thatseemed unlikely. Then another thought occurred to Avery. She hadn’t been payingclose attention earlier. Had the visitor thought to lock the front door afterclosing it? Had they even closed it all the way? If not, someone on the streetmight have seen and come in.
Avery clutched thechef’s knife she’d been using on the carrots and headed back down the hallway.Her phone was in her pocket, and she was tempted to call 911. But that seemed alittle rash. She started down the hallway leading to the bathroom. She couldhear the water running and saw the light on under the door.
That only freakedAvery out more. If the visitor was still in the bathroom, that meant thatsomeone else was definitely in the house. She reached the stairs and startedup, making sure to skip the creaky step. When she reached the top, she pausedand listened closely.
There wasn't anysound, but then she saw it. A shadow appeared in the hallway just outside herbedroom. The light from the window must have cast it. Now certain she had anintruder in the house, she pulled out her phone and dialed 911. She immediatelygot an automated message telling her someone would be on the line soon. She wasinclined to just head back downstairs when she heard a clanking sound.
Then sheremembered that after last night's Westside Realtor Awards gala, she'd been sotired that she'd just taken off her diamond tennis necklace and emeraldearrings, leaving them on her makeup vanity rather than returning them to thesafe. She couldn't risk those being stolen. Together, they were worth close to$15,000.
She shoved herphone back in her pocket and dashed down the hall. As she entered the bedroom,she was stunned and confused by what she saw. The visitor that she’d invitedinto her home was standing by a bookshelf. They’d moved her “realtor of theyear” trophy to the side and were putting some kind of small, metal canisterbehind a large, framed family photo. But even more shocking, they seemed to bewearing some kind of gas mask.
“What the hell?”Avery demanded, holding the knife out in front of her as she started in thatdirection.
The visitor turnedaround, startled, and bumped the bookshelf. The canister fell to the hardwoodfloor just as Avery arrived. She was debating whether to actually use the knifeon the intruder when the canister suddenly beeped and began emitting a hissingsound. Avery looked down at it in confusion.
“What is that?”she barked, looking back up at the visitor just in time to see that they hadgrabbed her realtor trophy and were swinging the marble base at her head. Shethrew her hands up to protect herself, but she was too late. The edge of thetrophy base smashed into her forehead just above the left temple.
Avery felt a shockof unimaginable pain in her skull as her legs gave out. Her vision was cloudedby swimming colors. She felt her body slam to the floor hard, but that pain wasnothing compared to the one in her head.
She groaned as shetried to orient herself and look up. Her vision had cleared slightly, but nowthe colors were replaced by what she assumed was blood seeping into her eyesfrom her wound. The visitor was standing above her, clutching her trophytightly.
“This isn’t how Iwanted it to go,” they said, almost apologetically, their voice muffled by thegas mask.
“Please,” Averymanaged to mutter, though she couldn’t think of the rest of the words sheshould say.
The visitor liftedthe trophy high in the air, and it was clear that they intended to use itagain. Just before they brought it down, Avery heard a voice on the phone inher pocket.
“911. What is thelocation of your emergency?”
She wanted torespond, but all she could see was the base of the trophy coming toward her.Then she saw nothing.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jessie couldbarely bring herself to eat.
