Page 51

“Yes, one and the same.”

Nancy shook her head, and Grim started to head out the door. If that woman was trying to get rid of Betty, he needed to make sure she was safe.

Setting fire to a building was a big step up in attack.

****

Betty pulled into her aunt’s driveway, turned off the ignition, grabbed her bag, and climbed out of the car. It was so cold as she made her way toward the door. She quickly jammed the key into the lock and twisted, letting herself inside.

“Hey, Aunt Martha, it’s me,” she said.

There was no response, and she reached out to flick the light on, only to find no light came on. She flicked it off and then turned it back on. They had no lights. She was going to have to go to the main electrical box in the basement. Betty absolutely hated going to the basement.

She loved horror movies, but even basements were a limit for her. Walking into the kitchen, she checked to see if it was just the lights that were off, but the fridges were off as well.

“Shit,” she said.

Betty hated to swear, but it looked like she was going to have to go down to the basement.

Pulling out her cell phone, she loaded up the flashlight and made her way to the door that went down to the basement. She opened it up, and she looked down the steps, scrunching up her nose. Her heart raced a little, and she took the steps down. The light was strong enough to light her path, and it was this moment she wished she hadn’t watched so many horror movies that would show the bogeyman down in the basement waiting for her. She pushed all those thoughts out of her mind, and instead focused on the electric box. She got to the box, opened it up, and checked over the switch.

Something must have tripped it out, as she flicked it open and saw that the light in the basement had come on. That was strange. The basement light was never on, unless it was turned on upstairs, and she didn’t do that.

She kept her cell phone in her hand, made her way up toward the stairs, and closed the door, flicking the light off. Betty went into her contacts, found her aunt’s number, and dialed. Perhaps her aunt went to the basement and just forgot to turn out the light. No immediate answer.

The kitchen was well-lit, and Betty looked around. Something didn’t feel right. She felt a little sick to her stomach, and she moved around the kitchen. The house was eerily silent. She never noticed before just how quiet the house could get. The stillness. Absolutely no noise.

She listened, and still nothing.

And then, her cell phone went off, making her jump, and she looked down at her screen to see that her aunt was calling her.

“Aunt Martha,” she said, answering with a smile.

“What the matter, honey?” Martha asked.

“I just wondered if you had gone down to the basement today?”

“Basement?”

“You know, at the house.”

“Honey, I haven’t been to the house. I stayed at the clubhouse, and then I came to the country club.”

Betty heard the sound of steps. She still had her cell phone in her hands and Martha was talking about something going on at the country club. Betty grabbed one of her knives and sunk down behind the counter.

“Someone’s here,” she said.

“What?” Martha asked.

Betty had no choice but to shove her cell phone into her jeans pocket.

“I can hear you,” the voice said.

She didn’t recognize the voice, but it was feminine, and she knew she was standing at the doorway. Betty didn’t know if she should stand up, or try to make her escape. She had no idea who it could be, so she took her chances and stood.

A woman with long hair, wearing her jeans, as well as one of her bras, stood in the doorway. The clothes were big on this woman.

She had no idea what her name was, but she believed she had seen her at the club. “You were at Thanksgiving,” Betty said.