The kitchen tilted.
Behind me, a chair scraped.
“Linda?”
Caleb’s voice. Closer.
“Who are you talking to?”
His shadow fell across the doorway. Emily appeared behind him, tears cutting through her makeup.
And then, through the silence, the doorbell rang.
Once.
Sharp.
Clear.
Caleb’s eyes snapped toward the hallway.
Emily looked at me, and for the first time all night, I saw something besides fear on her face.
Hope.
“I’ll get it,” I said.
Caleb’s hand shot out and caught my wrist.
Not hard. Not yet.
“Actually,” he said, still smiling, “Emily should get it. She’s closest.”
Emily’s entire body went rigid.
“It’s my house,” I said.
His grip tightened.
“Linda.” His voice was so soft. “Let Emily get the door.”
Thomas appeared in the doorway, frowning. “Everything okay?”
Caleb released me immediately, lifting both hands in a gesture of harmless confusion. “Of course. Just offering to help.”
The doorbell rang again.
Longer this time.
Emily moved toward the hallway like she was walking underwater.
I followed.
Caleb followed me.
Through the kitchen doorway I saw Diane standing now, her phone in her hand, her face sharp with something I recognized.
Suspicion.
