“I’ve told you everything I can,” she said, fighting for control of her breathing, to look as though nothing was wrong. Her head was pounding still from the earlier vision, the adrenaline of getting here, the heartache of watching Amy go. She couldn’t do this. Couldn’t look him in the eye.
Nate didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. She could feel his disappointment radiating from him in waves. He rapped his knuckles lightly on the table once, as if closing the subject, and stood up. He didn’t look back at her as he walked away.
Laura watched his broad back moving down the hall, leaving her behind, and for a moment she was the most alone she had ever been in her life.
But there was still a faint sliver of hope. She was going to meet someone tonight, and maybe, just maybe, after this, she wouldn’t be alone.
She just had to keep hold of that thought, because at the moment, it felt far too slim a hope to be real.
CHAPTER SIX
Jade Patrickson picked up her cell phone from the table, scrolling through the list of her contacts to her sister. Ruby’s familiar and smiling face beamed out from the screen as the connection began to ring, and Jade left it on the dresser in front of her while she studied her face in the mirror.
The long, auburn hair that she ran her hands over was a trait she shared with her sibling. Still, Jade liked to think she could put her own individual spin on things. When they were kids, they had always copied each other—the same haircut, the same clothes off the rack, the same colors of makeup. Now that she was twenty-five, Jade felt the impulse to be the same less and less. No, she wanted to be different. She was thinking about cutting the hair, getting a cute bob or even a pixie.
She just wasn’t going to get it done without talking to her sister first.
She sighed as the call rang out. “Ruby, what are you even doing?” she groaned out loud. Was she out on another date? That girl was insatiable. No, surely not after a long day at work. Jade knew Ruby had been getting tired during the week, struggling to keep up with the workload. She wouldn’t be out on a date now.
Jade frowned at herself in the mirror, pulling her hair up into her hands and then holding it behind her head, trying to see how it would look shorter. She needed another pair of hands—another pair of eyes. Her sister’s eyes.
Jade slumped, pouting at her own reflection. It was no use. She needed Ruby.
She dialed the number again, listening to it ringing out. Once again, no answer. Ruby’s cheerful voice told her to leave a message, but Jade ended the call instead. There was no point leaving a message. As soon as Ruby saw the missed call, she’d call back right away. That was their rule.
But what if Ruby didn’t see it until the morning? Jade twisted her mouth, thinking. She was probably asleep if she wasn’t answering the call. She played with her hair absentmindedly. It wasn’t far from here to Ruby’s house—maybe she could drive over. But then if she was already asleep, she wouldn’t let Jade in when she knocked.
Jade sighed. She was just going to have to wait until the morning, as annoying as it was. She got up from her vanity table and made for the wardrobe, thinking about getting changed and ready for bed herself. Might as well get to sleep early. Especially if she was going to be up late tomorrow night talking makeovers with her sister.
Jade crossed the room and then stopped, frowning. From here, she could see the door to the bathroom, and the window beyond it. It was open. Had she left it open? She didn’t normally. It wasn’t safe. Someone might see it as an open invitation to break in.
Jade walked the short distance across the hall to the window, still frowning. She was trying to rack her brains, to remember. When had she last opened it? After her shower in the morning? She didn’t remember. It was cold at this time of year. She didn’t usually open it unless she absolutely needed to, because it drove her heating bill up, and she was trying to save money.
It couldn’t have been earlier than that. She’d have noticed. She must have left it open all day.
She reached out to close it, but froze when she heard a noise in the hall. Jade’s head whipped round, seeking out the source of the sound. There was no one in the house but her. Or at least, there shouldn’t have been. Her roommate was out of town, wasn’t due back until late. She, too, would have called if she was getting back early.
A noise in the hall. An open window. Jade was starting to put together a picture, and it was one that made her heart race.
Was there someone else in the house?
She held her breath, listening, still stretched out with her hand on the window latch. She could only see such a small sliver of the hallway from here. Everything beyond that was a mystery.
She heard a creak, and she knew.
Someone was here.
Panic flashed through her mind, and the absolute certainty that it wouldn’t be good. If someone had broken in, at the very least they wanted to steal from her. Maybe more. She had to get out—right now. And if someone had come in through the window…
Jade wrapped her hands around the windowsill, letting out a small whimper of fear as she grabbed on and pulled herself up as best as she could. There was nothing beyond this window—just the brick wall of the building next door, which had no windows, above an alley—but she was only one floor up, and there was a garbage can below her that she could land on. She saw all this with her head out the window, her feet scrabbling for purchase on the bathroom wall, and then glanced back—
And she saw him, framed in the bathroom doorway.
He looked like… like someone off the street. Someone normal. It was absurd, but in that moment she thought about how he didn’t look like a criminal. Nothing about him looked dangerous except for the fact that he was not supposed to be in her house—
And the knife that flashed cold steel under the bathroom light.
Jade felt the breath being sucked from her body as she realized his intent was to harm her, like she’d been punched in the gut. Her feet slipped on the smooth wall as she kicked and pushed, trying to pull herself up through the window with the strength of her arms alone. She could do it, but she was out of control—going too fast. She grabbed at the windowsill for support, gasping in terror, trying to steady herself. The ground below suddenly looked further away—too far to tumble out of the window uncontrolled, to fall right on her head.