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“What is it, boy?” she asked, bending down to stroke its head. The cat meowed again and then ran off into the darkness of the house.
“What the hell was that about?” Will whispered.
“I don’t know,” Valerie said. But she had a bad feeling about this place. She straightened up and started to move toward the foot of the stairs. She knew that twitching curtain was up there and whoever had been standing behind it.
There was no telling what kind of danger they were up against. But Valerie was determined to find Peter Torben and bring him down.
Valerie gripped her gun tightly as she ascended the stairs. She and Will moved together, their eyes fixed on the shadowy landing ahead of them. They would face whatever danger awaited them together.
The first thing that Valerie noticed was the smell. It was a nauseating mix of rotting food and something else she couldn’t quite identify. And it was getting stronger the closer she got to the top of the stairs.
Will gagged and covered his nose with his sleeve. “God, that’s rank.”
“Just breathe through your mouth,” Valerie said through gritted teeth.
She was trying not to gag herself. The stench was almost overpowering.
At the top of the stairs, they found a narrow hallway lined with doors. All of them were closed except for one at the very end, which was slightly ajar. Light spilled out from the crack, along with that sickening smell.
Valerie inched forward, her gun at the ready. She could hear movement inside the room and someone muttering to themselves.
“This is it,” she whispered to Will. “Be ready.”
He nodded and followed her down the hall. But they never made it to the door.
There was a click, and the muttering stopped. Valerie froze as the door at the end of the hall swung open, letting in a shaft of sunlight.
A man stumbled into the hallway and Valerie went to grab him, but she was too slow. He slipped away, into the darkness of the rooms on either side of the hall.
“Get him!” she shouted, chasing after him.
But the man was quick and agile. She couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Which room?” Will shouted, coming to her side.
Valerie peered into the darkness and had no idea which one. But then she saw a shadow and pointed at it. “There.”
Will followed her as she burst through the open door.
The room was small and filled with rubbish, as though Peter Torben didn’t spend much time in it.
Valerie looked around, but there was no one there.
“Where did he go?” Will muttered.
Valerie shook her head.“He can’t have just vanished.”
She took out her flashlight and scanned it across the walls in the low light. Then she saw it: The old, flowered wallpaper was stained and ruined, but it also pulled back like the page of a book. Underneath, there was a hole.
“I’m not going in there,” Will said, as soon as he saw it.
“Do you want to live forever?” Valerie said, getting on her knees and shining the flashlight inside.
“Actually ...”
“Go back outside and stop him if he tries to escape out front,” Valerie said.
She couldn’t wait. She moved into the hole in the wall, all the while shouting for Peter Torben to stop running.