Page 8 of The Intruder

NOW

CASEY

After getting the broken glass cleaned up, I decide to cook myself some dinner while the stove is still functional. I have no problem eating food out of cans, but it’s not my preference.

I use one pot to boil some water for pasta, and then in the other, I add a few chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, and some basil and garlic. It’s not exactly gourmet cooking, but at least the tomato sauce will be fresh.

While I’m stirring the sauce, I gaze out the window.

The rain is coming down really hard now—I hope Lee made it home in one piece.

(I’m sure he did.) I feel slightly guilty about shutting him down the way I did.

I could have been nicer, considering he came all the way out here to see if I was okay.

Not that I was rude or anything, but he genuinely seemed like he was trying to help me.

And he has. I let him fix one of my doorknobs that fell off once, after my third attempt to fix it didn’t work. So there’s that.

Even though Lee has been a perfect gentleman, I still don’t trust him. I can’t quite put my finger on why. I just don’t like that he’s around.

If I had a therapist, they would probably quiz me on why I am so determined to keep Lee at arm’s length, even though he seems like a perfectly nice guy.

They would also surely quiz me on why I haven’t been involved with any guys at all in over five years—and even that was a relatively superficial relationship that ended with him throwing up his hands in anger that I “never let anyone get close” to me.

And once we got through with that, the therapist would probably delve into the fact that I barely have any friends either.

The last person I was really close with was my father, and he’s gone now.

But I don’t have a therapist. And that’s why. My gut instinct telling me not to get too close to the man in the cabin down the road is better than the advice of any quack.

I stir the sauce again as the aroma of tomato and basil fills the kitchen. This will be really tasty, even if I have to eat by candlelight. I take a nibble—the sauce is coming together nicely. It just needs another pinch or two of salt.

Just as I am reaching for the salt shaker, the phone starts ringing.

Before I moved here, I had a cell phone like everyone else in the country. But when I came out here, I got rid of it. First of all, the reception out here in the woods is next to zero. Also, it was another expense that I couldn’t afford without a job, especially when I hardly got any calls.

I wipe my hands on the dish towel and get to the phone on the fifth ring. The other line is full of static, but I can still make out Rudy’s deep voice. Great.

“Casey?” he says.

“Yes?” I say, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. He already had a chance to help me tonight, and he didn’t.

“How are you doing with the storm?”

“Still dry.” I glance over in the direction of my bedroom—I can just barely make out the window, which is now being pelted with rain. The glass shakes under the assault of the relentless wind. “You didn’t go around the back of my house to check out the roof after we talked, did you?”

“No. Why?”

So it wasn’t Lee and it wasn’t Rudy. So who was lurking by my bedroom window? “Never mind.”

“Listen, Casey,” he says. “I was listening to the radio, and this storm is much worse than they expected. There are going to be wind gusts up to sixty miles per hour. And I’ve been thinking…

I’m starting to agree with you that the roof might not be safe.

I don’t want you to get killed tonight, for Christ’s sake. ”

Yeah, me neither. But it’s not like Rudy cares. He just doesn’t want to be liable for my death due to his negligence.

“So I’ve been calling around,” he continues, “and I finally found one bed-and-breakfast that’s got an opening for the night. I booked you a room.”

“Oh great.” I’m not thrilled about having to run out in the rain, but it’s going to get a lot worse over the course of the night, and it’ll be safer to get out of here. “What’s the address?”

Rudy’s reply is a long string of static.

“Rudy?” I say. “You’re breaking up…”

“Casey?” His voice sounds a million miles away. “Can you…me?”

I press the phone against my ear, trying to make out his words. “A little. Just tell me the address of the bed-and-breakfast.”

“It’s…”

And then the phone line goes dead.

I put down the receiver, wait for a second, then pick it up again. There’s no dial tone. The phone lines are down, probably for the night.

Even though I expected the phone lines to go out, this was the worst possible moment.

Rudy is not a worrywart, and if he thinks it’s not safe for me to be here, then I could be in serious danger.

Except what am I supposed to do now? If my house isn’t safe, I’m even less safe in my truck, wandering the flooded roads, searching for a hotel.

I could easily lose control of the truck on the slippery dirt roads and either get stuck or crash.

The other option is to try to make it out to Lee’s cabin. It’s a little over half a mile, although it’s not like half a mile of city blocks. It’s half a mile through a path in the woods, where the trees are swaying dangerously and everything that hasn’t been pinned down is flying through the air.

No, at this point, it’s better to stay put.

I only hope I survive the night.