When Darkness Falls(52)
Another sliding step, or random sound, from behind her. Faint streaks of light came through the vertical blinds across the door to the balcony. Probably from the courtyard’s old-fashioned streetlamps. She could dash for the balcony, but then what? Jump off? Her room was on the third floor. She clenched her hands into fists, searching her memory of the room for possible weapons.
Please, please. Be here to steal something and take it and leave. Credit cards. Money. I don’t care.
The sheet beneath Haley grew damp with her sweat. She wished she hadn’t undressed and dropped into bed naked, her pajama pants and tank top still in her duffle bag. Pajamas wouldn’t make her safer, but she’d feel less vulnerable.
Seconds ticked away. The clock changed to 3:45. Maybe it had been her imagination. Given all Devon had said to her at dinner, it wouldn’t be surprising.
Turn over and look so you can see no one’s here and go back to sleep. You’ve freaked yourself out. That’s all this is.
Springs creaked as the bed sank.
Hot breath seared the back of her neck.
Haley yelled and lunged out bed. Her feet tangled in the sheets, and her body pitched to the floor.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Wind rushed through the room. Haley got to her feet and grabbed the candlestick lamp from the nightstand. She yanked so hard the cord flew out of the socket. She swung around, ready to bludgeon whoever had broken in.
She saw no one.
Still clutching the lamp, Haley inched away from the bed, peering at each shadow. She made it to the armchair and turned on the floor lamp next to it.
Whoever, or whatever, it was had disappeared. Her purse, her room keycard, her clothes were all where she had left them. But the balcony door stood open.
Body angled so she could keep an eye on the room, Haley slid the glass door shut and tried to lock it, but the latch was broken. She abandoned it, grabbed her phone, and headed for the room’s front door. The front door was chained, but unlatched. It pulled open, stopping only when the security chain pulled taut. Haley flipped the deadbolt. As it snapped into place, she caught sight of the darkened bathroom from the corner of her eye. Now that she’d locked herself in, it occurred to her an intruder could be hiding there.
Haley backed away, returned to the bed, and called the front desk. She knew she hadn’t left the balcony door open, and she felt sure she must have locked and chained the front door, though she couldn’t specifically remember doing that any more than she specifically remembered pouring cereal into a bowl or brushing her teeth any particular morning. She spoke in a loud voice so if someone was still here, he or she would know Haley had called for help. By the time Haley pulled on sweats and a T-shirt, a night security guard in a gray uniform arrived to check the bathroom for her. It was empty.
He was sympathetic enough, but hinted more than once that the whole thing must have been a dream.
“See?” he said, putting the chain on the front door again and opening it. “Even a really thin robber couldn’t get through this opening.”
He smiled, and Haley didn’t smile back. If it had only been the sounds, it could all have been her imagination. But someone had sat on the bed, breathed on her neck, opened the balcony door. Either Devon or Lydia. But Devon could have knocked. She would have let him in, had wanted him to come in. Which left Lydia. And if Lydia could find a way to make it look like she’d cut herself and magically healed, and to stab Devon and make him feel real pain, she could get into and out of a locked room without being seen.
“But what did she want?” Haley said.
The guard looked at Haley. “Excuse me?”
“I’m wondering what whoever broke in wanted.”
“Probably no one broke in. Come look at this.”
He ushered her onto the balcony. Floodlights had been turned on, so the deserted gardens and bridges were well lit.
“See,” he said, “no fire escape, no trees next to your balcony. No one can scale three floors of brick wall. Or jump down from here without serious injury.”
Haley looked around the courtyard below and at the balconies next to her. “What about from the balcony next door?”
“No one on either side reported a disturbance, but I have someone knocking on doors and checking.”
“What about a ladder?”
As she said it, Haley realized a three-story ladder was unlikely. It was hard to believe Lydia, or whoever, had been able to break in and flee so quickly while lugging a ladder. None of those thoughts soothed Haley, though. All she could think about was Devon saying Lydia was dangerous. Haley hadn’t asked in what way because she hadn’t believed anything Devon was saying.
She should have asked.
The security guard was still talking, saying something about he was sure she’d be safe, but the balcony door lock was broken, and he could move her to a room down the hall that had no balcony.
The events of the night hit Haley, and she sank onto the armchair. “I might check out.” She could drive to the airport, drop the rental car, and wait standby for the next flight. Because if she really believed Lydia was crazy enough to hurt her, and Devon was staying with her rather than returning home with Haley, Haley didn’t belong here.
“It’s four in the morning,” the guard said. “It doesn’t sound like you’ve had much sleep. Rather than driving now, let the hotel move you to a different room. There’ll be no charge. No charge for tonight at all.”