Murder by Yew (An Edna Davies Mystery #1)(38)

She sat up, feeling hot and clammy. The clock beside her showed a few minutes past three. Outside, the wind howled, and rain slammed against the windows. She knew the clamor outside would keep her from going back to sleep right away, so she decided to check the downstairs. As she got out of bed, the cold air chilled the dampness on her neck and made her shiver. Reaching for her fleece robe, she slipped into warm, woolly moccasins and, guided by her small flashlight, went down to the kitchen. Benjamin padded into the room from his bed in the mudroom, blinking and yawning as Edna briefly shone the light on him. When she sat at the kitchen table, he jumped into her lap, and she hugged the furry body to her. His warmth felt good against her chest. He rubbed his head on her shoulder, and she felt the vibration of his purr. Absently stroking his back, she viewed the storm through the window above the sink.

As she watched, a sudden beam of bright light flashed through the glass. Bushes between the source of the light and the window mixed with streaks of rain on the glass to make strange dancing shadows across the ceiling and over the cupboard doors.

She froze. Benjamin struggled in her arms and jumped free, landing on the floor with a soft thud. Staring up at the window, he emitted a long low whine. Edna’s blood turned cold at the sound.

As suddenly as it had appeared, the light was gone.

“Hush, Benjamin.” She rose from the chair and moved quickly to the sink. Who could be out there at this time of night and in this storm? she wondered.

From the window, she saw two lights. She thought for a minute it was a car in the driveway until the beams moved off in different directions. One came toward the front door, and the other headed south. Flashlights, high-powered lights from the looks of them. Who was outside her house? The sheets of water on the window made it impossible to see clearly.

White heat swept through her chest as she remembered Tuck lying on the floor of the Tucker mansion. A thought leaped into her head, and she turned toward the mudroom. Had she locked that door? She couldn’t remember securing it after Mary and Hank left earlier that afternoon. Both she and Albert had gotten careless about locking up. They had felt safe in this neighborhood.

Benjamin, still in the middle of the kitchen floor with his back arched and his fur ruffled, kept up his low yowl, but now he was facing the mudroom. The sound unnerved her and his change of position was frightening.

Grabbing up the cat, Edna ran for the small study off the front hall. Nine one one. The numbers screamed in her head. Trying not to make noise, she picked up the phone. No dial tone. The phones were still out, and there was no flash hook on her cordless that she could push to try and reconnect the dead line.

What could she do? She must hide. Could she make it back to the kitchen and get to the cellar? The thought sickened her. She hated the basement with its dankness and cold dirt floor, but she had no choice. That was the best place to hide if these were the same burglars who had attacked Tuck. If they were after her belongings, they certainly wouldn’t look in an unfinished basement, Edna reasoned.

Moving into the hallway, she heard a soft metallic sound. Someone was trying the latch, trying to open the front door. She heard a muffled thud and pictured the person hitting the door with his shoulder, softly but firmly. Stealthily.

Edna looked around her in the dark, terrified. If the person at the front door was picking the lock, there was no time to reach the cellar. They’d see her. She had to find a hiding place. Panic burned in her chest, and bile bubbled at the back of her throat.

Keeping a tight grip on her struggling cat with one arm, she backed toward the coat closet, her eyes glued to the front door as she groped behind her for the handle. Slipping between the coats, she started to close the door when Benjamin leaped out of her arms.

“Benjamin!” She hissed, not daring to raise her voice, but he’d disappeared into the dark. She could only hope he would be safe.

Who is out there? What do they want? At this hour, they can’t be after the furniture. The thought struck new fear into her, turning the blood in her veins to ice.

She pushed as far back into the corner of the closet as she could and sat on the floor. The darkness engulfed her, making her feel only slightly safer than she’d felt outside the closet. She fumbled the coats in front of her, hoping to create an adequate screen. Quietly, she pulled a pair of Albert’s boots in front of her to hide her feet and legs. Then, clutching her knees to her chest, she stared at the closed door and began to shake.

Fourteen

Trying to be as quiet as possible, Edna took several rapid breaths, remembering what Albert had told her about the effects of adrenaline as the body shuts down, trying to protect itself. “Your peripheral vision decreases, and you lose your hearing. Hands and feet become cold as the blood recedes from those areas, but your heart rate increases.” She could hear his voice as if he were seated next to her. “The best way to offset the effects is to breathe deeply and get as much oxygen into your system as quickly as you can.”

She pulled air into her lungs while listening for sounds, but the blood pounding in her ears made it difficult to hear outside the closet. Was that a footstep in the hall? Where was Benjamin?

The front door must have opened, because all at once, the noise of the storm grew louder. A light shone beneath the door at her feet before disappearing again. Someone was brandishing a flashlight. They were in the hall, and she thought they were headed for the living room.

Edna didn’t know how much time passed before she heard the first sharp noise. Was it a dog’s bark? She pressed back against the closet wall. There it was again, closer this time.