Between Two Strangers by Kate White

Author:Kate White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

21

Then

WE HAVE TO CHECK THE POOL,” I SHOUTED AT JAMIE AND ROB, feeling my panic swell even more. “Chloe might have fallen in.”

Rob shook his head emphatically. “No, I was out there yesterday, and I would have noticed.”

I exhaled a long, ragged breath, but my relief didn’t last. “Let’s look around the second floor now,” I said. I was thinking of the girl descending the main staircase and that toad of a guy surprising me in the corridor outside the bedrooms. People had definitely been roaming around up there Friday night.

“We should probably check the basement first,” Jamie said.

My heart skipped. “What’s there?”

“Well, for one thing, a game room. We didn’t want anyone using it the other night, but given how the party turned out, people might have ended up down there.”

As she led the way, dread seeped through my pores, making my legs heavy. Once we reached the kitchen, Jamie swung open a dark wooden door in one corner and flipped on a light to reveal a set of descending stairs. We were still traveling as a pack, and I was about to suggest that we split up and search the house separately to save time, but I quickly nixed the thought. It just seemed better to stick together so that I made sure no space was overlooked.

Jamie’s instinct turned out to be right. As soon as we stepped into the game room, I picked up the scent of stale beer and spotted several red cups on the rim of the pool table, a few half full and one with a cigarette butt floating in the middle of it. The floor was sticky as we walked, suggesting beer had spilled in spots. When I pushed open a door into a half bathroom, I saw a couple of red cups resting on the small sink, as well. But there was no specific sign that Chloe had been one of the guests who had set foot in this part of the house.

“Shit, Jamie, we’re gonna have to get out the mop down here, too,” Rob said, surveying the scene with disgust.

That’s what you’re worried about?? I wanted to scream but ignored him and asked Jamie what else was on this level.

“The wine cellar,” she said. “And the laundry room.”

She took the lead again, down a long, narrow corridor. My trepidation built with each step, but each of the other rooms we checked was empty, and it looked like partygoers hadn’t ventured this far. Finally, we encountered a door to what Jamie called “the utility room.” When Jamie swung open the door and I saw that there was nothing in the space but a furnace, I let out a small moan of relief.

“I understand you’re worried,” I heard Rob say from behind me. “But I just don’t think she’s here. We’ve been in the house the whole weekend and we would have known.”

“Can we look in the bedrooms now?” I asked Jamie, ignoring him again.

“Okay,” she said, but she was starting to

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