Death of a Cookbook Author by Lee Hollis

Author:Lee Hollis [Hollis, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Hayley was startled awake by the sound of men’s voices in the distance, yelling at each other. She tried to move, but seemed to be pinned down. She felt a weight holding her across the waist. She shifted and turned her head to see the unconscious face of Bruce Linney, eyes closed and mouth open with short grunting snores escaping past his lips. He was sound asleep. He also had an arm slung around her waist and was cuddling with her.

Hayley wriggled free from his thick muscled arm and slipped out of bed. She padded over to the window and peered out. She didn’t see anyone outside, but could still hear the men shouting.

Suddenly there was a loud banging on the door.

“Hurry! Everybody out of the house now!” a man hollered, and then he was gone.

Hayley spun around to Bruce, who was hugging a pillow and still snoring softly, his bare leg hanging out over the edge of the bed.

Hayley rushed over and tried to shake him awake. “Bruce, something’s happening! We need to get out of the house!”

He snorted and turned away from her, and was now flopped on his back, not happy to be roused out of his slumber.

Hayley grabbed his arm and shook harder.

“Bruce! I’m not kidding! Wake up now!”

He grumbled and moaned to himself before he reluctantly opened his eyes, surprised to find himself staring into Hayley’s face.

“What?” he asked sleepily.

“Come on! We have to get out of here!”

Hayley ripped off the comforter and sheets, leaving his nearly naked self lying on top of the mattress, arms and legs spread out to the four corners, like he was making a snow angel.

Hayley noticed a strong smoky smell in the air, not quite like the smell of a pipe, but rather a fire pit burning.

Suddenly her entire body shook with fear.

“Oh my God! The house is on fire! Bruce, let’s go!”

She grabbed his arm and hauled him out of bed.

He crashed to the floor, and was finally fully awake.

“Fire? What?”

Bruce sniffed the air a few times, and when it finally clicked in his brain that the house was burning down and their lives were in danger, he jumped to his feet, grabbed Hayley’s hand, and hightailed it out of there with Hayley in tow.

He forgot he was still only wearing his underwear.

Hayley and Bruce scrambled out the door to the immaculately landscaped front yard of the main house on the estate, visible by the porch lights which had all been turned on, and quickly realized they were the last ones to escape as all of Penelope’s other guests were already huddled together in various stages of dress. Penelope was directing her household staff to make sure everyone was accounted for, and to report back to her immediately.

They were suddenly bathed in flashing red lights as two fire trucks arrived, careening down the dirt road from the main gate, sirens wailing.

Hayley looked back at the house and saw thick clouds of black smoke billowing up over the rooftop, but no flames.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.