“What about your sick kid?” the man demanded.
“She’s out trick-or-treating with friends,” Angela said.
“When will your husband be back?” the man asked.
Angela hesitated, not knowing what was best to say. The man grabbed her arm and gave it a tug. His thumbnail bit into her flesh. “I asked you a question,” he snarled.
“Soon,” Angela managed.
“Good,” the man said. “We’ll wait. Meanwhile, let’s take a look around the house and make sure you’re not lying to me.”
“I wouldn’t lie,” Angela said as she felt herself propelled into the family room.
Nikki was not in the bathtub. She’d been out for some time. When the door chimes sounded, she’d rushed to finish dressing and put on her mask. She’d hoped to get downstairs before the kids had left. She wanted to see their costumes and surprise them with her own. She’d just gotten to the head of the stairs when the glass bowl shattered, stopping her in her tracks. Helplessly she’d watched from upstairs as her mother began to struggle with a man wearing a serpent mask.
After the initial shock, Nikki ran down the hall to the master bedroom and picked up the telephone. But there was no dial tone. The line was dead. Rushing back down the hall, she’d peeked over the edge of the stairs just in time to see her mother and the man disappear into the family room.
Advancing to the head of the stairs, Nikki looked down. The shotgun was leaning against the back of the newel post.
Nikki had to jump back out of sight when her mother and the reptile man reappeared from the family room. Nikki could hear their footsteps crunching the broken glass of the candy bowl. Then the footsteps stopped. Nikki could only hear muffled voices.
Nikki forced herself to peek over the edge of the stairs again. She saw her mother and the man reappear briefly from the living room before they vanished down the central corridor toward the kitchen.
Nikki inched forward and again peered down at the shotgun. It was still there. She started down the steps, but no matter how slowly she moved, each step creaked under the weight of her light, seventy-pound frame.
Nikki only got halfway down the stairs before she heard Angela and the man coming back along the corridor. Panicked, Nikki raced back up the stairs and partway down the upstairs corridor. She stopped, intending to return to the top of the stairs and then to descend to the foyer when it was safe. But to her horror her mother and the man started up the stairs.
Nikki ran the rest of the way down the corridor and dashed into the master bedroom. She ducked into one of the walk-in closets. In the back of the closet was a second door leading to a short hall connecting with the barn. Several store rooms ran off it. At the end of the hall was a narrow, spiral staircase that led down to the mud room.
Nikki raced down these stairs, then through the kitchen and along the first-floor corridor, finally reaching the foyer. She snatched up the shotgun. She checked to see if there was a shell in the magazine just as her mother had taught her. There was. She released the safety.
Nikki’s elation quickly changed to confusion. Now that she had the shotgun in her hands, she didn’t know what to do next. Her mother had explained that the gun sprayed pellets in a wide arc. It didn’t have to be aimed too carefully; it would hit just about everything it was pointed at. The problem was her mom. Nikki didn’t want to hit her.
Nikki had little time to ponder her dilemma. Almost immediately she heard the intruder marching her mother back along the upstairs corridor and down the main stairs. Nikki backed up toward the kitchen. She didn’t know whether to hide or run outside to the neighbors’.
Before Nikki could decide, her mother appeared in the foyer, stumbling down the last few stairs. Apparently she’d been pushed. Right behind her was the reptile man. In full view of Nikki the man gave Angela another cruel shove that sent her flying through the archway into the living room. In his right hand was a pistol.