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Violet decided this was as good a ti a quick wave to Sara, as sitting at her desk now, listening intently to the detective on the other end, before she slipped out the door

Chapter 15

SHE KNEW THE MOMENT SHE REACHED THE BOTTOM of the steps outside the outer door that so

But it wasn’t what Sara told her that bothered Violet, she realized as her heart began to beat too hard--too fast It felt like she was trying to breathe through sand, the air was suddenly dry and coarse This was soether

She wasn’t alone

She took a step backward, the heels of her shoes buainst the bottom step She felt trapped She wanted to race back up the stairs, to see if--by some miracle--the door hadn’t locked behind her But she knew that it had; she’d heard the telltale click And her keycard would do her no good; it was already lost in the cluttered depths of her skull-and-crossbones purse

She scanned the parking lot, searching the road and every crevice, nook, and alleyway she could see between the buildings around her Everything appeared to be deserted

Yet the hair standing up on the back of her neck told her otherwise And it wasn’t just the hairs that warned her; it was the presence of an echo--or rather, echoes--that confir i her outward cal to decide what to do next

She clutched her cell phone in one hand and gauged the distance to her car Those keys, at least, were already in her other hand She held the to lose track of theive her a false sense of comfort, she worried she was too far away Or rather, that the person carrying the i She couldn’t just stand there, waiting for so to happen

In the distance, she heard the loud bass ofBut after ain the opposite direction

She had one chance, she finally decided, one chance to make it to safety If only she couldto second-guess her plan as she raced back up the steps Time seemed to slow to a blur and from somewhere behind her, she felt, and heard, the rush of echoescloserclosercloser