Page 34 of Blake

A cat jumping onto the chair wouldn’t pull it backward.

Devon’s gaze snapped toward the front door. She crossed the room quickly to check the locks. The deadbolt and chain were still safely secured.

She tested them both anyway.

After that, she spent the next few minutes checking every window in her apartment, relieved to find them all locked. Even the secondary latch she’d installed at the fire escape window remained in place.

There was nothing missing. Nothing had been broken or disturbed. So maybe she really had left the chair out and forgot.

That was the answer. It had to be.

Devon turned slowly toward her bedroom doorway at the end of the hall. The space beyond it was dark. She stared into it, but nothing moved.

Helloooo . . . nothing’s going to move because you’re alone.

The sudden urge to make sure no one was hiding somewhere in that darkness struck. Devon went to the kitchen to retrieve her heavy flashlight. Grabbing it from the drawer where she kept it, she wrapped her fingers tightly around its metal casing.

She turned it on and went to her bedroom. Devon flipped on the overhead light as she entered the quiet space.

She checked the closet and found nothing but clothes and shoes. Dropping to her knees, she peered under the bed before moving to the bathroom and yanked back the shower curtain.

Logic momentarily ceased to exist as she then checked the office hall closet and laundry area.

Every room, every possible place someone could hide was empty. No one else was there.

By the time Devon returned to the living room, her pulse was normal, and her breaths came at a regular pace.

I’m losing my mind.

Her phone rang, making her jump. The flashlight nearly slipped from her hand. She pressed it against her chest as her phone continued ringing on the desk, wondering if her heart could literally explode.

She went to her desk and snatched up the phone.

Blake.

Just seeing his name on her screen made her knees weak with relief.

“Hey.” She answered before he could hang up.

“Hey, yourself.”

The familiar sound of his deep voice soothed her as it filled her ear. It was warm. Familiar.

Safe.

Devon closed her eyes.

“Sorry I missed you earlier,” he said. “We were tied up most of the day.”

“It’s fine.”

A slight pause filled the phone before Blake asked, “You okay?”

Her eyes opened. She thought about the dining room chair.

“Yep.”

Another stretch of silence ensued.