The program searched for hidden files and hard drives. Once it started chugging away, I pushed back from the chair and left the room, careful to keep as low as possible and out of sight while I traversed the hall, searching for Brad’s phone. I was aware that this would be easier with two people, but if I couldn’t find Brad’s phone and some digital trace of Aly was on there, the cops finding any physical trace of her inside the house could be disastrous.

The end of the hall was dark enough that I decided to risk turning on my flashlight, remembering the instruction to keep it pointed down at all times. The red beam functioned as promised. I could hardly see much in it, so I doubted anyone would notice the glow out of the windows.

I peeked in doorways as I passed them, but the bedrooms that lay beyond looked like they were for guests. Finally, at the very end of the hallway, in the darkest part of the shadows – because, of course – I found Brad’s room. There wasn’t much to point it out at first, just the subtle hints that it was more lived in than the rest, but I went with my gut, and as soon as I stepped inside and saw a pair of shoes discarded near the bed, I knew I was in the right place.

Junior told us that Brad lived alone and rarely ever had company, and now I knew that probably had something to do with the dead bodies in the basement. The realization made me shudder. I was in a house with two corpses, and god only knew how many other people had died inside these walls.

A spine-chilling feeling slithered down my back. It felt like someone had reached out to touch me but changed their mind at the last second.

I whipped around. No one was there.

Yeah, this place was definitely haunted. What had Mom told me to do if I ever encountered a ghost?

“I mean you no harm,” I whispered.

“Who are you talking to?” Aly asked, making me jump.

I clutched my chest, trying to relearn how to breathe. “Uh, no one, sorry. Just looking for Brad’s phone.”

“Want me to come help?” she asked.

“No. Please stay outside.”

“Fine.”

“Aly,” I ground out.

“I said fine! Just hurry up. My toes are starting to tingle.”

“Could be worse,” I said, resuming my search of the room. “You could be the son of a serial killer currently stuck in a murderer’s house with his last two victims somewhere a few floors below you and are trying not to spiral or let the memories of your childhood send you screaming from the place.”

Aly was quiet for so long that I thought my earbud must have cut out.

“Aly?”

Her voice came through so low that I barely heard her. “I think someone just pulled into the driveway.”

I clicked my flashlight off, fear and adrenaline flooding my veins. “Can you check?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m trying to get to the front of the house, but the snow is loud, and I don’t want them to hear me crunching toward them.”

“Hang on. I think this room might overlook part of the driveway.”

I slunk toward the window and leaned forward just enough to see outside, and – fuck! – there was a car right below me.

“Stay where you are,” I told Aly. “Someone’s here.”

“Get out!” she hiss-whispered.

“Way ahead of you,” I said, racing back to the office. “I just have to wipe you from Brad’s computer.”

“No, Josh. You have to leave. What if they catch you?”

“They won’t,” I told her. “Did Junior text your burner about his people spotting cops?”

“No, but they could be in an unmarked car, or it could be one of Brad’s friends or family members. Josh, get out.”

“I will as soon as I’m done. I’ll go out the window if I have to.”

I really didn’t want to go out the window, but as I skidded around Brad’s desk and saw just how much of Aly I’d have to erase from his search history, I realized it might come down to that.

Hoping to buy myself some time, I shut and locked the office door before starting to wipe the browser Brad used to look for her. He had two hidden ones, and a quick glance revealed that there was more than enough on there to damn him in the eyes of the police, so I left them intact and wiped the other. He also had an encrypted hard drive, so I immediately unencrypted it and ran my search software on that, too. There was no trace of Aly on it, and I didn’t bother looking further into what it contained; I was short on time and figured whatever was on there would probably scar me. I’d already been scarred enough for one lifetime, thank you very much.

“Josh?” Aly whispered. “What’s going on?”

“Shh,” I said, straining my ears. “I think I hear someone coming.”

Her only response was a low, panicked noise. I was right there with her. Footsteps echoed in the hallway as I performed one last-ditch diagnostic test, looking for Aly anywhere I might have missed her.

Come on, come on, I begged as the footsteps drew nearer. The progress bar seemed to slow to a crawl as the doorknob jiggled. Whoever was out there must have beelined straight to this office once they got inside the house. Were they after the same thing we were – Brad’s computer? If so, why? And what would they do with it if they got their hands on it?

“It’s locked,” a low male voice rumbled. “I’m kicking it down.”

Shit, shit, shit.

The voice that answered him was feminine. “Don’t. It will look too suspicious when the search warrant gets executed. I think he keeps a key in his nightstand.”

The man made an angry sound. “If he fled the country, I’m disowning him this time, Vivian. I swear, I’ll do it.”

The vice around my heart slackened. Were Brad’s parents on the other side of the door? I vaguely remembered his mom’s name beginning with a V, and talk of disowning could only come from someone with the power to do it, like his father.

“While I’m at it,” the man said. “I’m firing the housekeeper, too. It smells like the trash hasn’t been taken out in weeks.”

Was it weird that I took Brad’s parents not recognizing the smell of rotting corpses as a good sign?

The sound of their retreat was such a relief that I nearly collapsed, but I fought through it and, trusting my instincts, plugged another thumb drive into Brad’s computer and started making a copy of his machine, hard drives, search histories, and all. If his parents planned to hide the evidence of his crimes by destroying his computer, I’d find some way to get the backup files to the cops without getting caught.

The downside was that it would take several minutes. I grabbed a chair and braced it beneath the door handle like I’d seen Aly do all those nights before. For good measure, I found a nearby candelabra with a wide base and quietly wedged it against the bottom of the door like a jamb. At least all the antiques in Brad’s English gentleman’s office were good for something.

A peek at the computer screen told me I still needed to stall for time, so when I heard footsteps reapproach the door, I sidled over to it and grabbed the lock from my side, praying my finger strength was up to the job.

The sound of metal-meeting-metal filled my ears as the key slid into place on the other side. Pressure on the lock told me someone was trying to turn it, but I gritted my teeth and pinched it in place. The pressure increased, and sweat began to bead on my forehead as I tried to force all the strength in my body down into my fingers.

“Damn it, this is the wrong key,” the man – Brad’s father? – said.

“What do you mean?” Vivian asked.

“It’s not working.”

“Here, let me. You might have been forcing it too hard.”

“Fine,” the man barked. “You try while I go look for another.”

He stomped away, and I held my ground while the woman tried to open the door politely and, when that failed, attempted to force it even harder than her partner-in-crime had.

“Josh, I can hear people talking,” Aly said. “Please be okay. I need you to be okay.”