Falyn – 4 hours ago
This is my favorite number.
“Is he telling us that we should use the same code number as Sunday?” April asked.
“I think so. Do you guys remember what it was? I never thought to keep track,” Kayleigh said, failing to hide the panic in her voice.
Sean pulled his phone out of his back pocket and opened up the memo pad. “I got it,” he said.
“Thank god for geeks. What was it?” Kayleigh asked.
“Forty-eight,”
No sooner were the numbers typed in than the live feed appeared. The sound of the Cher song blasted out of the speakers, making them all jump. They watched as the robed man danced around the floor with his captive. The girl’s feet dragged on the ragged concrete as he pulled her around. The shackles were off, but a rope looped around her neck, the other end knotted around the meat hook.
Spinning around, the robed man faced the camera and began to sing along, his distorted voice sounding like something out of a nightmare. Once the music ended, he carried the girl back to her chair, reattaching the shackles and keeping the noose in place.
“Well, that was disturbing,” Kayleigh said.
“Thank you for tuning in to my performance. I was concerned that you might miss it. I’m afraid that my guest is not the most captive audience. I may have some more sights to show you today, so I shall keep the feed open.”
They watched as he stood in the center of the Pentagram, took a bow, and then moved off-screen.”
Taking shifts, they spent the remainder of the day tuning into the feed, but other than a few brief appearances by the robed man, nothing else of any importance happened. With weary eyes, they all headed to bed for an early night.
Chapter Nine
Day 6
Kayleigh laid on her back and stared at the ceiling, unable to fall back asleep. A pale shaft of light forced its way through a crack in the curtains. The meager illumination came from a streetlight that lit the green space sitting at the rear of their property. Sleep was not usually an issue for her, but the thought of having dinner with Gallagher was making it tougher than usual to get any real rest.
The idea of an office was somewhat appealing, as was the extra money, but Kayleigh still couldn’t shake the notion that she was on the brink of something big. Her Instagram page was growing at an incredible rate, which meant that more content was imperative if she was too keep those followers interested. She knew that the adult thing to do would be to take the promotion and do the social media thing in her spare time, but she also knew where her heart lay.
There was also the situation with April to consider. Her friend would never really say it out loud, but Kayleigh could tell that she had her heart set on the personal assistant position. Plus, how would Gallagher react if she said no? There was no way that he could justify letting her go given her stellar sales numbers, but what about April? She might end up taking the bullet for Kayleigh if Gallagher decided that he wanted to go the spiteful route. It seemed like an impossible situation and one that she should sleep on, but that was proving impossible.
Rolling onto her side, Kayleigh grabbed her glasses off the bedside table and looked at the digital clock, which showed that it was just after five a.m. With a groan, she pulled the covers back, snatched up her phone, and climbed out of bed. As quietly as she could, Kayleigh turned the handle on her bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway, where her right foot slid out from under her as she stepped on something soft.
She hit the ground hard, pain shooting up her spine as her tailbone connected with the hardwood. The back of her head hit the half-open bedroom door with a thump that seemed to reverberate through the house. As she lay on the floor, she saw light appear from below April and Sean’s bedroom door, which lay directly across from her own.
April came bounding out of the room and went down on one knee, trying to help Kayleigh up. “Are you okay? What happened.”
Kayleigh rubbed at the back of her head, feeling a knot begin to form. “I slipped on something. Did Sean dump his clothes out here again?”
“I don’t think...” Before she could get the sentence out, April gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.
“What is it?”
With a trembling hand, April pointed at Kayleigh’s feet, which sat atop a manila envelope tied shut with red string. “How the fuck did that get there?” Kayleigh yelled.
Sean popped his head around the bedroom door, rubbing at his eyes and mumbling incoherently.
“Wake up, babe,” April said, voice cracking. “Someone has been in our house.”
The statement served as a slap in the face for Sean, who seemed to become alert instantly. Heading back into the bedroom, he emerged moments later with a baseball bat in hand. “Did you see him? Is he still here?”
“I don’t know,” Kayleigh said, trying to get to her feet.
Without waiting to hear more, Sean bolted for the stairs and went running down to the main level. They could hear him moving around down there, opening doors, and performing a thorough search. He returned to the top of the stairs, shaking his head. “There’s no one there.”
“Where did my phone go?” Kayleigh asked, feeling around for the device.
Flicking on the hall light, Sean bent down and picked up the smartphone, which had skittered halfway down the landing. He handed it to Kayleigh, who punched in the unlock code and looked at her notifications. Her eyes went wide, and she tried to talk, but her mouth flopped open and closed soundlessly, the words failing to form. Instead, she turned the phone around so that April and Sean could see all the camera app notifications filling the screen.
“Shit,” Sean said. “I’ll get my laptop.”
“Is it too early for a beer?” Kayleigh asked as they settled on the couch, ready to review the camera feeds.
“Usually, but I think we can make an exception today,” Sean said.
April headed to the fridge and returned with the beers. After a silent round of cheers, they settled back and watched as Sean set up the camera feed and prepared to start rolling. “What time did the notifications start going off?”
Flipping through the notifications, Kayleigh replied, “Just before one-thirty.”
They watched as Sean punched in the time and began to let the videos play. The video from Sean and April’s bedroom showed the robed man sneak up the front steps and lean against the door. He reached back and tried the handle, before reaching inside his garments and removing a small tool kit. It took him a matter of seconds fiddling with the lock before the door opened and allowed him access to the house.
The camera in the living room showed little more than his feet as he moved towards the stairs. Instinctively, they all focused on the camera pointing down the hallway upstairs. April covered her eyes as the robed man’s hands appeared at the top of the stairs. When his head poked around the corner near the floor, it became clear that he was climbing the steps on all fours.
Kayleigh took another hit of the beer, almost finishing the remaining contents in a single gulp. “Jesus.”
They watched as the man pulled himself upright, crept down the hallway, and reached inside his robes once more, this time pulling out the envelope. He disappeared from the view of the camera for a moment as he leaned over to drop the package outside Kayleigh’s bedroom door. They all jumped when he came back into frame, really close to the camera, and raised his finger to his face in a hushing motion.