The Doe Identity

5 - Three Ghosts and a Lady with a Pan

A pan.

I could've taken one of the various kitchen knives, but I took a stupid pan instead.

I heaved out a sigh and waited, praying the person outside was a teenager with a death wish instead of a kidnapper slash possible murderer.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The ticking of my watch seemed to get louder and louder with each passing second, my heart drummed in my ears, and sweat broke out across my palms. If I had known the person out there would take so long to enter the Manor, I would've run out the back door instead of hiding in here. But it was too risky now. Darn it, what was I thinking—

"Hi, Miss."

I yelped and whipped my head toward the voice.

Vickie crouched beside me and tilted her head to the side. "What are we doing here?"

I racked my brain for a good lie. If they stayed here, I could've blurted something out and alerted whoever was out there of my presence. Not to mention, if the person out there was indeed the Boogeyman, they could spook the twins—and the last thing I wanted was for the kids to turn into a poltergeist in an old building.

"We're playing hide and seek," I whispered.

"Hide and seek?"

I drew a sharp breath as half of Eddie's head went through the kitchen island and appeared upside down beside mine. No matter how often I'd seen ghosts do that, I never got used to it.

"We love hide and seek!" Vickie said, eyes glittering with excitement.

"Yeah! Can we join?" Eddie asked, exactly as I'd expected.

"Of course," I whispered. "Now you two go hide, maybe in the woods or somewhere outside the house, so John would have trouble finding you."

"Okay!" the twins answered in unison.

As they hopped out of the house through the wall, I released the breath I'd been holding. Well, at least the roof won't collapse because of—

The front door creaked open.

I tightened my grip around my pan. My foot tapped the ground in an anxious rhythm, but I forced them to stop. Here we go.

"Becks?" a male voice echoed from the front door. The croaky voice held a distinct tone of recklessness, the kind that was usually found in teenagers' voices.

Becca's boyfriend, maybe?

"Becks, come on." Fear crept into the boy's voice. "I know you're in here. I've tracked your phone. Now, come on, your parents are worried!"

Something told me the boy outside wasn't the Boogeyman; though I found it a little creepy that the boy could track his friend's—or girlfriend's—phone.

Phone. He's tracked her phone.

If Becca's cell phone was in the Manor, then it could still be in the last room she'd visited before she'd met the Boogeyman.

I glanced around and spotted a phone underneath the stool farthest from me. A cute cat charm was plugged into the jack, and a string of pink beads and charms was tied to the bedazzled case. Bingo.

Now, I had three options. One, I could introduce myself to the boy and team up with him to find Becca. Two, I could continue hiding, let the boy find Becca's phone, and leave it to him to take to the police. Three, I could grab it and see if there was a clue in it relating to her disappearance.

The first and second options were too risky; the boy outside could still be the Boogeyman. So I chose the third option.

Carefully, I put my pan on the floor and pushed one of the stools away as quietly as possible. Holding my breath, I crawled out of my hiding place. I was about to reach for the phone when my peripheral vision caught something else.