Page 206 of Somebody's Watching Me
“They were going to Haven House.”
Holden joined them. “Whatever is happening is a distraction. From us or from them, but if we can’t talk to anyone over there, they’re probably having the same issues we’re having.”
Evie waved a hand to get their attention. “If cell phone service isn’t working, what about a landline? Simone still has that old portable one in the hallway, and I remember how we could use it even when the power was out because it ran off a charger or something?”
“We can’t call out from our cell phones,” Holden said. “The service has been taken down.”
“I gotta a stove phone!” Theo announced proudly. “Wills dat works?”
She crawled off Evie’s lap, and Harper went with her, the two of them running for their stuffed animals propped in the corner of the room.
“Papa gave us phones the other day, but don’t be mad at him.” Harper unzipped the back of her teddy bear’s head. “They’re not activated, and we only use them to play games.”
Stove phones.
Burnerphones.
It took Samuel a split second to realize what his beautiful girls had stored in the hidey pockets of their stuffed animals. “I don’t think they’ll work either.”
Harper shuffled her feet guilty. “I didn’t want to log onto our internet because Unc said we needed to be careful, so I figured out the password to Mr. Belcher’s Wi-Fi next door. It’s his dog’s name, plus his house number if you need it.” She pulled up a web browser and conducted a search to show him. “See, it’s slow, but it works.”
Genius.
His daughter was a certifiable genius.
“Try it.”
Already with his phone out, Holden’s fingers flew over the screen. “What’s the password, Harper?”
“Duke4953.”
Ringing. Holden’s phone started ringing. “9-1-1. What’s your emergency?”
Holden hurried into the bathroom, speaking to the operator in a hushed voice to not alert Harper and Theo as to what was likely standing right outside the door by now.
Wrapping herself around his right leg, Harper stared up at him. “Are you mad?”
“No, you did good.” He stared at his own phone, unable to remember Haven’s phone number. He’d called it so many times as a kid, but with the world collapsing in on him, Samuel couldn’t calm his brain down enough to recall the exact sequence of numbers. “My girls are the best.”
“Then cans we haves a pony?” Theo draped herself around his other leg. “Two of dems?”
Continuing to stare at the phone screen blankly, he nodded. “We’ll go buy them tomorrow.”
Holden’s muted voice relaying the details to the police came through the closed bathroom door, and suddenly Evie’s warmth was there at his side. Samuel looked up from the screen to see the tears welling in her eyes. She could hear everything.
Winding her arms around his waist, she gave him a shaky smile. “Why aren’t you calling the house?”
How had he allowed it to come to this? How had he allowed Toby to continue terrorizing them? Bent principles. Crooked paths. He knew the rules. Liam knew the rules. They had talked it over a thousand times. Made a thousand plans to stop Zanmi dead in its tracks.
And after years of hesitating, this was the result.
“I don’t remember the number.”
A soft knock on the bedroom door had everyone freezing. The girls didn’t hear it, too busy going over pony names together, but Evie squeezed him tighter. They couldn’t get in. He’d spared no expense, and a couple of Zanmi fanatics would never overpower it.
Josie took the phone from him. “As much as you called Selah growing up,” she dialed the number and handed it back, “I can’t believe you don’t remember.”
It rang for what felt like an eternity. Each harsh, pulsing wave of sound shredding him from the inside out.
