Chapter 5 - THE COURTYARD WATCHER
Upstairs in Unit 3B, Lily sat with her little brother, her small hands clutching the edge of the couch. The apartment was still shadowed, lit only by the pale, ambient glow of the streetlamps bleeding through the living room windows.
Suddenly, a soft sound came from outside the window.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Leo flinched, burying his face against Lily’s shoulder. “Lily? What’s that?”
“Don't look,” Lily whispered bravely, though her own heart was hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. She remembered her mother’s strict rule: Never open the door for anyone. Never look outside if someone knocks.
The scratching sound moved along the glass of the living room window. It wasn't a branch; it was deliberate, rhythmic, like fingernails or a piece of wire testing the latch.
Across the courtyard, on the second floor, the blinds of Apartment 12 parted by an inch. Through the narrow gap, a pair of eyes stared directly across the dark space toward Unit 3B.
Arthur Pendelton stood in his living room, breathing heavily, his hand trembling as he clutched a heavy master key ring in his palm. He had watched the police arrive. He had seen the cruisers pull up with their emergency lights flashing. He thought he had locked her away securely in the sub-level maintenance tunnel where nobody ever went.
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But the little girl had called the police. She had broken his timeline.
Pendelton turned away from the window, his eyes darting toward his own front door. He couldn't stay here. If the officers searched the basement thoroughly, they would find the secret latch in the floorboards leading to the old coal chute.
