Chapter 8 - The Night the Lights Went Out
The storm arrived before dinner.
Wind drove rain against the windows, and the ocean disappeared behind a wall of gray.
Jonah checked the backup power system, then called the security team stationed outside.
Everything appeared routine.
Mallory had learned to distrust that word.
She was folding laundry when the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then darkness filled the house.
For one second, she was back in the service corridor.
Detergent.
Locked doors.
Footsteps.
Silas’s voice came from the hallway.
“Mallory. The power’s out. I’m beside the kitchen.”
She gripped a towel.
“Don’t come closer.”
He stopped.
“All right.”
Emergency lights came on along the floor.
The kitchen reappeared in soft amber.
A phone rang.
Then another.
Jonah entered from the mudroom, rain across his shoulders.
“Transformer down. The whole street’s out.”
Mallory nodded.
She was embarrassed by how badly she wanted to believe him.
Then Jonah’s expression changed as he listened to his earpiece.
“What vehicle?”
Silas looked up.
Mallory saw the movement before either man spoke.
“What happened?”
Jonah did not dismiss her.
“A car stopped beyond the street barrier. The driver left before the officers could approach.”
“What kind of car?”
“We’re checking.”
Silas reached for his phone.
“Call Ward.”
She answered immediately.
The car had been reported near June’s temporary residence the previous afternoon.
Ward ordered additional protection and instructed them to remain inside while officers assessed the area.
Silas wanted to move Mallory.
Wanted engines, armed men, distance.
He looked at her and made himself ask.
“Would you feel safer in the interior room?”
She nodded.
“Can Nora come?”
“She’s already on her way down.”
They gathered in a small sitting room with no exterior windows.
Not locked.
That distinction mattered enough that Silas pointed it out without making a speech.
An officer arrived through the rear entrance twenty minutes later.
A man had been detained near a utility access road.
He carried a camera, false press credentials, and a phone containing photographs of June.
The initial evidence suggested he had been hired to track witnesses.
The outage appeared unrelated to him.
That did not make the photographs harmless.
Mallory sat very still.
“He can still reach us.”
Ward spoke over the phone.
“Someone tried. We stopped him. Now we follow the evidence to whoever hired him.”
“Gideon’s in custody.”
“Yes.”
“So there are more.”
“There may be people still helping him.”
Silas watched the words settle.
No empty assurance.
No promise the danger had vanished because the house was expensive.
Mallory stood.
“I need paper.”
Nora handed her a notebook.
She began writing names.
Drivers.
Delivery companies.
A woman who visited Dain twice a month carrying a locked briefcase.
People she had noticed without knowing why they mattered.
She stopped after ten minutes.
“My head hurts.”
“Then we stop,” Nora said.
Mallory set down the pen.
The next day, one of those names helped investigators identify the consultant who had arranged the surveillance.
Financial records connected the payment to a business associate acting on Gideon’s behalf.
Additional charges followed.
At the rental house, the electricity returned before noon.
Mallory walked through every room switching off unnecessary lamps.
Then she stopped beside Silas.
“I thought you’d go after him.”
“The man with the camera?”
She nodded.
“I wanted to.”
“What stopped you?”
He looked toward the notebook on the table.
“You were here.”
She studied him.
“And the police were already doing their job,” he added.
That mattered, too.
She stepped closer.
For the first time, she kissed him without warning.
A brief kiss.
Soft and uncertain.
When she drew back, he stayed still.
“Was that okay?” she asked.
His eyes shone.
“Yes.”
Outside, branches littered the wet lawn.
Inside, they made breakfast at noon.
May you like
The storm had frightened her.
It had not taken her away.
