Chapter 21
Amaris reached up and pushed the door open and stepped in. Cautiously she walked into the living room. Amaris’ heart was in her throat. She did not want to find Anna and her parents dead like Lyle had found Grover at Gran’s. The house had been ransacked just as Gran’s had. They even tore the couch cushions apart. Their new family portrait that Anna had surprised her parents with when she got her graduation pictures last fall, had been slashed to ribbons. These men had not just searched but completely destroyed everything. Amaris decided to head into the kitchen. The kitchen table had been flipped and all four chairs had been reduced to firewood. Everything from the refrigerator and every cabinet had been dumped on the floor. There was flour and pasta, ketchup, mustard, milk, and it was impossible to tell what else all over the floor. There were no footprints on the floor. These men were careful, but a couple very large dogs had been in here, for a snack probably, and left their prints in the mess.
Amaris left the disarray in the kitchen that was beginning to smell and headed to the hall for the bedrooms in the back of the house. As she neared Anna’s bedroom she found herself hesitant to open the door. Afraid that she might find Anna and her parents dead in their beds. Amaris took a deep breath and slowly opened the door to Anna’s room. It was empty and looked relatively unscathed. They had clearly gone through the closet and the bins that held her art stuff under her bed, the bed mattress itself had been flipped on its side, but the room was not slashed, or torn apart.
Amaris went into Anna’s father’s office next and the same in this room. The chair had been nocked over and the closet door was open, but that was the extent of the damage. They had not even gone through his files or pulled out the drawers. Amaris did Anna’s parents’ room last. It was much the same as Anna’s room. The bed mattress had been flipped and the closet had all the clothes and boxes pulled out but nothing else. The master bathroom was spared completely. She did not think they even looked in the closet or the shower.
Amaris walked out to the living room and tipped the armchair upright that Anna’s Mom always sat in. It had been slashed on the underside, but the seat part was fine. It must have been turned over before the men decided to start slashing everything. There was no blood and no bodies so hopefully this happened when they weren’t home. Amaris was not sure what her next move should be. She was just about to go into the kitchen to see if the house phone was usable, when she heard a car hit the gravel drive. Amaris jumped up and went to peak out the curtains only to realize that they had been slashed and now only 3 feet of them hung from the curtain rod above. She would be seen. She could not get to the back door without leaving tracks through the mess on the kitchen floor so she decided to hide. Anna and her parents drove up and her mother yelled as she looked at the front door wide open. Her father told them to stay there and left the car running as he got out. Before he shut the door he leaned over the top of the open door and said to his wife, “Get in the drivers seat. I will go in. If I don’t come out in 1 minute or if anyone else comes out you drive away and get help. You know where to go. This has to be them. It can’t be a coincidence.” Anna’s mother, though clearly shaken nodded her head and began to take off her seat belt and slide onto the drivers side of the front seat.
Amaris could hear talking in the driveway. A man’s voice. She could not make out what he was saying. She hid further in and tried to slow her breathing so she would not be heard. Footsteps crossing the front porch, then a slight creek as the unknown man entered the house. There was silence then suddenly there was a noise like something padded and heavy moving across the floor. Coming down the hallway. A snuffling noise could be heard as the thing moved into the master bed room. The noise grew closer, it came right up to the linen closet door in the master bath. The sniffing grew louder and more frequent, and then suddenly it was gone. Did they bring dogs with them to search this time? Amaris thought.
The door to the closet flew open and there standing before her was Anna’s father. “Amaris! Oh you gave us a fright! We thought something happened to you. Where have you been? How did you end up here? Was someone after you? Did they do this?” Anna’s father reached his big hand down and grabbed the stunned Amaris’ hand and helped her to her feet.
“Come with me outside. Anna will be so relieved to see you. They are waiting in the car.”
He wrapped his arm around Amaris’ shoulders and walked her out to the car and put her in the backseat with Anna. He quickly told the girls to stay there and grabbed his wife and asked her to come inside with him to see if they could salvage anything.