“Wait here,” I say quietly. “It’s Raven’s foster sister. She won’t come to the attic. I can assure you that, but I want to see what she does inside the house. Stay here, be quiet, and don’t use the flashlight.”
“Roger that,” he says humorously.
I flick my head down, acknowledging his joke, and swivel to the attic door.
Silently, I climb the ladder and tiptoe my way down the stairs to the living room.
It’s a risky move since she might walk in and search for something in this room.
A shiver sweeps my back.
What if she spends the night here?
I doubt it.
She’d have a bag, a backpack, something. Things a girl needs when she spends the night somewhere else.
Her silhouette looms at the back of the house. I peer through the door connecting the living room to the kitchen.
She goes past the back door and crouches. She’s looking for the key, and apparently, she’s found it. She’s still on the phone, talking while making the trip back to the door.
What would be the chances to be on the phone with Raven?
“Yes. That’s what I said…”
Giana’s voice is muffled, but not for long.
I hear the distinct sound of the key shifting in the lock and the back door sliding open, the woman looming in the entryway.
I don’t know why I imagined her taller. Maybe more mature looking?
She stomps her boots––good girl––before her eyes go down to the floor, and she freezes in the doorway.
“Girl, your roof is leaking,” Giana says.
It’s definitely Raven at the other end of the line. And I can’t hear her voice.
She probably doubts it.
“Let me show you,” Giana murmurs. “Give me a second.”
She walks in, closes the door, takes off her muffler, her boots, and her winter jacket, and piles them on a kitchen chair, making sure she doesn’t tamper with the evidence.
Fuck.
That’s us.
The leakage is us. Grayson and I.
Water must’ve rolled off his boots or mine, or maybe our clothes, and they didn’t dry off.
She turns on the lights and requests a video call, and soon Raven’s voice echoes in the room, coming from the speaker phone.
My heart beats madly in my chest.
I pull back, my shoulders lining the wall as Giana handles the phone camera to show Raven something on the floor. The last thing I want is for Raven to get a glimpse of me hiding behind the door.
What a development that would be.