Hotline to Murder

stairs slowly—her toe still hurt—and turned the latch of the door at the top.
    The door wouldn’t open. It was locked from the other side. Shahla would have screamed, but there was nobody to hear her. Instead, she hit the door and hurt her knuckles. She plodded slowly back down the stairs. She was cut off from the world.
    She saw a third switch and flicked it. A light in the ceiling came on. She immediately turned it off. It might be visible from the outside, even through the drapes. She walked over to the sliding door by the indirect light coming from the bathroom and the stairway. She peeked through the drapes.
    It was almost dark outside. Maybe she could make a run for it to her house. She removed a security stick from the slide and was about to open the door when she saw something move out there.
    She froze, momentarily, and then quickly pushed the drapes back into place. Even the dim light could silhouette her. She was panting as if she had just run up the hill from the beach. She went to the wall beside the door and pressed her body against it. She didn’t move for a few seconds. But she couldn’t stay here. She inched sideways slowly, and peeked through the drapes again.
    At first she didn’t see anything except a last glow of daylight over the ocean. The house that was directly behind was too far down the hill to see, and apparently fences blocked lights from the houses on either side. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see shapes of trees and bushes in the yard. One of the bushes was large enough for someone to hide behind. It was located approximately where she had seen something move.
    Shahla dropped to the floor and quickly crawled in front of the door, until she could reach the security stick, beneath the drapes. She replaced it in the track of the sliding door. Then she got up and ran back to the stairs, dodging furniture, and turned off that light. Next she turned off the light in the bathroom. She leaned against the wall, trying to get her breathing under control. No way was she going outside in the dark.
    One of the pieces of furniture stored in the room was a couch. Once again in the dark, she carefully felt her way to the couch and sat down. She would spend the night here. It was large and soft, and she felt somewhat protected by it. A noise outside made her jump. It sounded like the howl of a cat. After a few seconds of panic, she determined that it was probably just that.
    Her mother would be worried about her. That couldn’t be helped. She hoped the caller wouldn’t go to her house. If he knew what street she lived on, he must know her address. Were her mother and Kirk safe? He was apparently after her , and he knew she wasn’t at home. That didn’t make her situation any better, but at least it relieved her mind a little concerning her mother.
    She could see the outline of a heavy lamp on a table beside the couch. If necessary, she could use that as a weapon. She intended to keep her ears open all night, but she soon became very sleepy. What had been in the punch? And how much had she drunk? Maybe if she rested for a few minutes, she would feel better. She put her head down on the couch.

    CHAPTER 31
    Tony couldn’t stay still. After he had left the Hotline, he had conducted another search of Bonita Beach by car. It was more difficult on a sunny Sunday morning than at night because a lot of people had apparently decided to go to the beach, perhaps for the last time this summer. Automobile traffic was heavy, as was pedestrian traffic, so if Shahla did happen to be walking, he could easily miss her.
    He finally parked the car at the northern boundary of Bonita Beach and decided to walk the beach path the couple of miles to the south end and then back. He walked slowly on the concrete path, still favoring his left leg, attempting to observe everything that took place within sight and hearing.
    A lot was taking place, what with the bicyclists, inline skaters, joggers, and walkers on the path. In addition, hordes of unconscious beachgoers constantly crossed the path without looking, intent on getting to the sand. As a result, near-accidents occurred regularly.
    In addition to scanning the traffic on the path, Tony tried to check out all the girls on the sand catching the late summer rays. However, the beach was so wide that he couldn’t possibly get a good look at all of them. One of the attributes that made this beach desirable now worked against him. To help him concentrate,