CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Door number five was the last I could see, but the hallway veered off to the left at the end, so it was possible he wasn’t anywhere near me yet. To be on the safe side, I approached this door with considerably more caution that the other four, and that told

me all I needed to know. My sixth sense had an uncanny ability to spot danger, and it was screaming all sorts of obscenities at me now.

This time, as soon as I pulled the handle down, the fucking thing squeaked. I then stopped dead in my tracks, listening for any sound that might indicate someone was alive in there. The house was eerily silent in response.

If James was in there, he was an exceptionally quiet snoozer, but that wasn’t unheard of. Standing there for a good minute or so, I finally gathered the courage to depress the handle degree by slow degree until I could push the door forward. As if in response to my earlier alarm bells, a big oak bed greeted me, with a large lump in the middle of it.

James appeared to be complet