anything of interest was on. When it was clear that nothing was, she began flipping through the channels absently, hoping something would catch her eye.

“It’s going on ten o’clock. Surely something’s on,” she muttered.

She flipped through a few more channels, but stopped briefly when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She entered her password automatically and glanced at the screen. Kelli. Part of her didn’t want to answer her “friend,” but she was bored and thought a little texting conversation might kill some time.

Kelli – How’s everything going?
Tess – Fine
Kelli – How’s the house? Big?
Tess – It’s huge. Like a mansion.
Kelli – How’s the little girl? Nice or demon spawn?
Tess – She’s nice. We played princess for a while. She was asleep before nine. Easy.
Kelli – I should have just gone. My big date with Mario was a bust. He picked me up at 7:30 and we hung out for a couple hours. Then he made up some excuse to drop me off at Vera’s. I had to get a ride home.
Tess – I thought you guys were going to the movies?
Kelli – So did I.
Tess – I’m sorry. I know you’re bummed.
Kelli – Yeah.

There was a pause as Tess considered what to write next. She didn’t especially want the conversation to be over. She stared at Kelli’s text. Yeah. What could she say next to propel the conversation forward?

Tess was on the verge of asking about Vera, but then she heard a thud somewhere upstairs. Lillian probably fell off that little couch, she mused. She knew she’d better head upstairs to check on her.

She jogged up the steps easily and trotted down the long hallway until she was just outside of Lillian’s room. Ever so carefully, she opened the door a little wider and peered in. The hall light illuminated Lillian’s bedroom in a soft glow of warm, yellow light. Lillian still lay sleeping on her child-sized fainting couch. So, what was that noise?

Tess pulled the door partially closed behind her softly before turning to make her way down the hallway toward the stairs. From the top of the steps she could see the entirety of the front half of the house. The foyer was quiet and empty, as was the living room area where she’d been sitting in front of the television.

“Must have been something on TV,” she decided before heading down the stairs. A moment later she was sitting in front of the television once again. On a whim, she texted Kelli.

Tess – Big houses are kind of creepy.
Kelli – Why? Is it old?
Tess – No. There are just a lot of rooms and stairs. And this guy’s art collection is crazy.
Kelli – I’ve heard he’s got some strange stuff.
Tess – The sculptures are the worst.
Kelli – Why?
Tess – Some of it’s okay. Swirls and weird shapes. But he’s got this clown thing. Ugh. Gross.
Kelli – I hate clowns.
Tess – You’d despise this thing. I swear it’s life-sized.
Kelli – I’d scream.
Tess – Yeah.

Tess almost had to laugh. Yeah. She’d been trying to keep the conversation going, but she’d basically just ended it… unless Kelli continued it, of course.

A good five minutes passed before Tess admitted defeat and shoved her phone back into her pocket. She sighed with boredom, but she wasn’t disinterested for long. The television station she’d been only half-watching was clearly local. She recognized the courthouse on the screen; it was the one located at the very center of town. Tess leaned forward unconsciously as she listened to the anchor’s report.

“… Local law enforcement officials claim that Gary Lee Shipman, the man thought to be responsible for as many as fifteen home invasions and seven murders in the Lake Harbor area over the past six years, escaped police custody during a routine transportation exercise earlier today. Shipman, also known as “The Bedside Killer,” was evidently being moved to nearby Clark Detention Center to await trial. Sheriff Brody Johnson claims that Shipman was being moved to provide greater security to Lake Harbor Residents. However, such intentions quickly unraveled when Shipman managed to outmaneuver law enforcement officials this afternoon in what many have described as a Houdini-like escape.

“Residents of Lake Harbor, especially those residing in more remote areas, are urged to secure all doors and windows and be on the look-out for anyone suspicious. Police are out in force tonight as the manhunt continues, but citizens are encouraged to use extra caution whenever possible.

“Gary Lee Shipman is described as a clean-shaven white male, aged 36, with dark hair and pale blue eyes. He is approximately 5’9” and of medium build. This is the most recent photograph taken of Shipman. If you have any information that might lead to his recapture, contact local law enforcement officials immediately. Back to you Ken.”

Tess fought the urge to shiver. The Bedside Killer had escaped police custody and was on the loose somewhere in or around Lake Harbor. Almost immediately, Tess thought back to the open window in the sunroom. She hated to think that her nosiness may have saved the Edwards family, but she couldn’t help herself. What would have happened to poor little Lillian if she hadn’t gone to check out Katherine’s favorite coastal artwork? It was too horrible to consider.

But, in spite of her keen sense of self-satisfaction, Tess couldn’t shake a growing uneasiness within her. Perhaps it was the silence of the house or its remote location? Perhaps it was the strange artwork on display, or the unexplained thud she’d heard earlier? She couldn’t be sure. She just knew that, slowly, she began to feel afraid.

She considered calling the neighbor, Mr. Walters, and asking him to swing by, just to be sure, but Tess discarded this idea almost immediately. It was after 10 pm. If Mr. Walters was anything like her parents, he was probably already asleep. And, what were her other options? Should she call the police? That idea seemed even more ludicrous than the first. What would she tell them? That someone (probably Katherine Edwards) had forgotten to shut a window on the main floor of the house? What did that prove? That she was a solitary girl with an over-active imagination? The police were busy trying to apprehend a killer. They certainly didn’t have time for the nervous twitterings of a teenage babysitter.

Still… still… the business with the sunroom window was unsettling. Tess hated to admit it, even to herself, but the whole thing bothered her. She knew, at least on some level, that the window being left ajar was probably nothing more than a run-of-the-mill oversight… but what if it wasn’t? That was the gnawing doubt that Tess couldn’t quite shake.

Without thinking more, she picked up her cell phone and called Kelli. It might calm her to hear the sound of her friend’s voice. Besides, Kelli might have some usable advice to offer her.

“Hello?” Kelli answered.

“Hey. Did you see that report on TV about the Bedside Killer?” Tess asked.

“Yeah,” Kelli exploded, “I just watched it. It’s so creepy.”

“Yeah, I’m totally freaking out. I mean, you know a nut-job like that is probably going to go somewhere remote if he’s trying to avoid the cops.”

“No doubt,” Kelli agreed, “thank God the Edwards’ will be home soon.”

“It’s still over an hour,” Tess sighed, “I just wanna go upstairs, grab Lillian and drive around for an hour.”

“Maybe you could call them and tell them you’re freaking out and you want them to come home early? I’m sure they’d understand.”

“Yeah, but I hate to make them come home early from their date just because I’m a spaz.”

“Well, why don’t you walk around the house and check all the doors and windows and stuff while you’ve got me on the phone?” Kelli suggested, “Then, if something weird happens, I can call the cops for you.”

“You’re not helping right now,” Tess only half teased.

“No, but seriously. What’s the address out there?”

“1066 Barrington Hollow. It’s out by the lake,” Tess explained, “It looks like one of those old English manor houses, ya know? Kind of like that picture of Shakespeare’s house that Mrs. Hanson showed us in English class last year.”

“Like I can remember that,” she answered sarcastically.

“Anyway,” Tess sighed, “it’s huge.”

“Yeah, you said it was like a mansion,” Kelli commented, “what’s it like?”

“It’s amazing,” Tess began as she rose from the sofa and started moving through the house, “it’s got this huge front door made of wood and glass. And all of the windows look antique. The kitchen has an island and the flat screen is enormous.”

“Sounds sweet.”

“I can’t see into the backyard, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a pool. I mean, they have a sunroom. Why not?” Tess shrugged.

She began absently checking the windows as she walked along, making sure they were all locked. She also scanned each room and hallway to get a sense of the layout of the house so, worst case scenario, she could make a quick escape if she needed to.

“Have you checked out the basement?” Kelli asked, “I hear they’ve got a billiards room… whatever that is.”

“No, I’ve been kind of sticking to the main floor. Trust me, there’s enough to look at without seeing the whole house.”

Tess moved through the dining room, the kitchen, the den, and the sunroom once more, scanning the perimeter of each location as she moved through. Then she walked down an adjoining hallway that terminated in a large, wooden door. Tess was immediately curious. She knew she hadn’t seen the basement, but until that moment she’d been under the false impression that she’d seen every room on the main floor. Now, she wasn’t sure.

“There are all these balconies and side rooms,” Tess continued absently, putting her hand on the doorknob in front of her, “You wouldn’t believe it.”

The door opened into a large, dark room. Instinctively, Tess ran her hand along the wall just to the right of her, finding the switch almost immediately.

“Wow,” she sighed automatically, as light flooded the area.

“What is it?” asked Kelli excitedly.

“I just found another room. It’s gotta be a library or a study or something. There’s this huge desk and all kinds of books. The walls are all made out of wood and the windows look like they might be stained glass. It’s incredible.”

“Sounds pretty epic,” Kelli mused, “it’s too bad I’m not there. We could explore it together.”

Tess moved through the space slowly, taking it all in. She fell silent as she ran her fingertips over the leather binding of the books. Her eyes scanned the wooden walls and the painted ceiling before dropping to the stained glass of the windows, trying to determine the image they contained. Tess wasn’t sure, but it looked as though it might be a tree of some sort.

“UGH!” Tess exploded suddenly.

“What? What is it?” Kelli demanded.

“God… that scared the heck out of me,” she exhaled.

“What happened?”

“It’s not bad enough the guy’s got ONE of these ugly things,” Tess explained. “But to get a PAIR is just sadistic, honestly.”

“What are you looking at? Is it really that awful?”

“It’s pretty bad,” Tess half-chuckled.

“Get a picture. I wanna see it.”

“I dunno,” Tess warned, “you may not want to.”

“Come on,” Kelli begged, “I wanna see it.”

“Alright, but you’ve been warned. Just wait a second. I wanna be sure I get the whole thing. I want you to get the full effect.”

Tess stepped away from the clown statue. It appeared to be an exact replica of the one on the other side of the house; the one in the room containing Paul Edwards’ bizarre art collection. Tess centered the strange sculpture in the photo and snapped a picture.

“There,” Tess announced, “get ready for the nastiness.”

“Sounds hideous,” Kelli chuckled as she waited for the picture to come through.

“Oh, it is.”

“Ugh! Why didn’t you tell me it was a clown?” Kelli groaned as she gazed at the image on her phone.

“What? And spoil the surprise?”

“Thank God I’m not there. I would seriously DESTROY that thing.”

“I know, right?” Tess began, “Can you believe the guy’s got TWO of them?”

“Is this the statue you were texting me about earlier?”

“Yeah,” Tess nodded, “there’s one in that art room and one in here. All I can say is, why?”

“Who knows?” Kelli replied, “The rich have always been a quirky people, Tess.”

“I wonder if they’re totally identical,” Tess mused aloud as she took in the eerie statue.

“What do you mean?”

“Ya know? The statues,” Tess continued, “I wonder if they’re exactly alike? I mean, they look the same.”

“Well, you’ve got a picture of the one,” Kelli suggested, “why don’t you just go back upstairs and look at the other one and compare them side-by-side?”

“That’s actually a really good idea.”

“Why do you always sound so surprised when I come up with good stuff?” Kelli teased, “It’s kind of insulting.”

“Don’t be redic. You know I love ya.”

Tess moved out of the library, closing the door behind her. She knew the Edwards wouldn’t mind her looking around, but she still felt as though she was doing something somewhat invasive. In her mind, the least she could do was not make it too obvious that she’d been snooping.

Tess made her way through the kitchen and glanced at the clock nonchalantly as she moved passed the marble-covered island at the center of the room. It was a quarter to 11pm. One more hour to go, she mused as she made her way toward the stairs leading up to Paul’s unusual art collection.

“Almost there,” Tess sighed, as she began climbing the steps.

“God, moving through that house is like a workout,” Kelli smiled, “I’ll bet you’ve walked five miles tonight.”

“No doubt. And all these stairs… ugh. They need an elevator or something.”

“Can we get any lazier?”

“I doubt it,” Tess exhaled tiredly as she paused near the top of the steps.

Tess hit the light switch on the wall as she reached the landing. Instinctively, her eyes traveled from painting to sculpture as they circled the room. She moved from one thing to another and back again before repeating the process once more.

“Huh,” she groaned softly, moving further into the room.

“What is it?”

“It’s weird,” Tess murmured, “I don’t see it.”

“Well, you can’t miss it. If it looks like that thing you sent me earlier, it should be easy to spot,” she teased.

“I know, right?”

Tess walked all the way to the back wall, taking in each piece of artwork as she moved along. There was the painting of a house done in bright orange and red, and there was the wire sculpture that resembled a giant praying mantis. There was the squiggly line sculpture, and the giant comic book collage. She remembered these pieces quite vividly from her first visit to Paul’s art room. She also recalled that she’d been able to spot that hideous clown sculpture from halfway across the room. Now, no matter which direction she looked, she couldn’t find it anywhere. Was it possible that Paul had TWO art collections? But, even as she considered this possibility, she knew it was an irrelevant argument. If Paul Edwards did have a second art collection, the pieces it contained wouldn’t be exactly the same as those in this one… would they? Then again, maybe that wasn’t such a far-fetched idea. After all, he did have two crazy looking clown sculptures… didn’t he?

“Tess?” Kelli asked, tentatively, when her friend didn’t speak for some time, “You alright?”

“I dunno,” Tess answered softly, as she moved out of the room toward the top of the stairs.

“What’s wrong?”

Tess couldn’t answer her. She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t want to talk about the bizarre statue anymore. Indeed, she was growing increasingly cognizant of the fact that the only thing she really wanted to do was get out of the Edwards’ house. She couldn’t articulate why she felt this growing need. Indeed, she was loath to utter the words, mostly because to utter the words was to make every suspicion taking root inside of her horrifyingly real.

“Tess?” Kelli muttered again, “Tess, answer me. You’re starting to freak me out.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” she whispered finally.

“Why? What’s going on? Why are you whispering?”

“I gotta let you go, alright?” Tess answered softly, “I need to call Katherine.”

“Tess,” Kelli stalled, “Tess, I swear if you don’t tell me what the heck is going on.”

“If I don’t call you back in five minutes, I want you to call the cops and give them that address I gave you earlier.”

“Tess!” Kelli exploded, “What is going on over there?”

“I’m starting to think maybe that clown isn’t a statue.”

Kelli was going to say more, but Tess had already hung up. Kelli stared at the phone in her hand, feeling helpless. She kept thinking about her friend’s directive: call the police if she didn’t hear from her in five minutes. Five minutes. Five minutes. Lives were won and lost in less time.

“I’m sorry, Tess,” Kelli croaked, shaking her head decisively, “but I can’t do that.”

A second later she was picking up her phone again and dialing 9-1-1.

“Hello?”

Tess couldn’t help noticing that Katherine’s voice was strangely agitated when she answered the phone.

“Kathy?”

“Tess we’re on our way,” Katherine volunteered, “we should be there–”

“Kathy,” Tess interrupted, “Kathy, I need to ask you a question about that clown statue we were talking about earlier.”

“Tess, listen to me,” Katherine’s voice carried within it a tone of command and Tess found herself unable to say more even though she wanted to, “Tess, there is no clown statue. Do you understand me?”

“What…?” Tess stepped backward, allowing herself to partially collapse against the cold metal of the refrigerator behind her, “What do you mean?”

“Tess, listen to me,” Katherine’s voice quivered slightly in spite of her efforts to keep her composure, “I need to you go upstairs and get Lillian. Do you understand me? I need you to go get her. I don’t care if she’d asleep. Bring her outside and sit with her on the steps. We’re less than ten minutes from the house.”

“What’s going on, Kathy?” Tess’s voice cracked somewhat as she choked out the question, even though her mind had already processed her situation.

“You need to get out of that house, Tess. You need to get out of there right now.”

As if pushed by some strange need for answers, Tess stepped forward woodenly and moved through the kitchen so that she could look all the way down the long hallway toward the library. And there, where the long corridor should have terminated in a closed, wooden door, there was a tall, dark, vertical rectangle. The door to the library was open.

Tears formed at the corners of Tess’s eyes almost immediately as the reality of her situation hit her like a steel fist to the stomach. That statue… the one that she’d investigated not once, but twice… the one she’d photographed… was not a statue. Suddenly, the whole train of events unfolded in her mind. The open window in the sunroom, the news report, all of it. And now, that madman, that escaped killer, that thing, was loose somewhere in the house… and Lillian lay sleeping upstairs completely unaware that danger was lurking so close beside her.

“He’s in the house,” Tess whispered finally, “he’s in the house… I dunno where he is, but he’s in the house.”

“You need to go upstairs and get our little girl, Tess,” Katherine whimpered, her voice revealing plainly that she was teetering dangerously close to hysterics, “you need to get Lillian… you need to get her