Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

Johnson dumped his gear in the trunk of his car. Positive he
hadn’t left anything in the cottage, he sat on the edge of the
trunk and finished off the bottle of Johnny Walker he and
Reynolds had been drinking earlier. It was probably the best
drink of his life because if he hadn’t taken it he wouldn’t have
been looking at the back of the main house and through
Bernard’s office window.
“Well, well, Ms. Emily. Look at you. Got all the way
downstairs by yourself.”
He chuckled at his good luck, tossed the empty bottle into
the car trunk, and took out the one last thing he needed to tie
up a loose end.
***
Josie went past the girls’ bodies, slid across the floor, grabbed
the bannister and flung herself onto the stairs. She took two at
a time. On the second floor, she pushed open all the doors to
see if there was anyone inside who might have been
overlooked and been left alive. Most of the rooms were empty,
their beds stripped to the mattresses, their owners long gone,
and no new resident expected. Finally, she opened a door and
saw Mr. Traini, hurried to the bed, and put her fingers on the
pulse point. He was gone but there was no wound. He seemed
to be asleep. Quickly, she ran her hands over the bed, down the
side of the body and found what she wanted: an empty powder
bag and then another. She tossed them in the bag she carried.
Josie went back down the hall, found one more body and
two more plastic bags. She took the short flight of stairs to the
third floor and did the same. Room after room was empty
except for the one next to the room where Amelia had been
sleeping. Josie paused in the doorway of that room. The sense
of urgency deserted her. Slowly, she walked to the bed where
the old woman lay. Josie had expected no less but seeing this