The sound of the heavy rain could be heard pounding on the small, rectangular windows, level with the ground outside the cellar. Intermittent flashes of lightning lit up the cinderblock walls.
Tanner spoke. «It’s dry in here. We’re safe. Whoever’s out there is soaked to the skin, he can’t stay there all night … It’s Saturday. You know how the police cars patrol the roads on weekends. They’ll see there are no lights on and come investigate.»
«Why should they?» asked Ali. «They’ll simply think we went out to dinner…»
«Not after last night. MacAuliff made it clear he’d keep an eye on the house. His patrol cars can’t see through to the back lawn but they’ll notice the front. They’re bound to… Look.» Tanner took his wife’s elbow and led her to the single front window just above ground level to the side of the flagstone steps. The rain made rivulets on the panes of glass; it was hard to see. Even the street lamp on Orchard Drive was not always visible. Tanner took the flashlight out of his pocket and motioned Osterman over. «I was telling Ali, MacAuliff said this morning that he’d have the house watched. He will, too. He doesn’t want any more trouble… We’ll take turns at this window. That way no one’s eyes will get tired or start playing tricks. As soon as one of us sees the patrol car, we’ll signal up and down with the flashlight. They’ll see it. They’ll stop.»
«That’s good,» said Bernie. «That’s very good! I wish to hell you’d said that upstairs.»
«I wasn’t sure. Funny, but I couldn’t remember if you could see the street from this window. I’ve cleaned this basement a hundred times, but I couldn’t remember for sure.» He smiled at them.
«I feel better,» said Leila, trying her best to instill John’s confidence into the others.
«Ali, you take the first shift. Fifteen minutes apiece. Bernie, you and I will keep moving between the other windows. Leila, sort of stay with Janet, will you?»
«What can I do, dad?» Raymond asked.
Tanner looked at his son, proud of him.
«Stay at the front window with your mother. You’ll be permanent there. Keep watching for the police car.»
Tanner and Osterman paced between the two windows at the rear of the house and the one at the side. In fifteen minutes, Leila relieved Ali at the front window. Ali found an old blanket which she made into a small mattress so Janet could lie down. The boy remained at the window with Leila, peering out, intermittently rubbing his hand on the glass as if the action might wipe away the water outside.
No one spoke; the pounding rain and blasts of wind seemed to increase. It was Bernie’s turn at the front. As he took the flashlight from his wife he held her close for several seconds.
Tanner’s turn came and went, and Ali once again took her place. None of them said it out loud but they were losing hope. If MacAuliff was patrolling the area, with concentration on the Tanner property, it seemed illogical that a police car hadn’t passed in over an hour.
«There it is! There it is, Dad! See the red light?»
Tanner, Bernie and Leila rushed to the window beside Alice and the boy. Ali had turned on the flashlight and was waving it back and forth. The patrol car had slowed down. It was barely moving, yet it did not stop.
«Give me the light!»
Tanner held the beam steady until he could see, dimly but surely, the blurred reflection of the white car through the downpour. Then he moved the beam vertically, rapidly.
Whoever was driving had to be aware of the light. The path of the beam had to cross the driver’s window, hit the driver’s eyes.
But the patrol car did not stop. It reached the line of the driveway and slowly drove away.
Tanner shut off the flashlight, not wanting to turn around, not wanting to see the faces of the others.
Bernie spoke softly. «I don’t like this.»
«He had to see it! He had to!» Ali was holding her son, who was still peering out the window.
«Not necessarily,» lied John Tanner. «It’s a mess out there. His windows are probably just as clouded as ours. Maybe more so. Car windows fog up. He’ll be around again. Next time we’ll make sure. Next time, I’ll run out.»
«How,» asked Bernie. «You’d never make it in time. We piled furniture in front of the door.»
«I’ll get through this window.» Tanner mentally measured the space. It was far too small. How easily the lies came.
«I can crawl out of there, Dad!» The boy was right. It might be necessary to send him.
But he knew he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
Whoever was in the patrol car had seen the beam of light and hadn’t stopped.
«Let’s get back to the windows. Leila, you take over here. Ali, check Janet. I think she’s fallen asleep.»
Tanner knew he had to keep them doing something, even if the action meant nothing. Each would have his private thoughts, his private panic.
There was a shattering crack of thunder. A flash of lightning lit up the basement.
«Johnny!» Osterman’s face was against the left rear window. «Come here.»
Tanner ran to Osterman’s side and looked out. Through the whipping patterns of the downpour he saw a short, vertical beam of light rising from the ground. It was moving from far back on the lawn, beyond the pool, near the woods. The beam swayed slowly, jerkily. Then a flash of lightning revealed the figure holding the flashlight. Someone was coming toward the house.
«Someone’s worried he’s going to fall into the pool,» whispered Bernie.
«What is it?» Ali’s intense voice came from the makeshift mattress where she sat with her daughter.
«There’s somebody out there,» answered Tanner. «Everybody stay absolutely still… It could be … all right. It might be the police.»
«Or the person who shot at us! Oh, God!»
«Ssh! Be quiet.»
Leila left the front window and went over to Alice.
«Get your face away from the glass, Bernie.»
«He’s getting nearer. He’s going around the pool.»
The two men moved back and stood at the side of the window. The man in the downpour wore a large poncho, his head sheltered by a rain hat. He extinguished the light as he approached the house.
Above them, the prisoners could hear the kitchen door rattling, then the sound of a body crashing against the wood. Soon the banging stopped and except for the storm there was silence. The figure left the area of the kitchen door, and Tanner could see from his side of the window the beam of light darting up and down. And then it disappeared around the far end of the house by the garage.
«Bernie!» Leila stood up beside Alice and the child. «Look! Over there!»
Through her side window came the intermittent shafts of another beam of light. Although it was quite far away, the beam was bright; it danced closer. Whoever was carrying that light was racing towards the house.
Suddenly it went out and again there was only the rain and the lightning. Tanner and Osterman went to the side window, one on each side, and cautiously looked out. They could see no one, no figure, nothing but rain, forced into diagonal sheets by the wind.
There was a loud crash from upstairs. And then another, this one sharper, wood slamming against wood. Tanner went toward the stairs. He had locked the cellar door, but it was thin; a good kick would break it from its hinges. He held the axe level, prepared to swing at anything descending those stairs.
Silence.
There were no more sounds from the house.
Suddenly, Alice Tanner screamed. A large hand was rubbing the pane of glass in the front window. The beam of a powerful flashlight pierced the darkness. Someone was squatting behind the light, the face hidden under a rain hood.
Tanner rushed to his wife and daughter, picking up the child from the blanket.