Page 33 of The Stranger

I need him to look at me, to hear what I’m saying, but he isn’t. Walker isn’t looking at me, only at Ernest. His face is nearly as pale as the dead man’s, his eyes wide.

“Walker, we need to call 9-1-1. You need to call 9-1-1.” My heart pounds in my ears and, no matter how hard I try, I can’t catch my breath. “Right now.”

“I… I can try. I don’t know if it will work.” He glances down at his pocket, moving almost in slow motion.

“You said earlier that cell phones are supposed to work to call 9-1-1 even when there’s no service.”

“It’s what I’ve always heard. I’ve never tried it to see if it works. In theory, if there’s an active tower around, it should pick up the signal, even if it’s not my network.” He licks his lips and slips his hand into his pocket, pulling out his phone. He looks up at the bathtub again. At Ernest. His face pales.

“Walker.” My knees feel weak and I grab on to the wall for support.

“Sorry.” He snaps his head back down to look at his phone and taps the screen to dial the three digits. The screen turns gray, signaling that the call is being placed, but before he can press the phone to his ear, the screen fades away with a soft beep, beep I can hear from where I stand.

Call Failed

My heart drops. No. No. No. It has to work.

“I’ll try again,” Walker whispers, tapping the number from his call log. He lifts the phone into the air, staring at the screen, but within seconds, he lowers it again, one corner of his mouth drawn in. “It’s not working. It’s supposed to connect to the nearest tower, but…they must all be out.” He swallows and his eyes meet mine. The look he gives me is one of pure terror. “We can’t even call 9-1-1.”

I inhale deeply, refusing to look toward the bathtub again as ice swims in my veins. Deciding on a new course of action, I nod. “Okay. We have to go. We have to go right now.”

He’s still for a moment, studying me with that same look of horror. Then, snapping out of his trance, he turns around and nods. He follows me as I rush forward out of the room. As soon as we get a chance, as soon as we find a landline phone, we’ll call the police and let them know, but for now, my instincts were right. Something bad is happening here, and if we stay, we’ll be in danger.

“Why was he in our room?” Walker whispers from behind me. When I glance over my shoulder, his face is screwed up and contorted, obviously trying to make sense of something that could never make sense. “Why? How? How did he get in there? Did you let him in?”

I grimace, shaking my head. “What? No! Of course not. We were out of our room for a while. Someone could’ve put him in there.”

Even as we’re talking, a steady chorus is repeating in my brain.

He’s dead.

He’s dead.

He’s dead.

“Who? Who would’ve put him in there? His wife?”

I swallow. “Maybe, I guess, but I doubt it. He said she was sick, remember? If that was her in the recliner, she certainly doesn’t look capable of murder or of dragging him into the bathroom if she killed him somewhere else.” Like the lobby, which is still my theory.

“Who then? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he, um…maybe he did it. You know, himself.” I can’t bring myself to say the words. “Or maybe it was one of the other guests.”

“You said the man told you he saw him earlier. When was that? How long has he been…?”

I nod, chewing my bottom lip. “Right. He did. He did say he saw him. It was, I’m not sure how long ago. I’m… Everything happened so quickly.” I stop talking as we get across the parking lot and stop in front of the car. Every hair on my arms stands on end as I stare at it, our only means of escape.

“No.”

Both tires on my side have been slashed, right along with my hope that we were going to get out of here tonight.

“No,” I repeat.

“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!” Walker rushes forward, circling the car and shaking his head. “All of them. Every single one.”

“Try your phone again,” I say, my voice low. Whoever did this could be anywhere. They could be watching us right now. “Try calling from out here. Outside.”

He pulls out his phone and sets to work, but within seconds, he drops it to his side and shakes his head. “Nothing. It’s not going through.” He kicks the car angrily, cursing and dropping his head, chin to chest. He looks up, staring around with a new sense of urgency. “We have to find a phone that works. There has to be one somewhere. A landline. We can go into the lobby again and see if there’s one on the desk. We could get the keys for every room and?—”