I moved before the hand reached me.
My eyes snapped open.
My right hand came out from beneath the blanket.
The pepper alarm in my palm screamed at one hundred and thirty decibels.
Paul jumped backward.
Victor cursed.
Mason froze.
“What the hell?” he shouted.
I rolled off the opposite side of the bed.
My knees were steady.
I had not swallowed a drop of the wine.
I had not eaten the soup.
The dizziness had been an act.
So was the sleep.
Mason stared at me.
“You’re awake.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked toward the purse on the chair.
His face changed.
He understood faster than the others.
“Grab her bag.”
Paul lunged.
I kicked the chair into his path.
He stumbled.
I ran for the bathroom.
The adjoining door had no lock.
I slammed it shut and braced my shoulder against it.
Mason hit the other side.
“Natalie, open the door.”
I pulled out my second phone.
He did not know I had one.
I had bought it in cash three days earlier.
I dialed 911.
The dispatcher answered.
I gave the address.
I gave my name.
I said three men had locked me in a bedroom after attempting to drug me.
I said I had recordings.
I said I feared they would force me to sign documents.
The banging stopped.
That frightened me more than the noise.
Victor’s voice came through the door.
“Natalie, nobody here wants to hurt you.”
I almost laughed.
“Then unlock the bedroom door.”
Silence.
I heard hurried footsteps.
Then drawers opening.
Then Mason whispered something I could not make out.
I looked at the hidden camera app on my phone.
The charger camera was still transmitting.
The bedroom was empty now.
I could see the open door.
I could also see my purse on the floor.
The recorder was still inside.
Good.
I whispered our location again to the dispatcher.
She told me officers were on the way.
Then I heard Elaine screaming downstairs.
Not in fear.
In anger.
“What did you do?”
Victor shouted back.
“Go upstairs.”
“No.”
“Elaine.”
“No.”
Her voice became louder.
“I told you to stop this.”
Everything inside me went still.
I knew that voice.
That was the voice I had heard seven seconds after pretending to fall asleep.
Elaine.
My mother-in-law.
The woman I had thought might be innocent.
The former chemistry teacher.
The person who had prepared every meal.
The person who had watched me become weak month after month.
The person who had smiled across the table and asked whether I wanted more soup.
My stomach twisted.
On the recording, seven seconds after Mason left me in the bedroom, Elaine had said,
“You used too much last time.”
Victor had answered,
“She still woke up.”
Then Elaine said,
“I told you the dose was unpredictable.”
I had heard those words through the recorder earlier that night.
I had nearly broken character.
Now she was downstairs yelling at them.
I could not tell whether she was part of the plan or trying to stop it.
I did not have time to decide.
Sirens sounded outside.
