✽ Jason ✽
I had watched her strip the bed and empty the closet with the same focus she used when she piped dough. Mandy didn’t clean for fun. She cleaned to silence her mind. She moved fast, sorting, stacking, wiping, checking corners as if dust could explain what fear would not. The camera inside the clock gave me a full view of her living room and the hallway. It didn’t show her bedroom, but I didn’t need it. I heard enough through the ceiling, and I had been in the room often enough to know the rest. When she found the envelope and realized that the spare key was missing, I knew the s**t was about to hit the fan. Literally. Even though I hadn’t seen her, I knew the moment her control cracked. Then she had started searching with a tighter, sharper panic.
She was close to noticing patte
