Had someone gone through the boxes? Someone who wouldn’t have known to put a Tanach at the top of the pile?
Someone is in the basement. Gabe is sure of it this time, isn’t relying on squeaky doors or hunches to confirm it. He can hear the rustle, the impossible movements, and his fingers tighten into a fist around a mallet he found in the kitchen.
Rivi had gone to Abba’s house with Penina yesterday, and she’d denied hearing anything. But that’s Rivi, who would gladly stick her head in the sand rather than face unpleasant truths, and Gabe takes her report with a grain of salt.
Because there’s definitely someone in the basement.
He creeps forward, pushing the door open slowly so it doesn’t make any noise to alert the intruder. It’s not that he hasn’t been in danger before. In his work, there’s always the risk that he might be attacked by peoples hostile to visitors, and he’s had his share of incidents. But it feels different, unnerving, to face that kind of danger in the quiet house that had once been home.
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