CHAPTER 10:

William felt as if he had wandered into the rooms of the great Weston's' mansion. He was still upstairs and going from room to room without really knowing what he was looking for. Normally he was looking for an exit, but apart from the ground floor, he could not see where he could find one. He would have to come down. He was also trying to find Julia, but he was desperate that she was even still alive. After what had happened to Alfredo, he could not see how he could still hope to find her alive. He tightened his hand around Julia's ring, trying not to think of the young woman, killed somewhere, all alone...

Detective Murdoch opened a random door in the hallway and found a spotless bathroom. It was rather large, but he noticed that there was no other door that could lead to any room. Then, suddenly, he saw a half-open window. He rushed towards the latter, after silently closing the bathroom door and opening the window wide. He closed his eyes, feeling the wind blow through his tousled black hair. He let out a sob. The exit was there! It was an outing!

He looked down and noticed a cluster of dark bushes. The ground was very low. He would break something jumping, but anything was better than staying here...

He just had to jump, and he would be saved… William opened his right hand and observed Julia's ring in the hollow of it. Julia… He would never leave without her. He was going to go get her. It did not matter if he had no proof that she had not been killed and that he was missing his only chance to get away with it. His heart told him that she was still alive and waiting for him to come get her. And that's what he would do. That was what he was going to do.

William stepped back and replaced the window as it had originally found it. He left it ajar for fear it would jam if he closed it completely. It was more than enough to hope that none of the three men would pass by here and close the window.

The young man turned his head to the left, something shiny catching his attention. He spotted a mirror near one of the sinks and walked over to it. He observed his reflection there and barely recognized himself. The face hollowed with fear, the hair falling on his forehead, stuck together with sweat. He was hot. Extremely hot. But he could not risk taking his jacket off. He would not know where to put it and he could not leave it like that in a room. If one of the three men fell on it, it would not take long for them to guess that it belonged to someone and that none of the victims they had made saw themselves wearing this garment.

William gazed at himself a little longer and put his left hand around his neck. He took out a thin chain at the end of which was a small silver cross. He kissed it softly and made the sign of the cross, trying to feel more courageous. Trying to feel less fear.

He untied the chain from his neck and watched it dangle in his hand in front of him. Then he slipped the cross from the latter, looked at it one last time and put it in the inside pocket of his jacket. He then opened his right hand and slipped the silver chain into Julia's ring. He fastened the necklace around his neck and put his arms back at his sides, gazing for a moment at Julia's jewel now hanging from the chain. He felt a strange new force pass through him, and he tucked the necklace back under his shirt. He would find Julia.

Julia was now in a kind of dining room. She had descended to the lower level, thinking that William might be there. She had gone from room to room, feeling more and more in danger every minute. It seemed to her that she had been looking for William for hours and she did not know if that was really the case. Luckily, she had not come across any of the killers, but she knew they would be back soon. They must have known exactly how many guests there were at the party. It was enough to count the corpses to realize that at least one person was missing. That is to say her.

She had found another corpse in a room. Constance McKenzie. Such a kind, loyal and helpful woman. She had always met her at the various receptions, and they had always gotten along so well. She had brought her a cocktail earlier when she had met William at the bar. It seemed like an eternity ago to her now. She knelt beside her corpse and cried. She had sobbed the loss of her friend and thought of her husband and her two adorable little girls. One of the children being ill, Mr. McKenzie had offered to take care of them, which his wife had found adorable… The poor… They would soon experience a huge misfortune.

The young woman finally decided to get up and left the room in which she could not stay another minute. She opened another door – she felt like it was the hundredth she had opened in this huge mansion – and fell back into the game room she had been in at the very beginning of the attack. She thought with horror that she had come too close to the reception room in which the three killers were still to be.

So, she continued to open doors and enter dark rooms to get as far away from the reception hall as possible. She felt like she was going crazy and going in circles. Finally, she found herself back in the library where she had met William. She closed the door behind her, and her heart sank. The library had been her last hope. She had thought so much that he would be there. She had thought that since they had met here earlier, he might be waiting for her in this room.

The young woman walked to the center of the library, between the different desks, and collapsed here. She sat down and started crying again. She would never find William. He must have been dead for a long time already. She should not have left the library earlier. She had been a coward. He had surely been caught and had been cowardly shot, like all the others. She was all alone now… She would never have been able to tell him how she felt about him, like he had. They would never live anything together… No story… Nothing…

Suddenly, Julia heard footsteps in the hallway near the library. She froze and listened, terrified. It was there. It was the end. One of the killers was going to enter the room and, although it was hidden between the desks, he would certainly find her. She would not have found William and she would in turn die alone, like him most certainly.

The front door of the library then opened very slowly with a creak, and she squeezed her eyes shut, praying for the first time in a very long time, hoping that God would hear her.

Note: It seems that Julia is in danger… Could this be the end for her? Thank you to everyone who continues to read my story. I hope you like it.