Well, he certainly wasn’t getting anything accomplished standing around here, gawking like a rubbernecker at a traffic accident. He needed to find Becky and have her clean up this mess.
Tim looked in the kitchen but she wasn’t there. She wasn’t in the front room or laundry room either. He checked the entire house but Becky was nowhere to be found. He scratched his head in frustration. Where could she be? A woman of her size didn’t exactly hide easily.
An idea sprang to his mind. He hurried to the side door in the kitchen; it attached to the two-car garage. He jerked the door open only to see that both cars were still parked normally. Just to check, he placed his hand on the hood of each vehicle. Both hoods were cold. Wherever she was, she hadn’t used either of the cars recently.
Back in the kitchen, he opened the sliding glass door leading to the backyard. He couldn’t imagine Becky out there sunbathing – she’d likely get harpooned – but she could be doing some yard work. He stepped out onto the patio, still clad in only his underwear, and looked to each side. There was no sign of her. He called her name several times, but had no better luck.
Tim stepped back inside the house. If she wasn’t in the house or on the property, then maybe a friend had picked her up. Why didn’t she leave a note saying where she’d gone or when she’d be back?
All he could do now was to get dressed and clean the bathroom himself. He didn’t feel like playing Becky’s maid, but he couldn’t take a shower until he did.
He carefully unplugged the radio and drained the white vinyl bathtub. Now emptied, he removed the radio from the tub and threw it in the trashcan. He opened the cabinet beneath the sink and pulled out several, over-sized bath towels. They’d be enough to soak up most of the water.
When finished, he’d throw the towels in the laundry hamper. Of course, then he’d have to carry the hamper to the…
“Killer.”
Tim froze in mid-motion. Was that a voice? It sounded like a whisper. Where had it come from? What had it said?
“Murderer.”
He shook his head in disbelief. The voice seemed to originate from the radio inside the trashcan. This was weird. The boom box should be shorted out. Maybe it wasn’t broken after all.
He pulled the radio out of the trashcan and examined it. It didn’t look much different from any other he’d ever seen. Maybe this radio was water-proof.
He opened up the radio’s battery compartment. If the batteries were still good, then…
“That’s odd,” he said aloud. “It’s empty.”
He frowned. The voice sounded like it came from this radio. But of course that would’ve been impossible with no power source. He must be hearing things.
Yes, that had to be it. No one else was here. With a bit of relief, he left the bathroom, went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. He needed to calm himself and think through this logically.
Tim had an active imagination. Being well read in science fiction, fantasy and horror, any number of ideas might be lodged in his subconscious, just waiting for an opportunity to crawl out. It seemed the most plausible explanation.
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