“Don’t leave this room without locking the latch.”

At nine o’clock, I carried Theodore’s bottle down to the kitchen pantry to wash it before his last night feeding.

The main hallway on the first floor was dark, but a thin strip of yellow light showed under the double doors of the private study.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard Christopher’s voice coming through the door frame, quick and clipped.

I stopped on the carpeted runner and pressed my back flat against the wall.