When Monty's boots disappeared up into the dark opening of the attic, Laura felt very alone. Despite her brave front, and although she did truly feel that it was better to do something positive to get out of this situation, she had qualms about being left alone in this strange house with a dangerous man. She did feel that she had gotten to know Monty and could trust in his judgment, but she realized that she had only met him the night before this. She stood at the closet door and listened nervously to see if Monty was able to move as quietly as he had promised, but when a minute had passed and she saw no sign of him above, and had heard not the slightest sound, she relaxed a little and went back to sit on the bed. Remembering that Monty had said she should provide some cover noise, she turned on the small radio on the nightstand.
It was set to a classical music station, just one more surprise in her continuing education about this man she was growing to admire more with every hour that she spent with him. She had half-expected a country-western station instead. Remembering the fragment of news they had heard in the truck on the way down, before Ranny had snapped that radio off, she searched around the dial to find a news station. She kept the volume low enough that it wouldn't catch Ranny's attention, but loud enough to try to counteract any noise from the attic above.
Finally she found a station with talk instead of music, and she left that one on. When the weather report ended, the announcer said, "Now for a further update on tonight's tragic shooting at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. The three people confirmed dead are the president of the Cow Palace, the manager in charge of maintenance there, and another man whose identity has not been released pending notification of next of kin. The two Cow Palace personnel were hit multiple times, the other man only once, and it appears that he was an unintended victim of this shooting. Police are looking into the possibility that the shooter was a disgruntled employee, and are checking employment records. The shooting happened during the opening ceremonies, when all the arena lights were out with only a spotlight on the president. Witnesses gave varying accounts of events, but several thought they saw a short man in a long black coat leaving hastily right after the shooting. Police are still interviewing witnesses and pursuing leads."
So it was confirmed. The man in the kitchen down the hall had murdered three people earlier tonight. That made Laura even more certain that she and Monty had made the right decision in attempting to do something other than just wait to see what his next move would be. But at the same time, it worried her to think that she was alone in the house with him, while her protector was somewhere in the attic above. Her nails bit into her palms, as she clenched her fists, trying to hold in the tension. This was the most frightening situation she had ever been in, and she didn't know how she could stand the wait until Monty made it back to the house with his gun, and this whole ordeal ended.