Sherman snapped photos of the papers and put them back.

Now, he needed to see if he could find the wireless router and a power adapter. Of course, that assumed that the wireless network wouldn’t be protected. The house was remote, so it might not have a password. It wasn’t like anyone could tap into the network without being noticed on the property.

There were ways to shield the house as well. Sherman had read about that in some magazines. Copper in the walls and special glass. It was expensive, but if this was a weekend home for someone in the city, then money wasn’t a problem.

That would explain the lack of signal for the pad. The lining would block anything from leaking out, but it would also block anything from getting in. As long as it was raining outside, he’d have to find another way to get to the outside world.

If he were a wireless router, where would he be? Probably in the center of the house, hidden away, so no one noticed it, like recessed lighting or the air conditioner. Or he’d be in the basement near where the utilities came into the house. That meant finding the basement.

After searching, he found a trap door that revealed wooden stairs leading down into an unfinished cellar—more of a storage area than a living space.

The walls were unfinished but insulated. An empty cage with an open door took up a corner. It was large enough to fit a person. A laundry area was in another corner. Shelves formed an open pantry along one of the walls.

The center of the basement was a large, empty area with nothing but a bare concrete floor.

Sherman eventually found where the power came into the house. A small, smooth orange cable was there as well. This would be the Internet connection. He followed it along the baseboards until it disappeared into the rest of the house. Any wireless router would be upstairs.

Sherman estimated where it should be and went upstairs. There must be a hidden panel in one of the forward bedrooms. Somewhere near the living room, but not in one of the bedrooms facing the front. It had seemed to head up through the floor too far from the front of the house.

He was starting to get hungry. His last meal had been the fruit that morning. Smitty was probably getting hungry, too.

The owner didn’t seem to have any pets. No dog food around anywhere. There might be a steak or some ground meat in the fridge.

Sherman went to the kitchen and looked out the back door at Smitty. He was sitting under the umbrella, looking out through the porch rails, keeping an eye out for anything that might come up on the back of the house. Sherman wasn’t too worried. Nothing would come up from the creek. That would be like scaling a wall.

The fridge had some milk and a few vegetables. One of the bottom drawers had a little hamburger meat, about a pound. That would need to be for Smitty. Some cheese and a few eggs were in the door.

Sherman mixed an egg into the hamburger meat and set it on a plate for Smitty.

A bottle of dish soap was near the sink. He washed his hands and got a few vegetables for himself. Some meat would be nice. He looked in the freezer. No meat, but there was some ice cream. At this point, he just needed to make sure he had energy. The ice cream would do.

After a light dinner of vegetables and eggs and a big bowl of ice cream for dessert, Sherman resumed his search for the wireless router and a power adapter.

It took him a while, but Sherman finally found the wireless router behind a panel in the living room near the hallway to the bedrooms. The panel had been hidden behind a painting of a windswept beach with a setting sun. It wasn’t a great-looking picture, but it was an original. He could feel the bumps from the oils.

He plugged it in and watched the lights blink. Eventually, everything looked normal. The pad confirmed that there was a network and that it could reach the outside world.

It was starting to get dark outside. Sherman didn’t want to head out while it was dark. If they could wait until morning, Smitty would be a little stronger, and they’d have some light.

Smitty scratched at the back door.

Probably wanting some water, Sherman thought. The rain wasn’t heavy enough to fill the bowl.

He opened the back door and looked outside. There must be a light somewhere. It was too dark for him to see much. The light from the house only lit up a part of the deck.

Three switches were by the back door. He flipped each in turn until a light finally turned on. It was bright—more of a floodlight than a porch light. Smitty backed away and sat with his back to the house, looking out into the darkness.

“What’s the matter?” Sherman asked. Smitty seemed a bit nervous. He wasn’t well, but that didn’t seem to be bothering him right now.

“Do you see something?”

Smitty let out a low growl.