Three Rings After Midnight

Chapter 1: Bell

The first time the bell rang after midnight, Mara Bell was standing alone in the pharmacy with both hands under the hot tap.

It was an old brass bell fixed above the front door. During business hours, it gave a weak little jingle whenever someone entered. That night, the door did not move. The deadbolt remained locked. Beyond the glass, Market Street lay empty beneath a thin October rain.

Still, the bell rang three times.

Not loudly.

Just three careful notes, as if someone had opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it gently behind them.

Mara turned off the tap.

“Hello?”

The pharmacy answered with the hum of the refrigerator and the slow ticking of the clock above the blood-pressure machine.

Then came another sound.

Directly over her head, someone dragged a wooden chair across the floor of the room upstairs.