The Dark Horse

Amie Andrews stepped into her lovely new house and hurriedly closed the door behind her. The wood floors gleamed and the smell in it was of "new home".  She had  just gotten through decorating the entryway or foyer, as she loved to call it a few days ago, and it was the last room in her home to do.  And it had turned out beautifully. She opened the closet door and hung her big purse on one of the hooks, and dropped her keys and sun glasses in a basket she had placed on a table that stood against the wall. She glanced around appreciatively at the colors she had chosen for the walls and the accessories. Then satisfied she had done a great job, she checked her appearance in the round mirror that hung above it.  In the reflection, she saw a slightly older woman, maybe in her sixties with a fairly unlined face, with blue eyes and auburn hair.
Amie leaned in a little closer and stared into her own eyes, then stepped back hurriedly as she saw something she did not understand.  Now she was familiar with those eyes as she had been looking at them, and looking out of them for years now.
 But today she had seen something quicken in their dept that was alarming: a flash, a glimmer. Something that brought about a quick intake of her breath. 
But was it a premonition? Something to come?  Did it explain that constant pain in her stomach?
She sucked in her stomach, and lifted her shoulders and put a smile on her face, then ruffled her short hairdo, and pinched her cheeks for more color.  Upon entering the kitchen she looked around for her husband and was totally surprised as it looked like he did not have any thing set out and ready for lunch. They had talked about having ham and cheese sandwiches on grain bread with iced tea to drink after she got back from her appointment. He loved to putter around in their pretty new room but he usually had the table set with place mats and napkins, and dishes from one of their many luncheon sets when she would let him into her area.
But today for some reason he was not there. Usually soft music filled the room from a small speaker that was hooked up to I Tunes, but this early afternoon the room was quiet.
"Tony, where are you?" Amie called as she went through the rooms, leading to their bedroom first, thinking he must have decided to go back to bed, after all it was  his day off from the office. And come to think of it, Amie thought quiltily, he'd seemed so tired lately and after all, he was a hard-working  attorney.
But coming into the room, she saw their bed was untouched and nothing seemed disturbed. No clothes strewn around, no closet doors standing open or any drawers out of line.
She saw his bathroom door was closed and paused.  Did she hear the shower running? And after standing for a minute and listening and hearing nothing, she called out again.
"Hey sweetheart, are you in there?" And when she didn't get a answer, she knocked discreetly then turned the knob and swung the door inward, then whispered, holy hell!