Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Except the last room, but it might just be the door was closed.
This could mean he had nothing to hide.
It could also mean he was an idiot.
Well, I was currently harboring fifty thousand forms of bacteria on my hands and clothing from my climb onto the dumpster. In for a penny, in for a pound.
I put one foot to the top of his fence then leaped over. I landed on soft knees and it still jarred me like a bitch.
Ouch.
Right away, I set the pain aside and returned my attention to the house.
No movement in the windows. I didn’t think I was making that much noise, but, if he could hear it, I hoped my climb onto the dumpster sounded like someone taking out their trash like people often did at seven at night.
Though it appeared I was good.
Sticking to the fence, I moved left, forward, then crouching, I went in.
Coming up from the crouch just enough to see over the windowsill, I noted it was a window to the dining room, through which was a galley kitchen, through which was the living room and him sitting in a recliner watching the Diamondbacks on TV.
Okay, good. He hadn’t heard me and come to investigate.
Onward.
Crouch-walking under the window, I hit a back patio. The first window there, from the dim light shining in from the rest of the house, I saw was a bathroom.
The next room, door open from the hallway, more light shining in, appeared to be an office.
The next room, there were blinds, they were down and closed.
“Shit,” I whispered.
I went around the side of the house, which was rife with mature trees, not a lot of room to move. I shimmied my way in, but the blinds on the window on that side were also closed.
Open windows everywhere else, except this room.
That was fishy.
Right?
Still not enough to call the cops.
I couldn’t now say, “I have a feeling about this guy, and the blinds on one of his rooms are closed, though I can’t tell you how I know that. So obviously, that’s cause to break down the door and search the house ASAFP.”
They weren’t going to rush an urgent call to assemble the SWAT team on that intel.
Time for tampons, Lenny’s and scheming some plan to find a way to get into that house and check that room.
I was thinking a trip to a T-shirt printer and some time on my computer creating a bogus notice from the city for a mandatory visit from pest control.
Gophers.
I’d heard gophers were a sitch in the Valley.
Though, not so much inside houses.
Again, I’d figure it out.
I was about to move out of the trees, hoping the lock on the gate was easy to navigate from the inside, when I noticed movement at the window.
I froze.
I’d brushed against the trees, but I didn’t think I’d made much noise. Surely not enough he’d hear me three rooms away over the TV.
That was when she appeared.
Just her head.
Dark hair: messy.
Cute-as-a-button face: terrified.
Lips: moving with words anyone could read, even in the dark.
Help me.
Adrenaline surged throughout my body, making it tingle top to toe.
Tears flooded my eyes, making them sting.
My heart clutched and memories battered my brain, trying to force their way in.
I couldn’t give them free reign or they’d paralyze me.
It took mad effort, but I held them back using the aforementioned adrenaline and the sight of her face in that window.
I was right.
She was there.
I had to call the cops.
Now.
I put my hand to the window, nodded to her, tried to smile reassuringly, my mind cluttered.
Should I call from where I was? Would he hear me? If he did, what would he do with her? He had access to her. I did not. He had access to his garage. I did not. And I was at least a five-minute run away from my car, and in my current situation, couldn’t even easily get around to the front of the house to see which direction he’d have gone. Had a neighbor heard me, one who would maybe warn him someone was lurking on his property, or they’d called the cops and their sirens would do it? Would me being in his backyard, trespassing, mess up the investigation?
I had to get to the alley and make the call.
Pronto.
It’s going to be okay, I mouthed back to her. Someone will be here soon.
Panic filled her little face. Even if I suspected she couldn’t read my lips, my guess was she knew I had to leave. She shook her head.
I pressed my hand into the window, not that she could notice the added pressure, so I got closer and mouthed, Promise. Hang tight.
She kept shaking her head, but I was on the move.
I didn’t stick to the fence. I ran right to the back gate.
The latch locked from the inside, but with an easy twist and lift, the door opened.