Chapter 66
I STOOD PERFECTLY still, listening to the sounds coming from outside the house. The howling wind made it a little difficult. But I’d heard what sounded like a car door and seen a shadow move near the front door.
Rob, Gary, and Mona Trilling had all also seen the shadow. I wasn’t going crazy. At least not yet.
It was Mona who seized the moment. She looked at her older son and calmly said, “Go into the bedroom and call the sheriff’s office.”
“It’ll take them forever to get out here.”
“So it’s a good idea for them to get started now.”
Gary slunk away like a kid who’d been chastised.
For her part, Mona continued chopping vegetables at the kitchen counter.
I recognized that she was putting on a show in case someone was watching.
She knew not to give away our advantage, the knowledge that they’d already lost the element of surprise.
Mona looked at Rob and said, “Go sit down by your grandfather. I don’t want him to be startled awake and confused about what’s going on. If he wakes up and sees you, he’ll stay calm.”
I waited for a moment, expecting my assignment. Mona looked at me and said with a little smile, “I didn’t raise you. I’m not comfortable telling you what to do. Besides, from what Rob tells me, you’re some kind of superhero cop. What do you think you should do?”
I thought for a second, then said, “I’m going to surreptitiously get a look out of the windows to see what we’re up against. It could be someone doing some surveillance.
” Mona nodded. She didn’t exactly dismiss me or say, “Carry on,” but I got the message and headed for a window at the rear of the house.
It was dark out. Not like nighttime dark.
Like absolutely pitch-black beyond where the lights of the house reached.
I’d been raised in the city, where there was always some sort of light.
Some might even call it a city that never sleeps.
But when I looked out the window here, all I could see were dark shadows and really dark shadows.
I glanced over toward the couch, to where Rob was sitting next to his snoozing grandfather. I was grateful to see that my partner looked to be on full alert. I appreciated what he was trying to do to help his grandfather. But if something happened, I was going to need Rob to jump up and help me.
Mona might have continued working at the counter, but I could see her eyes scanning each of the windows. We were all quiet, listening for anything unusual from outside.
There was another metallic sound, similar to what we’d all heard the first time.
But this was something closer. When I turned toward the front door, I saw the handle moving slowly.
Someone was outside, checking to see if the door was locked.
I grunted to get Rob’s attention, then nodded toward the front door.
His dark eyes tracked toward the door. Just as he was focusing on it, whoever was on the other side stopped twisting the handle. Rob eased off the couch. Before he could get into any position near the front door, there was a huge crash in the kitchen.
My head snapped toward the sound.
Rather than at the front door we’d all been watching, a man barreled through the kitchen door that led into the attached garage. He was already almost right next to Mona Trilling.
I reached toward my right hip. That’s what a career in police work teaches. Instinctual reaction.
In this case, since I wasn’t carrying my police weapon, it did me no good whatsoever.