Chapter 3 - The Midnight Trespass
The threat of flashing red-and-blue lights was the only thing that finally broke the Sinclair family’s stubborn front. Within twenty minutes, muttering curses and slamming car doors, Robert, his wife, and Ashley had dragged their luggage back down the stone steps and crammed it into their two oversized SUVs. They peeled out of my gravel driveway, spewing grey dust across the hydrangeas Thomas had planted along the fence line.
Laurel, however, had refused to get in the car with them. She had locked herself inside Daniel’s car, sobbing hysterically and screaming that she would never forgive him. By nine o’clock that evening, Daniel had driven her to a boutique motel in the village eight miles away to prevent an all-out war in front of the local deputies.
Now, it was half past one in the morning.
The lake house was entirely dark save for the small amber reading lamp in my upstairs alcove. Outside, a late-summer storm was rolling in across the water, the wind rattling the tall white pines that guarded the shoreline. I sat wrapped in Thomas’s old wool cardigan, a lukewarm mug of chamomile tea resting in my hands, listening to the house settle.
A soft, metallic scrape echoed from the ground floor.
I froze.
The sound came from the screened-in porch on the south wing—the very porch Laurel had marked with the words ENCLOSE — BEDROOM/OFFICE on the stolen floor plan. It was the distinct sound of a utility knife cutting through nylon window screen.
I set my mug down without making a sound. My heart was pounding against my ribs, but the fear was instantly swallowed by a surge of white-hot anger. These people had treated my sanctuary like a piece of meat to be carved up, and now they were crawling through the dark like thieves.
I didn't call Daniel. I walked quietly to the closet in the master bedroom, reached onto the high shelf, and lifted down the heavy five-cell aluminum Maglite flashlight Thomas had kept beside the bed for inspecting storm damage. It weighed nearly four pounds and felt solid as an iron club in my grip.
Moving on bare feet across the hardwood floors Thomas had sanded by hand, I descended the rear staircase that led directly into the utility pantry. The smell of damp pine needles and rain drifted through the air.
Through the glass panes of the inner French doors, I saw the beam of a narrow penlight sweeping across the floor of the porch. A slender figure in a dark hooded sweatshirt was kneeling beside the baseboards near the exterior wall, prying at the corner trim with a miniature crowbar.
I didn't shout. I reached out, flipped the master switch for the exterior floodlights, and turned the heavy brass latch of the French doors all at once.
Brilliant, 500-watt halogen light flooded the porch, turning midnight into midday.
Ashley Sinclair leaped backward with a terrified shriek, dropping the crowbar onto the cedar decking. Her hood fell back, revealing her bleached hair and wide, panic-stricken eyes. Stuffed into a canvas backpack at her feet were several rolls of architectural blueprints, a laser measuring tape, and a thick manila folder labeled MONTGOMERY PROBATE ARCHIVES.
“Looking for something, Ashley?” I asked, stepping through the doorway with the heavy flashlight resting securely against my hip.
She scrambled to her feet, backing toward the jagged tear she had sliced through the screen mesh. “You don't understand, Evelyn! Laurel sent me! She left her engagement ring inside the utility room when she was taking measurements earlier!”
“Your sister doesn't leave five-carat diamonds in utility rooms,” I said, pointing the beam of my Maglite directly at the manila folder sticking out of her bag. “And you didn't break through a reinforced screen door with a crowbar to look for jewelry. Put the backpack on the table. Right now.”
May you like
When she hesitated, calculating her chances of leaping through the screen into the dark woods, the sound of gravel crunching in the driveway announced the arrival of a vehicle. Headlights swept across the porch ceiling.
It was Daniel. He had returned from the motel alone.
