A clang jarred her awake. She jerked upright. What was that noise? Had it come from inside the house?
The digital clock on the DVD player read nearly two-thirty. Heart thudding heavily inside her chest, Susanna rose as quietly as she could from the couch. She tiptoed across the carpet to the front door and checked the lock. Still securely closed. She hurried down the hallway and into Lizzie’s room. Maybe the child had fallen out of bed again. The weight in her chest lightened a fraction at the sight of the little girl sleeping peacefully in her bed, tousled blond curls splayed across her pillow. She was safe.
And yet, if the sound hadn’t originated from Lizzie, where had it come from? Quickly Susanna went through the house, checking every room, every lock on the windows. All was as it should be. Had she dreamed it, maybe? No, she didn’t think so. She could hear an echo of it still, pulling her from sleep with a metallic clank.
The noise must have come from outside.
Mr. Ingram’s Corvette! She hurried back to the front room and, standing in the dark, parted the front curtain a fraction, just the width of her eye. The sky had cleared and white moonlight illuminated the yard. She saw no movement at all. On the other side of her Toyota, the trailer was in the exact place Jack had left it.
She let the curtains fall back into place. Maybe she had imagined the noise. Or maybe it had come from a passing vehicle. Or she dreamed it.
Her tea mug sat on the end table, half full of cold tea. She picked it up and carried it to the kitchen. Dim, white light filtered through the miniblinds in the window above the sink. As she emptied the contents of the mug down the drain, she peeked into the dark backyard. All was still. Not even a breeze stirred the branches of the tall evergreen hedge that bordered her yard.
A noise close by sent alarm zipping down her spine. It was coming from the door. Breath caught in her throat, she crept toward it. Horror stole over her as she watched the door knob turn slowly. Just a tiny bit, a fraction of movement, back and forth, as someone on the other side jiggled the handle.
Susanna couldn’t stop the scream that tore from her throat. She raced from the room, snatching her cell phone off the kitchen counter as she ran. By the time she got to Lizzie’s bedroom and slammed the door, she had already punched 9-1-1.
FOUR
“I’d fallen asleep on the couch,” Susanna told the policeman standing in her living room, “and a noise woke me up. I’m almost positive it came from the car trailer in the driveway.”
The young man wasn’t one of the officers she’d seen at Ingram Industries last night, nor his partner, who at the moment was investigating the backyard with a flashlight.
He nodded. “Have you checked the trailer?”
“Are you kidding?” Susanna clutched Lizzie, whose arms and legs were still wrapped tightly around her even though the child was starting to drift back to sleep. “We shoved the dresser in front of the bedroom door and hid in the closet until you got here.”
“That was a smart move, ma’am.”
She glanced toward the window. “I’m worried about the car, though. It’s extremely expensive, and it doesn’t belong to me.”
“I’ll check it out.”
When he turned toward the door, she stopped him. “Here. You’ll need this.”
She scooped up the trailer key, which was still where Jack had left it on the coffee table. As he left the house, she considered putting Lizzie back to bed so she could check on the Corvette. But the child had been terrified to be awakened by Susanna’s panicked shrieks, and she didn’t want to risk her waking up alone while everyone else was outside. Instead, she scooped up a throw blanket from the armchair, bundled it around the little girl and followed the officer outside. Bitterly cold air slapped at Susanna’s face as she hurried down the porch steps and across the short walkway to where the officer stood at the rear of the trailer.
“The lock appears to be intact.” The man pulled on a thin rubber glove and, with a finger and thumb, carefully tested the handle.
To her surprise, the lever pushed all the way down.
The officer’s eyebrows rose. “Are you sure you locked it?”
She thought back, picturing the scene in the auction house’s rear parking lot. Jack had locked the door after they’d loaded the car inside, hadn’t he? She couldn’t remember. “Well, no, I’m not positive. But I’m pretty sure we did.”
The officer pulled on the handle, and the door swung open. Breath caught in her chest, she peered inside.
The sight of the red sports car sent a wave of relief flooding through her tense muscles. “It’s still there.” Maybe Jack had simply forgotten to lock the door.
The policeman climbed into the trailer and unclipped a small flashlight from his belt. The Corvette’s body gleamed in the powerful beam.
He gave a low, admiring whistle. “This is a beautiful car.”
“Is it all right?” Susanna asked.
The beam flashed around. “Not a scratch on her.” He dropped down on his haunches and peered beneath. “The straps are still in place, too. I don’t think anyone’s messed with this car.”
“Thank goodness.”
The officer circled to the passenger side, still examining the unblemished paint. Susanna turned toward the house. Now that she’d satisfied herself the Corvette was safe, she could go back inside where it was warm. Obviously the noise that had woken her earlier hadn’t come from the trailer. She took a step as the officer opened the passenger door and aimed his flashlight inside. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him pull the seat upright and heard a distant snap as it clicked into place.
Her foot halted. Was the passenger seat pushed forward when they put the car in the trailer?
No. It wasn’t. She was positive about that.
She returned to stand at the rear of the trailer. “I think someone’s been in there.”
The officer’s head emerged from his examination of the interior. “What makes you think so?”
“I’m sure that seat wasn’t pushed forward. And why would Jack make a point of giving me the key if he was going to leave the trailer unlocked?” Her arms tightened around Lizzie. Detective Rollins’s warning left an ominous echo in her mind. “What if the person who killed Mr. Ingram came after his car?”
A noise behind her made her whirl, but it was only the second officer coming from the backyard.
“Nothing back there, ma’am. No signs at all of an intruder.” His gaze rose from her face to his partner’s inside the trailer.
Did she imagine it, or did a secretive look pass between them? She could almost hear the older officer’s thoughts. Woman without a man around for protection. Panics over nothing. Despite the frigid air, heat flared up her neck. “I know I heard a noise outside, and I know someone jiggled the knob on my back door.”
Before the silence became uncomfortable, the officer in the trailer hopped down to the ground. “I have a theory. I think it was teenagers.”
His partner nodded, as though in agreement.
“Why do you say that?” Susanna asked. “Did you find something inside the car?”
He shook his head as he slid his flashlight back into place on his belt. “If it was a car thief,