After putting her coffee cup down, Tanda headed for the front door. Robby might be used to living in a run, but he was completely housebroken. And very protective of her when strangers were around. She would bring him into the house before checking windows and door locks, and he would also be her company.
But not quite as good company as someone else, she realized with a smile as she stepped outside. Mike Gerard was very good company, and didn’t even slobber the way Robby would. The only thing that worried Tanda about him was one very important question: was he seriously interested in her, or only concerned about someone tangled up in a murder investigation? And did he really think she was innocent? A man who’d had a bad marriage didn’t usually trust women or think well of them; was he just leading her on to get what information he could, with nothing in mind beyond solving the case?
Each question she asked herself bred ten others, and the rest of the day disappeared behind a blur of uncontrolled thinking. When suppertime came around, Tanda broiled herself a steak, then shared it with Robby. The dog had no idea why he was in the house with her, but didn’t mind enjoying the experience. The day had started very early, so it wasn’t late when she let Robby out for the final time, checked the locks one last time, then went to bed.
The soft hum of the bedroom’s air conditioner helped her to fall asleep quickly, but suddenly she found herself awake again. Had there been a noise, or was it just Robby moving around the room? Half-asleep, Tanda looked at the clock to see that it wasn’t even midnight. She couldn’t have been asleep long, then.
And that was when she heard it again, a low bang from somewhere outside. A wild animal, maybe, trying to get to her garbage? She twisted around and turned on the light, then sat very still as she saw Robby. The dog was on his feet by the bedroom door, standing and staring at it, a low growl sounding deep in his throat. He never did that for an animal, Tanda realized, putting a trembling hand to her mouth. Robby only growled when strange humans were around. Humans…
Chapter Four
For a moment or two Tanda sat motionless with fear, and then the low banging noise came again. This time it sounded like someone trying to break something at the back of the house while struggling not to make too much noise. Animals were notorious for not caring how much noise they made, and that, along with the barking of the other dogs, clinched it. Some human was out there, and at that time of night it couldn’t possibly be a friend or neighbor.
But it could be a police patrol, sent by Mike Gerard to keep an eye on her. Poking around to be sure she was all right shouldn’t sound like that, but it was still possible. Maybe she ought to go and take a look…
“But I think I’ll call and ask first,” she muttered, reaching for the bedside telephone. “They’ll know at headquarters whether anyone is supposed to be out here.”
She would have preferred calling Mike Gerard rather than some stranger at police headquarters, but there was no need to bother the man over a false alarm. And that was what Tanda hoped it was, nothing but a false alarm…
“Police headquarters, Sergeant Walters,” an official voice announced from the other end of the line. “How can I help you?”
“Sergeant, this is Tanda Grail, out on Old Stage Road,” Tanda replied. “I’m involved with Lieutenant Gerard over that murder this morning, as well as my brother’s murder a week ago. Can you tell me if Lieutenant Gerard left orders for officers to check my house during the night? I hear someone out there, but I’ll feel silly if I charge out to confront a couple of police officers just doing their job.”
“I’ll check on that, Ms. Grail,” the man’s voice said, no longer remote and indifferent. “But please don’t talk about charging out and confronting. If someone is out there…Well, we’d rather you didn’t. And are you certain there’s someone there? Could it be an animal, or an unlatched door swinging?”
“No to both,” Tanda answered. “I might not be sure, but my dog is. It’s definitely not an animal, and definitely not a door.”
“Then hold on for a moment.” Tanda expected to be switched to hold, but the sergeant just put a hand over the mouthpiece of his phone. She could hear the mutter of voices in brief conversation, and then the sergeant was back. “Ms. Grail, there were orders left for you to be checked on, but the unit assigned to do the checking isn’t currently near your house. We have them on their way now, and they’ll be there in a few minutes. Please stay inside until they knock on your door and announce themselves. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do understand, and thank you,” Tanda said automatically before hanging up. Once the connection was broken, she realized she could have stayed on the line until the patrol unit arrived, but what was the point? If whoever was out there broke in, having a cop on the other end of the line wasn’t likely to keep her from being killed.
Tanda ran both hands through her hair, trying to fight off the creeping numbness of fear. If it wasn’t the police out there, it had to be the murderer. The idea of it being someone else, just at this time, even an ordinary burglar, was too far-fetched to consider. Another muffled clank came, telling the nearby world that the person was still out there, and the sound did something strange to Tanda. It made her realize that her brother’s murderer was in reach, the person she wanted so badly to find. Was she just going to sit here and tremble, forgetting about what had been stolen from her? Wasn’t there something she could do to make sure the man didn’t get away?
Tanda knew there had to be something, and reborn anger drove away enough of the fear to let her get out of bed. Robby was still growling softly as she began to throw on clothes, and that bolstered her courage even more. Between her and her dog the murderer would be outnumbered, and once the police got here, the nightmare would be over. An outcome like that was worth taking a chance for, more than worth it.
It didn’t take long before she was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and sneakers, and Robby was beginning to be calmly excited. The dog knew they were going out after whoever was making that noise, and he was ready to do his job. If the intruder tried to run away, so much the better. Robby would be right behind him, and more than able to run him to ground.
Tanda turned out the light in the room before easing the door open, wishing she had Robby’s serene confidence. She was determined to do whatever she could to catch the murderer, but that didn’t mean her fear was gone. Slipping out into the dark of the hall was hard, but turning on a light was out of the question. If the person outside realized she was awake and coming after him…
Yes. Tanda dropped that line of thought quickly, paying more attention to making her way toward the front door. She’d briefly considered going down to the cellar and confronting the intruder directly, but had dismissed the idea as impractical. The new lock on the cellar door in back was on the outside; even if it hadn’t been, she didn’t care for the idea of opening the bolt on the door in the house leading down to the cellar. Just because the sounds seemed to be coming from outside, that didn’t mean the man hadn’t managed to get inside. Meeting a murderer face-to-face indoors seemed fractionally worse than meeting one outdoors, and whether or not that was true, it was still the way she felt.
So she edged through the kitchen and on toward the living room, grateful for the kitchen’s night-light and wishing the living room had one, too. After tonight she’d make sure it had one—assuming nothing happened to keep her from seeing to it.
“Stop that!” she whispered to herself almost soundlessly. “Of course nothing will happen. You’ll just have to be very careful…”
And stick close to Robby. Tanda was aware of the dog despite her nervousness, or maybe even more because of it. He’d stopped in the living room to her left, momentarily unmoving, which made her stop as well. It was