“I’m coming in right now.” He hangs up, looking up at Will. “Possible witness at the station. I have to head in now. Can you take care of this?”
“Ten-four,” he responds jokingly.
“Call the station. They can give you the rest of the details.”
“Yeah, go on! Let me know what ends up coming of it.”
Leroux turns his attention to Wren. He keeps his gaze soft, like she’s a piece of glass he doesn’t want to break.
“Take me home, John,” Wren says quietly and looks out the window, suddenly feeling the weight of the day crush in on her.
“Of course.” Leroux nods, starting off in that direction.
The air between them is heavy. Neither of them is willing to discuss any of the information they’ve learned today. Wren puts her hand out the window and lets it undulate in the warm air, and it pounds against her as they drive.
CHAPTER 31
JEREMY WATCHES HER.
Standing in the sea of deep black that floods the tree line on the edge of her property, he tracks her movement through the windows of her home. He knows her well enough to anticipate her turning on every light in the room even at this late hour. Emily wasn’t scared of much, but she was always wary of what awaited her in the darkness. Even as he stands in the pitch dark, he is cognizant of this fact and makes sure to keep himself obscured behind branches and stands halfway behind a massive tree. He knows her routine now. He knows where she sits to decompress at the end of a long day. He has watched her for a long time.
He waits.
He stands perfectly still and listens to the chorus of invisible, nocturnal insects that hum all around him.
He thinks about how interesting it is that in the dead of night, humans seem biologically programmed to detect every single noise that seems out of place, even among the deafening sounds the surrounding environment makes on its own. If he did so much as cough, it would be noticed. Yet the forest can scream all night with no consequence.
Until tonight, he has just observed her and left little clues from afar.
He watches her double-check the locks on all of the windows and doors. She never goes to sleep without making sure she is locked in safely for the night.
She is thorough, and she is smart, but during his surveillance, he has discovered that there is still one way to penetrate her fortress that she consistently fails to secure. Her basement is unfinished and, thus, entirely neglected by her. She and her husband took precautions to have an impressive lock installed on the bulkhead door that leads from the yard into the basement but have not yet installed one on the door that leads from the basement into the house. After all, as long as no one can enter the basement, there is no need to worry about anyone coming up from down there.
Jeremy noticed only three windows leading into the basement. Two of which are too small for anyone larger than a small toddler to fit through. The third window is the one he is interested in breaching tonight. This third window is bigger and opens conventionally. It is equipped with a lock, but one that is clearly broken. When he first came upon it during one of his quiet night visits, he immediately became suspicious. It just doesn’t seem to be in Emily’s nature to leave a window unlocked. It’s shockingly irresponsible to leave a broken lock untouched. This house is lucky to have remained unbreached up to this point.
When he attempted to open it, he confirmed that it was merely painted shut. This little detail made him assume that the basement was designated as her husband’s responsibility and Emily probably just trusted that he had sufficiently seen to the securing of the space. Stupidly, he must have assumed that a broken lock is not worth replacing if the window itself has been painted shut since long before they moved in.
Emily looks out the kitchen window. There is a puzzled expression stretched across her face. She appears to be deep in thought. Before she walks outside his view, there is a moment in which it almost looks like she might see him. He feels her meet his eyes for just a second. Of course, she didn’t, not really. The light behind her will ensure that.