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“Oh.” He gave a goofy grin, resembling the kid I remembered back in high school who could barely string two sentences together. “I thought you might have some super-secret database you could tap into for that kind of stuff.”
“Yeah, I do,” I answered, unable to help myself. “It’s called Zillow.”
“Asshole.” He chuckled. “Maybe it’s the owner. It would be the most logical answer.”
“This late?” I glanced out his side window for a better look at the house. “And wouldn’t they turn on a light?”
The house was pitch-black.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maintenance company? I know she uses one. They’re over there all the time, mowing the lawn and shit.”
“Again, at this hour?”
He let out a huff. “You know, I don’t hear you coming up with any viable options.”
I peered through the glass, my eyes squinting as I tried to see into the dark landscape that separated the two houses.
“Did you hear that?” I asked, as the faint noise of something breaking pierced the silence. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d had a break-in in Ocracoke, but it didn’t mean it never happened.
My gut felt suddenly uneasy. The last time I’d let something go…
“I’d better go check it out,” I finally said. “I’d hate to have to call the owner up tomorrow and tell her that her house had been broken into and I’d been next door, watching the whole damn thing.”
“Well, you wouldn’t necessarily have to mention the last part,” he reminded me. “You are off duty.”
I gave him a dubious stare. We both knew that I was never fully off duty. Not in this town. “I’ll be back.”
I stepped out into the cold night and swiftly walked across the grass. The car was parked far enough down the curb that I couldn’t make out the plates in the dark.
What I wouldn’t give for a flashlight right now.
I moved down the walkway, trying to get a look through the curtains, but with no lights on, it made it nearly impossible.
I walked up to the door and turned the handle. The hinges creaked so loudly that I might as well have just shouted my entrance. A few steps inside, and the floor groaned beneath me.
So much for being incognito.
I glanced down just as my feet hit a scattering of broken pottery. My eyes searched through the dark, trying to make sense of it. Looking up at the small table by the entry, I noticed a void.
Someone had broken a lamp.
“Time to come out now,” I hollered, in the direction of the master. I hadn’t noticed it outside, but now, I could see the faint glow of a flashlight coming from down the hallway.
Well, at least someone has a flashlight.
“You’ve had your fun,” I said, trying to sound approachable and nonthreatening. If it was a teen or someone in need of help, the last thing I needed was for them to get scared and for this to escalate.
I didn’t get a chance to finish my thought though because the second I started to open my mouth again, I saw that flashlight round the corner.
And then someone tackled me to the ground.
“What the fuck?” I yelled.
My hands went up, and they collided with the curvy lines of a woman. I pulled them back just as that flashlight came at the right angle.
“Shit!” she cursed.
“Shit!” I echoed.
