While Other People Sleep by Marcia Muller Read Free Book Online Page B

moment I opened the door and realized that in our haste to leave, neither Hy nor I had thought to activate the security system. I glanced at the lock; there were fresh scratches on it—picked.
    I drew my gun—a new .357 Magnum—from my bag and shut the door quietly, then stood still, listening to the silence and taking in the signs. The temperature was warmer than earlier; somebody had turned up the thermostat. A light burned in the sitting room, but I distinctly remembered turning it off on my way out. And there was a scent on the air, a perfume that I didn't use. Familiar, though. What? I breathed it in and free associated.
    Dark Secrets.
    Yes, that was it. One of those new, heavily advertised scents that had emanated from a scratch-and-smell card enclosed with my last Macy's bill.
    Appropriate—fiendishly appropriate.
    Gun held in both hands, I moved forward and peered through the archway to the parlor. A novel I'd been reading while curled up on the love seat last week had been knocked to the floor. The doors to the guest room armoire stood open, but nothing else appeared to have been touched. I continued slowly along the hall.
    In the sitting room, embers glowed in the fireplace; the last time Hy and I had made a fire was Saturday night. A bottle of Deer Hill Chardonnay—my favorite, and one that cost a for tune by my standards—sat uncorked beside a glass on the table next to the easy chair; the bottle was only half full.
    I moved to the room I use as my home office. Several of the desk drawers had been pulled open, and the chair was shoved over by the closet, as if someone had stood on it to check the shelf. Thank God I kept my important papers in the safe at the pier!
    One of the under-cabinet fluorescents burned in the kitchen; by its light I saw a corkscrew and cork positioned in the exact center of the chopping-block island.
    In the bathroom I found that my birth control pills had apparently been flushed down the toilet. The empty pack lay on the floor next to it.
    I slipped along the hall, still with both hands on the gun. The bedroom door was half closed; it was hung wrong and had a tendency to do that on its own, but … I nudged it with my foot and stepped inside, sweeping the room with the .357.
    Empty. But my bedding had been ripped off and tossed on the floor.
    One of the folding closet doors was ajar. I took my left hand off the gun, grasped the knob, and pulled.
    Nothing inside but my clothes.
    The intruder was gone. Not long gone, though; the scent of her Dark Secrets still lingered, as if she'd sprayed it in the air. Well, maybe she had. It was as good as writing a message on the mirror.
    I looked down at the rumpled bedclothes, anger flaring. I'd been looking forward to crawling into bed immediately, but now I'd have to remake it—
    A noise on the back deck—bumping and scraping.
    I raised the gun, stepped into the dark hallway The outside spot was on, and through the glass I saw my orange tabby, Ralph. He had his nose pressed to the glass, and his yellow yes pleaded to be let in.
    “Jesus,” I whispered. What if I'd shot him? Even though I $$$ a carry permit, I shouldn't be toting this gun around; it should be locked in the U.S. Navy ammo box bolted to the floor of the linen closet, where it usually resided with my old .38. But since Friday night I'd felt better with a weapon close to hand.
    I opened the door, and Ralphie slipped inside, heading for his food bowl.
    And then I thought, Allie—Where's Allie?
    I leaned out the door and called my calico. Nothing. But Alice always came promptly when called after dark; neither she nor her brother was a night-prowling creature.
    I hurried through the house, shouting her name. No response.
    “God damn that bitch! If she's done something to my cat, I'll kill her!”
    Then I heard a scuffling above my head, followed by an unearthly wailing that came from the home office. I ran in there—and realized the significance of the desk chair being moved: