“Are you somewhere safe?”the cop asked, a sharp note in her question.
“I’m locked inside my car.”
“Excellent.Stay there and remain on the line.I won’t talk to you, but I’ll hear if you need me urgently.”
A clunk sounded on the other end of the line, and Maia tried to calm her racing pulse.A prank meant to scare the district newcomer.Nothing more.Maia reached for the lock before her commonsense reasserted itself.While it might be a creepy prank, it might not be.Ten minutes wasn’t too long to wait to appease her curiosity and answer her questions.
About six minutes later, she spotted flashing headlights.She held her breath and let it ease out when the vehicle turned into her drive.A man and a woman exited the marked police car.
The woman came to her window, and Maia opened the door.
“Maia, I’m Laura, one of the Middlemarch cops.This is Jonno, my husband, who isn’t a cop and will stay with you while I investigate.”There was a soft, masculine growl, and Laura laughed.“Where did you see the footprints?”
“Straight ahead on the path.Do you have a torch?”
“Yes,” Laura said.“Did you see or hear anything after you contacted me?”
“No, but honestly, my heart was beating so loud I might’ve missed someone creeping around.Is this a practical joke?”
Laura frowned.“Possible, but if that were the case, I would’ve thought I’d receive more calls because people usually share a good prank.Stay there, and keep the door locked.We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Maia had no trouble following the cop’s instructions.Laura seemed competent and had an edge that suggested she had the mental toughness necessary for the job.
The flashlight beam bounced across the path, although Maia was too far away to see the blood.The pair halted about a third of the way to the house before approaching more cautiously, their strides slower.Maia’s hands fisted, and she focused on breathing, running through the same exercises she did on game day to conquer her nerves.
The house had appeared secure when she arrived, and she’d seen no evidence of intruders.She’d left the house locked tonight.No, this must be a nasty trick meant to scare her.
Well, consider her unnerved.
The pair took the two steps to the entrance, the flashlight piercing the darkness.Maia wished she was closer because now that the local cop was here, anger, frustration, irritation, and a hundred other emotions pumped through her, reactions that she’d no doubt use later when her heroines were detecting or fleeing monsters.
The flashlight beam traveled over the verandah to the right of the door without pause before shifting to the left.The round of illumination slowed before the cop aimed it at something.Maia couldn’t see what from where she stood, and impatience sizzled low in her gut.This was her home, and someone had come here intending to scare her.
She’d get security lights installed—the type that came on when something moved to set them off.That should deter any would-be tricksters or persons intent on burglary.
The pair returned to Maia, this time with long, hurried steps.
“It might be a prank,” Laura said.“But someone has gone to a considerable effort to scare you.There’s a mannequin on your porch with a pool of blood beneath it and a knife protruding from the head.We think the blood is animal in origin.Do you have any enemies?”
Maia scowled.“I don’t know anyone here apart from London, Gerard, and Henry.Oh, and the woman in the supermarket.”
“Ambar?”
“That’s her name,” Maia said.“What about smartarse teenagers?Isn’t that more likely?Few people know I’ve purchased a house here.It’s not a secret, but apart from my close friends in Auckland and the management at my rugby club in Dunedin, I haven’t given out my address.”
Laura nodded.“We’ll walk a circuit of your house, but there are no signs of anyone else here.”
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” Maia said.“I’m sorry I’ve wasted your time.”
“You did the right thing.It’s my job.I can also put out the word that this sort of prank is unacceptable.”
“If that’s what it is,” Laura’s husband said.
“You think it’s something else?”Maia demanded.
“We have no way of knowing why someone did this.We’re not jumping to conclusions.”Laura’s warning glance at her husband was fleeting, but Maia heard the nuances in that silent exchange.
Laura wasn’t confident this was a prank.The thought chilled Maia’s bones, and a shiver ran through her.While she loved writing her dangerous and adventurous tales, she didn’t want to live the same experience.
