“This was sent twenty minutes ago,” he noted.

“Yes,” I said.

“I’ll have my partner check the surrounding blocks,” Deputy Miller said. “But with this fog, visibility is almost zero. It’s easy for someone to park a block away and walk up.”

He walked out onto the porch, shining his flashlight into the bushes and along the side of the house.

I followed him to the threshold, shivering in my pajamas.

“There are fresh tire tracks in the gravel near the neighbor’s empty lot,” the deputy called out. “Looks like a sedan. It’s gone now.”

“Do you think they’ll come back?” I asked.

“We’ll keep a car stationed at the end of the street for the rest of the night,” he said. “You should stay inside and keep the doors locked.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I went back inside and closed the door, locking every bolt.

Robert was still on the line.

“I heard,” Robert said. “Clara, this is getting dangerous. Daniel is desperate.”

“Who sent the text, Robert? If Daniel was at the airport, who was here?”