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Ainsley couldn’t help it.

Once Sergeant Boatman and the other policemen stormed her house…

Well, “stormed” is hardly the word…

“Entered” was more like it.

I gave them the key, after all…

Once Sergeant Boatman and the other policemen entered her house, Ainsley opened the driver’s side door of the Porsche and stood half-in/half-out of the car.

“Ains!” Rachel hissed.

“It’s okay!” Ainsley assured her.

She heard the sergeant yell out “Police officers!” as he and two of the other cops stepped inside. One of the policemen remained on the porch, gun drawn and pointed downward, his back pressed against the wall beside the door.

For a while, there was no sound from inside.

And then…

“Police! Police! Freeze!”

Even from where she was outside, Ainsley could clearly hear the commands.

Someone had been inside! This knowledge sent a shiver down Ainsley’s spine; it even made her feel a little nauseous.

What if we had just dumbly walked in…?

“Hands where I can see them!”

And then more silence.

“Hey! What’s going on?”

Ainsley turned to see an older couple, presumably from one of the neighboring houses, standing almost directly across the street from her.

“Someone broke into my house,” Ainsley told them.

The woman gasped.

“And you just moved here!”

Ainsley shrugged but before she could apologize for all the commotion and find out what kind of cookies they liked, her ears caught more sounds coming from her house.

“Clear!” a male voice called from inside. This was followed by, “Coming out!”

The officer who had stayed outside on the porch, holstered his gun. A moment later, Ainsley saw one of the cops who had gone into the house exit alone. His gun was also holstered, Ainsley noticed, which she took as a good sign.

A moment later, the other two policemen also came out. But they were not alone. Walking between them was another person and that’s when things started feeling very surreal.

She had expected the cops to come out of the house escorting some burly, overly-tattooed skinhead guy wearing a shirt with cut-off sleeves and motorcycle boots.

Instead, the cops came out of the house escorting a woman.

A woman in a nightgown.

A woman Ainsley knew.