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“All right.” She pried her fingers from the chair back and quickly shoved both hands into the hoodie’s front pocket where he wouldn’t be able to see them shaking. Stepping around him, she led the way to the door. Moore had left it unlocked, and the knob turned easily.

A shudder passed through her as she stepped inside. The officer had also left the lights on, which she much appreciated at the moment. Even with Eric at her back, she didn’t think she was ready to face her house in the dark.

“See anything?”

She jumped slightly at Eric’s voice. “No. Sorry.” She hadn’t realized she’d stopped just inside the doorway with no explanation. She continued inside, then half turned back to him.

“I’m going to get my glasses first, if that’s okay.”

“Certainly.”

“Make yourself at home.” She headed for her room and tried not to think about what had nearly occurred there—and whathadoccurred there—only an hour or so earlier. Two steps into her bedroom, she stopped and cringed. It was a mess. Bed unmade with blankets spilling over the side. Clothing she hadn’t had the energy to hang in her closet had transformed the corner chair into a mountain. And both her clean and dirty laundry baskets were nearly overflowing.

Even her nearsightedness couldn’t hide how bad it looked. The thought of Officer Moore seeing all this was embarrassing. Worse, she’d be bringing Eric back here soon. Absolutely mortifying. She snatched her glasses from the nightstand, nearly knocking oneof the half-empty water glasses off, and turned her back on the mess. Nothing she could do about it now.

On the way back, she caught sight of the dishes piled high in her sink. The weight in her stomach added a few pounds. If only she’d managed to keep up with things a little better ... But she hadn’t.

Yesterday was garbage day, so that at least was under control. And nothing smelled. That counted for something, right?

She dragged herself the rest of the way into the living room and collapsed in her favorite seat. Eric perched on the edge of a nearby sofa, his ever-present notebook in his hand and his eyes trained on her. His lips parted, then squeezed together again, as if he’d decided against saying something. The kindness in those normally piercing blue eyes threatened to break down the front she was putting up.Don’t cry. Not now.

“Ready to tell me what happened?”

“I feel like we just did this.”

He didn’t smile at her attempted humor.

Suddenly nervous, she searched for something to occupy her hands. Her knitting bag lay next to her chair, along with the other bags she’d unceremoniously dumped when she arrived home earlier. More mess. But convenient this time. She grabbed her knitting and pulled out the glove she was working on. It was a pattern she’d done so many times, she could do it in her sleep—as long as her fingers didn’t start spasming.

The feel of wool in her hands had an immediate calming effect. Needles softly tapping, she related the night’s events, from waking up to her attacker and that ghastly green glow to when Eric arrived on her porch. When she finished, Eric scratched a few more words in his notebook, then stared at the page. When he met her gaze, she could plainly see the doubt there.

Something inside her shrank a little.

“You don’t believe me either, do you?”

Eric let a few seconds pass, like he was searching for a kind wayto call her a liar. Finally, he said, “I want to believe you, but think about what you say happened. You saw a green glow, someone broke into your house and acted like he intended to assault you, then started to kidnap you. But then he just ran off for no reason after locking you out of your house?”

Hearing it from his lips made her sound batty. “I admit it sounds crazy, but that’s what happened.”

“You’ve had a lot happen in the last couple days.”

A lot that couldn’t be explained. She understood the unspoken addendum.

A new wave of tiredness washed over her, and she let her knitting fall to her lap. “So that’s it, then? You and Officer Moore will write your reports and note that I’m off my rocker. Case closed.”

“Not quite. I’m going to do a walk-through with you like we already discussed, then we’re going to make sure your house is locked up tight so you can get some rest tonight. Then we’ll write our reports and run the fingerprints. Did Moore mention getting yours for comparison?”

“Yes. And if we don’t find anything and there are no fingerprint leads?”

“Then we keep our eyes open and hope either something turns up later or you aren’t bothered again.”

She tried not to make a face.

“Sorry. We can only go so far without anything to go on.”

Oops. A grimace must have slipped through. “I know.”

“One other thing. Are you aware of making anyone mad lately? A customer. Angry ex?”