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Eric caught his notes up, then asked, “Did you get a good look at him?”

Shannon shook her head. “No. Just that he was tall and well-built. He never faced my direction.”

“But you saw him?” He lifted his gaze to Cornell.

The man pursed his lips. “Not very well. Too dark, and it happened too fast. When he realized I was there, he knocked me over and took off. I think he was wearing a ski mask too. I’d peg him around six foot though. Allye might have gotten a better look.”

“I think you’re right about the mask. Regardless, I didn’t get a good look either.” She glanced between the two of them, then addressed Eric. “Can you go ahead and take their full statements first? It’s late. I hate for them to have to stay here longer than necessary.”

Shannon gaped at her. “Your home was just broken into again, Allye. Don’t worry about us.”

She twisted a napkin in her hand. “But I’d feel better if you were able to get to bed. Didn’t Cornell just finish a week of night shift?”

“Yes, but I’m used to it. We’re okay,” Cornell answered.

But Allye didn’t let up. “Still. It just makes more sense for some of us to get rest.” She turned to Eric. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Sensing she really would feel better if her neighbors were released soon, he nodded. “Fine by me.” He focused on Cornell, who began his account without further prompting. But he didn’t have much to tell either. Eric thought he managed to control his expression when Cornell described coming upon the intruder in Allye’s bedroom, but inside, he was fuming. This was the second time they’d come after her in her home.

Cornell’s experience only took a few minutes to relate, and Eric’s follow-up questions only took a handful more.

Once the neighbors had left for their own home, he turned back to Allye. She was staring into her empty teacup with the blank look of someone who could go into shock at any second. He took her hand. She lifted her gaze to him, and her eyes cleared, but he still didn’t like her pallor or the chill to her fingers.

“Hold on.” He remembered there being a blanket draped over the arm of her couch. After retrieving it, he draped it over her shoulders, then refilled her cup from the teapot on the counter.

She wrapped her fingers around her cup. “Thank you.”

He sat back down and looked her in the eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay? He really didn’t hurt you?”

She shook her head. “Might have wrenched my shoulder a bit when he grabbed me, but that hardly counts.”

It counted to him. He was absolutely not okay with the fact the guy had laid a hand on her. Fisting his hand, he counted to ten, then relaxed it and shifted his mind to investigation mode. “Was it the same guy as before?” He’d wanted to ask that earlier but had held the question back for when they were alone. He had no reason to distrust her neighbors, but the fewer people who knew details about the investigation, the better.

“I’ve been thinking about that.” She slowly lifted her teacup to her lips, took a sip, then set it back on the saucer. “Honestly, I don’t think it was my attacker. He seemed taller, and his voicewas wrong—too deep. He carried himself differently too. At least, that’s the impression I got. It really did happen fast.”

That complicated things, but he kept the thought to himself. “Okay. Can you tell me anything else about those mannerisms or what he looked like?”

“I don’t know how to describe it. The attacker from before was so in control, cocky really. This guy wasn’t. He was big, and came after me when I ran, but he just had a different ... vibe, I guess. But then again, I’d fallen asleep in the living room, and he probably expected me to be in bed, so that might have thrown his plan off.”

He made note of that. “How about his physical description? You said he was big. What else did you notice?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Not much. It was dark, and I didn’t have my glasses on.”

“What kind of big, then?” he encouraged. “Are you talking overweight, muscular, or just tall?” Her neighbors had already described him as tall and well-built, but he needed Allye’s perspective as well. She’d probably been closer to him for longer.

“Tall. But muscular too.”

“How tall do you think?”

“I don’t know.” Frustration crept into her voice. “I’m not a good judge of size even when I can see clearly.”

“It’s okay,” he said. Fear and adrenaline often skewed a victim’s perspective anyway. And he needed to think of Allye as a victim right now, not as the woman he was fast falling in love with. He stood. “What about compared to me? Was he a similar height? Taller?”

She worried her lip and looked up at him. “I don’t know. Maybe a little taller? I had to reach with the bat. Not that I’ve ever swung one at your head.”

Her answer was so unexpected he wasn’t able to completely stifle his laugh as he retook his seat. “Thank heaven for that.”

Some of the color returned to her cheeks. “Sorry. I’m ... still rattled.”