Page 44 of Shadowed Witness (The Secrets of Kincaid #2)

Eric parked behind Allye’s Jetta and dashed up the porch steps to her house. He’d gotten a brief rundown from the dispatcher, who said Allye was unharmed, but he needed to see for himself.

Another break-in spelled trouble. Something had changed, and not for the better.

Allye met him at the door, a teacup cradled in her hands. Those rose-tinted glasses were perched on her nose again, and her face was paler than he’d ever seen it—a stark contrast to her fiery red hair. But she was whole and standing on her own two feet.

Relief washed over him at the assurance she really was okay, and he nearly gave in to the impulse to take her into his arms. But he restrained himself. He had no right to even a friendly hug, not after yesterday. Instead, he said the first words that popped out. “Another migraine?”

“Yeah.” She waved him inside. “Can’t seem to totally kick it, and now it’s flared again. But I figured we’d prefer not to have our conversation in the dark. Can I get you something to drink?”

“No. Thanks though.” He followed her in, noting her overturned coffee table and a shattered glass a few feet from it.

They entered the kitchen, and he stopped short. He hadn’t realized she wasn’t alone, but a man nursing a cup of coffee leaned against the counter, and a woman sat at the table, phone in hand.

“The detective is here,” the woman said into the phone. “We’re good now.”

Allye turned to face him. “Eric, these are my neighbors, Cornell and Shannon Howard. She called 911 while he came over here to check on me. He scared the intruder off.” Her voice cracked.

“Once the coast was clear, they offered to stay until someone arrived. Cornell, Shannon, have you met Detective Eric Thornton?”

Eric shook Cornell’s offered hand. “I appreciate you coming to help. We need more people who care enough to jump in when needed.”

The man rolled one shoulder as if uncomfortable with the praise. “Couldn’t live with myself if a tragedy happened because I refused to be bothered.”

Eric nodded. He felt the same. “I’ll need to get your statement.”

“Sure thing. Didn’t see much though.” He rinsed out his coffee mug and set it in the sink. “Mind if I use your restroom first, Allye?”

“No, go ahead. First door on the ... left.” She paused almost imperceptibly, but Eric caught it. And if he wasn’t mistaken, it was on the right, not the left.

After Cornell disappeared down the hall, she returned her attention to Eric. “You sure I can’t pour you some coffee or something?”

“If it’ll make you feel better.”

“It would.” She set her teacup aside and retrieved the half-empty coffeepot and a mug from the counter. “Cream or sugar?”

“Just sugar, please.”

She handed him the mug, and he noted the pronounced tremble in her hands as the liquid sloshed dangerously close to the rim. She was shaken. More than any of the times before.

“You should sit.” He kept his tone low, for her ears only.

Without argument, she grabbed the nearest chair.

Eric took the one closest to her and readied his notebook and pen.

After taking a sip of the coffee, he addressed the woman across the table.

“Shannon, is it?” She nodded. “Mind telling me what you witnessed?”

“Less than Cornell, unfortunately. We were in bed, but I was still awake, reading. We heard a scream, then a shout, and with what happened last week, we didn’t want to wait to see if anything else caught our attention.

We ran outside, and when Cornell saw the door was open, he yelled for me to call the police and stay put.

” She shivered. Her husband reappeared and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She reached up and held it. “A minute later, I saw a big man run out. He took off in the opposite direction, and I heard an engine roar to life right after he disappeared around the curve.”

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 voice was 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.”

Understandably so. “So you hit him? With a bat?” Anyone who knew Allye knew she was feisty, but he had trouble wrapping his mind around her taking a bat to someone.

Allye cringed. “Yes, but it didn’t take him down. I think he would have come at me again if Cornell hadn’t shown up.”

“Was he armed?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see a weapon, but like I said, I’d just woken up and didn’t have my glasses. Besides, it was dark, and I was more focused on trying to get away.”

“All right.” He clicked his pen. “How about you run through what happened from the beginning?” He should have just started with that.

She told him about falling asleep in the living room, being awakened, running, and the intruder grabbing her shoulder. For her sake, he struggled to keep his face expressionless, but he wanted to pummel the guy.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth formed an O.

“What?”

She’d obviously remembered something.