let another flub pass.
“This is going to take some time. Perhaps you could get some coffee while I finish up with your husband?”
“Fine.” I moved away before she had a chance to change her mind. Spotting a handsome uniform dusting the back doorknob for prints, I ran my fingers through my hair and decided to detour by the bathroom and take a moment to freshen up.
Inside the bathroom, I tried William’s cell, but for the third time that night, he didn’t answer.
Detective Cullen found me in the dining room, one of our mugs in her spindly hand. I eyed the coffee and wondered if Matt had offered it to her or if she’d helped herself. Brushing off the thought, I gestured her closer and lowered my voice, making sure Matt wasn’t nearby. “I’ve been thinking, and it’s possible Matt imagined this entire thing. A stranger, in our house in the middle of the night? No forced entry? He put his gun in Matt’s mouth and then the thing misfired?” I clutched my own coffee cup, the contents now lukewarm, and glanced at the evidence teams scattered across every area of our home. “Have you found any evidence there was anyone here? Any bullet holes? Fingerprints?”
The woman nodded slowly, considering the idea. “So, you think your husband made the entire thing up?”
“He takes sleeping pills at night.” I shrugged, encouraged by her open reaction. “Maybe he thought it happened and it didn’t.”
“On the 9-1-1 call, you said there was an intruder.” Her voice was hardening, incredulity beginning to coat the syllables.
“It was dark in the bedroom. I woke up to him yelling at me to call 9-1-1. I was half-asleep during that call. But we have no security footage, no footprints, and Matt’s given you a hazy description that could fit anyone from Pee-wee Herman to Arnold Schwarzenegger.” I stood from the seat, my voice rising in vigor. “You could be looking for someone that isn’t out there. Wouldn’t you rather go home? And besides—are you even allowed to be looking through all of our things? Don’t you need a warrant for that?”
“Neena.”
I stiffened at the flat sound of Matt’s voice and turned to see him standing just inside the back door, his features eerily still, his eyes dead. “May I speak to you for a moment?”
CHAPTER 40
CAT
I stood on the upper balcony and watched as the cars clogged the Ryders’ long lot, black-and-whites with the official seal of Atherton, their lights on, sirens silent. In the dark, black figures with sweeping white beams of illumination moved, their progress partially hidden by shrubbery and trees, their canvass slow and methodical.
“What’s going on?” William stepped out of our bedroom, his chest bare, his silk pajama bottoms on. He shivered in the cool night air and crossed his arms over his chest, his attention immediately caught by the activity next door.
“I don’t know. There’s an ambulance, but they haven’t put anyone in it. I tried to call Neena and Matt, but they didn’t answer. I’m waiting on a call back from the chief.”
As if beckoned, my phone lit up, the Atherton chief of police’s private cell number displayed. I answered the call and put it on speakerphone so William could hear. “Hey, Danika.”
“It was a home invasion,” she said without preamble. “Or armed robbery gone wrong. We aren’t sure yet. Someone in a ski mask came in the home and attempted to shoot the husband.”
I inhaled sharply. “Is he okay? And Neena—”
“No one was harmed. The gun misfired, and the husband chased or scared the man out of the house. But we haven’t located the intruder yet. So it’s important that you stay inside and lock all your doors. We have officers headed to your house now, but please arm your security system, if it’s not already.”
William pulled on my arm, glancing around as he ushered me inside. Shutting the french doors, he flipped the locks.
“I’ll go open the front gates so the cops can get in.” He gave me a stern look as he pulled on a worn Stanford T-shirt. “Stay here.”
I waved him on and moved to the window, parting the curtain and scanning my eyes over the dark stretch of lawn. When the bedroom door clicked shut behind William, I took the phone off speaker and lowered my voice. “Danika, there are some things about the Ryders your detectives should know.”
By the time I pulled on clothes and made it downstairs, an officer was present. I rounded the bottom of