exterior wall at both the top and bottom of the steep stairs, which Drex had referred to as killers.
He reached the ground without mishap. He didn’t go to his car. Instead, he made a hard right turn and moved along the far side of the garage and eventually out of Jasper’s view. Moments later, he reappeared from behind the garage at the opposite corner.
Jasper didn’t move or do anything else that would give away his presence, watching as Drex continued along the back boundary of his lawn, moving parallel to the house, staying in sight except for those seconds when he was swallowed by a deep shadow or blocked from view by a tree trunk.
And, one of those times, he didn’t reappear. He remained behind the trunk of the largest tree on the property.
Jasper lunged from his chair and barreled through the screen door. With long, rapid strides, he covered the distance between him and the tree. He almost collided with Drex has he stepped out from behind it. Jasper clicked on the flashlight he’d brought with him and aimed it directly into Drex’s face. “What are you doing?”
Drex rocked back on his heels. “Jesus, Jasper. You scared the shit out of me.”
He smiled his boyish smile. It had made Elaine’s heart go pitter-pat. It made Jasper suspect that it was artificial and aptly employed whenever it suited him.
Currently it was meant to distract him when Drex reached behind his back with his right hand. He raised his left to shield his eyes from the flashlight’s beam. “I thought you were probably in bed by now.”
“I ask again, what are you doing out here?”
“Look, man, I’m sorry. I—”
“What have you got?” Jasper directed the light down, and leaned around to try to see what Drex was concealing behind his back.
Drex took a hasty step backward.
“What’s in your hand? Let me see.” Jasper thrust out his left hand, palm up.
Drex hesitated, then brought his hand from around his back and dropped a dead mouse into Jasper’s palm. Jasper yanked his hand back. The mouse fell to the ground.
“I would have waited till morning to throw him out, but he was stinking up the apartment.”
Jasper reigned in his temper as well as his rapid breathing. “Where were you taking it?”
“That community dumpster in the next block? I thought I’d throw him in that. Save him rotting in our trash cans at the curb. I guess I should have gone the long way, used the street. I opted for the shortcut across your yard. I’m sorry as hell I bothered you.”
“I didn’t know it was you,” he lied. “All I saw was a tall, dark figure,” Jasper said, forcing a smile. “If you take a shortcut again, you should identify yourself.”
“I didn’t think I’d be seen.”
“Oh, I’m always watching.”
They held each other’s gaze for several beats, then Drex bent down and picked up the lifeless mouse by the tail. Holding it between them, he gave a jocular shrug. “Guess I won’t need a cat, after all.”
Jasper chuckled.
“Well, good night.” Drex started off.
Jasper let him get only a few yards away before calling out, “Hold it.”
He turned.
“Take this.” Jasper walked forward and passed him the flashlight.
“Thanks. There wasn’t one in the apartment.”
Jasper smiled. “What are neighbors for?”
When Drex returned from depositing the mouse in the dumpster, he took his third shower of the day and went to bed, pulling the sheet only to his waist. The fan, aimed directly at him, hummed from the side of the bed.
His mission that night had been to get a different perspective of the layout of the Fords’ house, in an attempt to figure out a way to get inside. From behind the tree, he’d been using the zoom on his phone’s camera to try to spot security devices on windows and doors. When Jasper had burst from the house like a man possessed, he’d had no choice but to brazen it out.
Fortunately, he’d thought to take along the dead mouse as his excuse for being in Jasper’s backyard, should he be caught. He didn’t believe Jasper had bought the excuse entirely. But they’d played out the scene as though he had. It hadn’t been easy for Drex, make-believing with a man whose heart and mind were darker than he’d initially thought.
He still didn’t know how he would breach the castle, but he had come away knowing that Jasper was vigilant to an extraordinary degree. Meaning that Drex would be damned lucky to succeed in planting just one