I used my little flashlight to go back to the kitchen, got a bigger one.”
She let out a huff of breath. “I didn’t hear anything, didn’t feel anything, which pisses me off as I like to think I’ve got this little sixth sense thing going on. Major fail on that tonight. So, I went upstairs, and of course I had closed the window. Then I came down again, nixed the idea of going into the basement to see if I could get that old generator running, which even eliminating spiders, dark, spooky, I don’t know the first thing about generators. Then he had me.”
“From behind.”
“Yes. There was thunder, and the rain and wind, but still I hate knowing I didn’t hear or feel anything until he grabbed me. After my initial panic, kicking, clawing at his arm—”
“Skin or cloth?”
“Cloth.” Little details, she acknowledged. The former criminal attorney would think of them, just as the police had. “Wool, I think. Soft wool. A sweater or coat. My mind wasn’t that sharp as my air supply was cut off. Lucky for me, without consciously thinking I went into defense mode. I taught some classes on it. SING. That’s—”
“I know what it is. You remembered how to use it?”
“Some part of me did. I told the police this already,” she said when he pulled up at Bluff House. “I jammed back with my elbow, and it took him by surprise. And hurt him, at least a little, enough his grip loosened some because I could breathe. I stomped on his foot, which probably didn’t hurt as much as throw him off since I was wearing Uggs. Then I swung around and aimed toward his face. I couldn’t see it in the dark, but had the sense of it. Heel of the hand. Then the coup de grâce.”
“Knee to the balls.”
“And I know that hurt him. I didn’t really register it at the time as I was running like a maniac for the door, for my car, but I’m pretty sure I heard him go down. And the nose shot worked, too, because he bled on me.”
“You’re pretty calm about it.”
“Now. You didn’t see me curled up in Maureen’s arms crying like a baby.”
But the idea of it tightened every muscle in his body. “I’m sorry about this, Abra.”
“Me, too. But it’s not your fault, and it’s not mine.” She got out of the car, smiled at the deputy who approached. “Hi, Vinnie. Eli, this is Deputy Hanson.”
“Eli. You probably don’t remember me.”
“Yeah, I do.” The hair was shorter, and brown rather than bleached blond, the face fuller. But Eli remembered. “Surfer dude.”
Vinnie laughed. “Still am when I can grab a board and a wave. Sorry for the trouble here.”
“So am I. How did he get in?”
“He cut the power. Shorted it out, and jimmied the side door—the one going into the laundry room. So he knew or suspected there was an alarm. Abra said you left late this morning, went into Boston.”
“That’s right.”
“So your car wasn’t here all day, into the evening. You can take a look around, see if there’s anything missing. We called the power company, but they’re probably not going to get on this until tomorrow.”
“Soon enough.”
“We didn’t find any vandalism,” Vinnie continued as he led the way. “We got some blood on the floor right in the foyer, and on Abra’s pajama top and hoodie. It’s enough for DNA if he’s in the system, or if we get him. But that’s not going to be quick.”
He opened the front door, shone his light, then picked up the flashlight Abra had dropped and he’d already set on a table in the foyer.
“We get a break-in now and then, on rental cottages empty during the off season. But that’s mostly kids looking for a place to hang out, have sex, smoke dope or, at worst, vandalize or steal some electronics. This doesn’t look like kids. None of the local boys would risk Bluff House, for one thing.”
“Kirby Duncan. Boston PI. He’s been poking around, asking questions about me.”
“It wasn’t him,” Abra said, but Vinnie took out his book, noted down the name.
“It was dark. You didn’t see his face.”
“No, but I had an up-close-and-personal with his build. Duncan’s soft in the middle, paunchy, and this man wasn’t. And Duncan’s shorter, more beefy.”
“Still.” Vinnie tucked his book away again. “We’ll talk to him.”
“He’s at Surfside B-and-B. I poked around,” Abra explained.
“We’ll check it out. There’s some easily portable valuables in the house,