Chapter 8: The Second Night
The second incident happened before I received an answer.
At one seventeen on Monday morning, our temporary water alarm sounded in the hallway.
I woke Hannah and told her to stay upstairs.
Then I shut off the supply and called the emergency repair number.
The alarm had detected moisture near the outside laundry wall.
There was no new flood, but water had collected beneath a service cover.
Owen arrived with another technician while Officer Ortiz checked the yard.
The cover had been disturbed.
A small decorative stone from Valerie’s garden lay nearby.
Ortiz collected it as possible evidence without suggesting it proved anything.
I was standing in the driveway when Valerie emerged in slippers and a cardigan.
She looked at the police vehicle, then at the repair van.
“Another emergency?” she asked.
I did not answer.
Ortiz asked whether she had noticed any activity overnight.
Valerie said she had heard nothing.
The porch light behind her illuminated mud on one slipper.
Ortiz saw it too, but she asked no accusatory question in front of me.
By morning, our water supply had been restored with additional protective measures.
The police had an incident report and physical observations, but still no direct witness.
I was furious enough to imagine pounding on Valerie’s door.
Instead, I drove Hannah to school and told her not to walk near the neighbor’s yard.
She studied my face in the passenger seat.
“Dad, are you scared of her?”
“I’m scared of what somebody might do when they’re already desperate.”
Hannah nodded.
Then she told me about a message Noah had sent her through a school art-group account.
It contained only six words.
“Please don’t let them take me.”
