“SSSSssss,” the black creature hissed, back arching, teeth showing.
The cat?
Quick as a lightning bolt, the black fur ball shot by her.
She almost laughed. How ludicrous that she was standing on her front porch in her night shirt, a huge knife clutched in her hands, when all her fears had been about a stupid cat.
Oh, for the love of St. Peter. Really? An animal of less than twenty pounds had instilled the fear of God in her? Caused her to arm herself? Sent her into panic mode and probably shaved a year off her life?
You are crazy, Cassie!
Sagging against the doorjamb, noticing the sky lightening to the east, she was berating herself for being such a fool when she remembered that she’d locked her apartment. When she’d gone out earlier in the day, and then before she’d turned in for the night. She recalled throwing the dead bolt.
So how had the neighbor’s cat ended up inside?
Gooseflesh rose on her arms.
A new fear slithered through her as she examined the door and found no forced entry. But the cat had gotten in somehow . . .
It probably snuck in behind you when you weren’t looking, then it hid in a dark corner until the sound of the tree branch woke you up and—
Who was she kidding? The cat had not sneaked unnoticed into the apartment and the door had been locked.
She started to pull the door shut when she heard a car’s engine start about a block away from the house.
Coincidence?
Or had someone been watching?
Her throat turned to sand as the car passed on the street in front of the main house, headlights illuminating the drive for a second as it passed.
Had someone been inside her home?
Had the cat followed whoever it was inside?
If so, how did they get in?
Her mind wa
s racing, trying to figure it out, trying to stay rational, when all of her instincts were to panic. Inside the apartment again, she threw the deadbolt then placed a chair under the door knob and checked all the windows. Shut tight and latched. There was no back door, just the one entrance to her unit. So how . . . ?
Who else has a key to your place?
“No one,” she said out loud. “No—” Oh, hell.
Hadn’t she loaned a key to Allie a few months after she’d moved in? Allie had needed a place to crash when her place was being painted and Cassie had thought it was time they mended some seriously broken fences. Allie had never stayed in the apartment, nor had she bothered returning the key.
Allie?
In here?
Skulking around?
No, no, that didn’t make sense. But, if someone had abducted Allie, there was a chance that he had control of whatever possessions she had on her, which would, of course, include her key ring.
And the “borrowed” key.
CHAPTER 12