Page 117 of Eclipse Bay

“If we’re right about Steadman, he isn’t exactly a typical resident of our fair town. You and Hannah have made him nervous lately. He might have put in an alarm. All I want to know is if you’ve got a backup plan in case we run into one.”

“You think I’d do something dicey like this without figuring all the angles first?”

“Just tell me what we’re supposed to do if we trigger an alarm.”

“We run like hell.”

Mitchell nodded. “I was afraid of that.”

“You want out before we go inside?”

“Hell, no. Haven’t had this much fun in years.”

Rafe smiled slightly to himself. “I was afraid of that.”

Getting inside was easy. Maybe a little too easy, Rafe thought as he slid the unlocked bedroom window open. He eased one leg over the sill and paused for a few seconds, listening to the silence.

“What’s the matter?” Mitchell demanded.

“Nothing.” Rafe got the other leg over the sill and stood inside the bedroom.

He was conscious of an eerie stillness in the house. A lonely quality permeated the darkness around him. He was only too well acquainted with this bleak, melancholy sensation. He had been aware of the emptiness collecting in his house in San Diego for a long time before he had made the decision to move to Eclipse Bay. Maybe this was how any man’s home felt when there was no woman in it to soften the edges and warm the shadows.

“Now what?” Mitchell whispered after he climbed through he window.

“You take this room. Look for a wall safe. I’ll go see if I can find a study or a home office. Got your gloves?”

“Sure, but we’re not exactly experts at this kind of thing. What if he realizes later that someone went through his belongings?”

“Give him something more to worry about,” Rafe said. “If we don’t turn up those tapes, giving him a good scare may be the only tactic we’ve got to use against him.”

He left Mitchell in the bedroom and went swiftly down the hall. He stopped in the doorway of another bedroom and clicked on his penlight. The room was beyond spartan in its bareness. It looked as if no one had ever slept in it. He opened a closet door. A mound of old camping equipment was piled inside.

He closed the door and went on down the hall to the next room. A quick glance revealed that Jed used it as an entertainment center. A massive television set took up a large section of one wall. Several thousand dollars’ worth of speakers and other electronic equipment were positioned around a large recliner cushioned in black leather.

A wastebasket sat next to the recliner. Rafe glanced inside and saw a small heap of trash. A little square of yellow paper and a bit of foil clung to the side of the basket.

Rafe aimed the penlight closer to the candy wrapper. It looked identical to the one he had discovered beneath the tree at the end of the Harte cottage drive. It wasn’t conclusive proof that it had been Jed who had kept watch on the house that night, but the evidence was mounting.

“Rafe.” Mitchell’s voice echoed softly from the other bedroom. It was husky with urgency. “You better take a look at this.”

Rafe swung around and hurried back down the hall. “What is it?” He rounded the corner and aimed the penlight at Mitchell, who was standing in front of a chest of drawers. “Find something?”

“It’s what I didn’t find.” Mitchell waved a hand at three open drawers. “There’s nothing in here. Cleaned out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Have a look for yourself.”

Rafe went to the closet and yanked it open. Three shirts hung limply in the far corner. A pair of worn slippers sat on the floor. The rest of the space was empty. The door of a small safe built into the closet wall hung open. There was nothing inside,

“Looks like he packed up and left.” Mitchell hooked his thumbs on his belt. “Maybe he figured out we’re on to him.”

“How could he have known?”

Mitchell shrugged. “Small town. He might have seen Arizona’s truck parked at Dreamscape this afternoon. Wouldn’t take much for him to put two and two together. He’s got to know you’re one of the few people who takes her seriously. Maybe he figured out that she was helping you look into the Sadler girl’s death. Wouldn’t be a real big leap for him.”

“No.” Rafe thought about it. “Not if he was already paranoid about that possibility. Maybe he planned for the possibility that someone would come around asking questions someday.”

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