Page 1 of Just Tonight

PROLOGUE

It wasn't often that Lisa Court felt scared in her usually quiet, suburban neighborhood. But she had to admit, tonight, coming back from her walk in the dark, she was spooked.

Maybe it was the weather. The wind, with its late-winter chill, was blowing fiercely, howling through the trees, making everything flap and rattle and creating so much noise she could barely hear her own footsteps on the sidewalk.

It could also be that her husband was away, in Australia for two weeks on business, and that she always felt jumpier when she was alone.

Maybe it was made worse by the fact that she'd been reading up on crime statistics in the local Boston area for one of the articles she was doing for the online publication she worked for. She usually focused more on personality pieces and events, but this was a policing article that had overlapped, and she was astonished to realize how much crime there was, on a daily basis, in her part of Boston, Massachusetts. It was scary. It was making her think that going for a walk in the dark after work wasn’t a good idea, even in her local area.

Within a few miles, according to these stats, there had been break-ins, muggings, numerous burglaries, even armed robberies. And more serious crimes that she didn't even want to allow her mind to dwell on.

Now, on the home stretch of her walk, wrapping her down jacket tightly around her and noting how empty the street was, she shivered.

Those statistics were refusing to budge from her mind. Perhaps it was that which was making her feel as if she was being watched.

But she knew there was another reason, too. One that she didn't even want to think about, one that was making her sleep badly at night and wake up, anxious and alert, at the smallest noise.

Turning, she checked behind her anxiously, for at least the third or fourth time since she'd headed along the homeward stretch of her usually quiet and peaceful road.

Nothing there, she thought. The sweeping branches of the elm tree on the corner made it difficult to tell, though. There could be somebody waiting behind it. Was that running footsteps?

She tensed, listening, but wasn't sure. It could be just branches banging on a roof. At any rate, standing here alone in the middle of the darkened sidewalk wasn’t exactly sensible. She needed to get home and get inside.

Turning again, and wishing she could uproot this irrational fear from her mind, she headed on, keeping her head low. Wearing a simple, navy blue jacket and a black knit cap, she was hopefully not conspicuous. Not atarget,like she'd read about in some of those scary crime stories.

She hurried past the house on the corner, which didn't have any lights on - she guessed the owners must be away on vacation somewhere warmer. Past the next house - with kids, dogs and a busy lifestyle, they were usually always on the go, but this time of the night, the only sign of life was a muted light from the upstairs window.

And then the following house, the one next door to hers, with a neighbor that kept to himself and kept the blinds closed.

Just a minute more, and she'd be inside.

What could happen in a minute? Surely nothing, she reassured herself, as she speeded up, walking as fast as possible, but refusing to run.

Running would mean giving in to panic. She wasn't ready to do that. She wasn't panicking!

Even so, as she took the last few steps along the sidewalk and up to her back door, she felt her heart pounding loudly in her chest.

She was using the back door, which had a key, because her keypad entry wasn't working properly on the front door. That was one of the things causing her to feel unsettled and unsafe. She’d thought it was fixed, until it had started malfunctioning again tonight, as she set out for her walk.

Even the light above the back door seemed to be faulty. It was flickering on and off, as if it was about to fail, even though she knew the bulb had been replaced just a month ago.

Maybe the wind had caused a loose connection. She didn't know. She wasn’t an electrician, just a forty-five year old woman whose husband traveled at least two weeks out of every month, and who wanted a safe house where things worked properly.

And they weren't, despite everything she’d done, in her increasing desperation to fix things.

She didn't feel secure stepping inside her house anymore. Now, her spine prickled as she opened the back door and walked in.

The kitchen light was on. Had she left it that way? As she was trying to remember, she heard a sudden hiss of static and a blare of voices from upstairs.

She froze, swallowing down her fear, before remembering that the television had been malfunctioning, turning itself on at random times and needing resetting. That was the cause of the sound, but it didn’t stop her feeling thoroughly spooked.

What on earth was happening here?

This was enough, she decided. This was enough. Robert was due back the day after tomorrow, and when he came back, she was going to tell him they needed to get some sort of additional security in place. Maybe internal cameras, and a different alarm system that worked.

She locked the back door and went through to the hall, intending to go upstairs and turn off the damned television.

But as she entered the hall, she stopped, gasping.

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