Angels Fall

going to freak because he's seen me naked or knows we had sex. That's small change." 
    "Okay then." He glanced over, signaled at the knock on the back door. Rick came in, removed his hat.
    "Evening. Heard you had some trouble."
    "A little breaking and entering and harassment," Brody told him.
    "Maybe I could get a cup of that coffee. I asked Denny to take another look around." He paused while Reece poured another cup. "Reece, why don't you show me where you were standing when you saw someone—at the window, is that right?"
    "At first. I was here." She moved to the refrigerator, placed a hand on the door. "I heard a sound and looked over. He was outside the window."
    '"Kitchen light glares some on the window glass, doesn't it? You go any closer?"
    "I… no. Not then. I saw the doorknob turn. He stepped back from the window, then I saw the doorknob turn. I grabbed a knife." She moved forward, mimed taking one from the block. "And I… I think I stepped back, I think I kept stepping back. I was scared."
    "Bet you were."
    "Then the door opened, and he was standing just outside."
    "You were about where you are now?"
    "I… I'm not sure. No closer. Maybe back another step or two. I just turned and ran."
    "Uh-huh. Best thing you could've done. You were in the shower?" he asked Brody.
    "That's right."
    "How about the door there? Locked? Unlocked?"
    "It was locked. I locked up before I went out to pick up Reece"
    "Okay." Rick opened the back door again, squatted to examine the lock, the jamb. "Was he wearing gloves?"
    "He—" Reece forced her mind back. "Yes. I think so. Black gloves, like he wore when he strangled that woman."
    "Any other details about him?"
    "I'm sorry."
    Rick straightened. "Well, let's take it back some. You were home here, Brody, until what time?"
    "I left about six-thirty, quarter to seven, I'd say."
    "Went and picked Reece up at Joanie's, came back here."

    "No, we drove out to the flats." Brody had a sudden, unexpected yen for a cigarette. Quashed it.
    "Blooming out there. Nice night for it. So you took a drive."
    "Few miles out," Brody confirmed. "Had some wine and cheese, watched the sunset. Got back here about eight-thirty, maybe. Might've been more like nine. We went straight up to the bedroom. After, Reece came down here for some water and I went to shower."
    "About what time?"
    "Wasn't watching the clock. But I wasn't in the shower more than a couple minutes when she came running in. I took her back into the bedroom, got my pants, my ball bat, told her to call nine-one-one." Rick glanced over when Denny came in, shook his head. "Okay then. I'd say you've had all the excitement you're going to have for tonight. I can swing by tomorrow, see what I see in the light of day. You go on back. Denny, file the report. Brody why don't you walk me out?"
    "All right." He looked at Reece. "I'll be back in a minute." They went out the front. Rick took a look up at the star-flooded sky, hooked his thumbs in his pockets.
    "Hell of a night. The kind you only get standing in the Fist, going to be summer before we know it. We're already getting crowded with tourists, summer people. Won't have that sky all to ourselves much longer."
    "You didn't ask me to walk you out so we could stargaze."
    "No. I'm going to lay this out for you, Brody." He shifted so they were facing, "first, there's no sign that door was forced. You said, for certain, it was locked."
    "He picked the lock, had a dupe key. He's done it before."
    "Christ." With obvious frustration. Rick rubbed his hand over his face. "And he managed that at just the narrow window when she's downstairs alone and you're in the shower? This guy have superpowers, too?"
    "He had to be watching the house."
    "For what? To play bogeyman? If he was going to do anything, he'd have done it when he had her alone. If he existed."
    "Just wait one damn minute."
    "No, you wait one damn minute. I'm a tolerant man. Brody. A man wears a badge and a gun. he better have a store of tolerance. I'm open-minded, but I'm not stupid. You've got a woman with a history of emotional disorder, who's been drinking, who just rolls out of bed and claims she sees the same man she claimed to see kill some unknown woman— that  only  she's seen. And this happens at the exact moment there's no one to verify it.
    "There's no sign anyone's been at that cabin, or lurking around it. Just like there was no sign anyone was killed by the river, no sign anyone broke into her apartment over Joanie's, or