"I'm sorry we had to call you, sorry we had to upset your family," Abra began.

"They're not upset. I told them the power was out, and I wanted to come back and check on things. I'd decided to come back tonight anyway."

"Good. There's no point in them worrying. I don't know if anything was taken," Abra continued. "The police said nothing looked out of place, but what do they know? These two wouldn't let me go down and walk through. Maureen's pretty scary when she's in protective mode."

"If there was a burglary and something was taken, what would you do about it?" Maureen stopped, held up her hands to Eli. "Sorry. We've been in that loop for the last half hour." She handed Eli coffee. Before she could offer milk or sugar, he downed half of it black.

"I'll go down, talk to the cops, take a look."

"I'll go with you. First," Abra said when Maureen started to protest, "I defended myself, didn't I? Second, I'll have police and Eli. Third, I know more about what's in the house and where it goes than anybody but Hester. Who isn't here. And last?"

She rose, hugged Maureen fiercely. "Thanks, not only for the socks, but for looking out for me. Thanks." She turned to hug Mike in turn.

"Come back here and sleep in the guest room," Maureen insisted.

"Sweetie, the only reason that a.s.shole was interested in me was because I came into the house when he thought he had it to himself. He's not going to come sneaking into mine. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll make sure she's all right," Eli said. "Thanks for the coffee ... and everything else."

"She's got Mom worry genes," Abra told him when she stepped outside with Eli. "We all know this wasn't about me."

"You were the one attacked, so it's very much about you. I'm driving."

"I'll follow you in my car, otherwise you'll just have to drive me back."

"That's right." He took her arm, steered her to his car.

"Fine. Everyone's got Mom worry genes tonight."

"Tell me what happened. Mike didn't give me the details."

"When the storm rolled in, I couldn't remember if I'd closed all your windows. I aired out the house today, and couldn't remember if I closed the window in Hester's gym. It nagged at me, so I went down to check. Oh, I took a container of turkey stew-with dumplings-down while I was at it."

"Speaking of Mom genes."

"I prefer 'helpful-neighbor genes.' The power was out. I feel stupid now as I didn't think twice about it, or the fact that it hadn't been out in the area, at least not five seconds earlier. I was just annoyed. I used my little flashlight to go back to the kitchen, got a bigger one."

She let out a huff of breath. "I didn't hear anything, didn't feel anything, which p.i.s.ses me off as I like to think I've got this little sixth sense thing going on. Major fail on that tonight. So, I went upstairs, and of course I had closed the window. Then I came down again, nixed the idea of going into the bas.e.m.e.nt to see if I could get that old generator running, which even eliminating spiders, dark, spooky, I don't know the first thing about generators. Then he had me."

"From behind."

"Yes. There was thunder, and the rain and wind, but still I hate knowing I didn't hear or feel anything until he grabbed me. After my initial panic, kicking, clawing at his arm-"

"Skin or cloth?"

"Cloth." Little details, she acknowledged. The former criminal attorney would think of them, just as the police had. "Wool, I think. Soft wool. A sweater or coat. My mind wasn't that sharp as my air supply was cut off. Lucky for me, without consciously thinking I went into defense mode. I taught some cla.s.ses on it. SING. That's-"

"I know what it is. You remembered how to use it?"

"Some part of me did. I told the police this already," she said when he pulled up at Bluff House. "I jammed back with my elbow, and it took him by surprise. And hurt him, at least a little, enough his grip loosened some because I could breathe. I stomped on his foot, which probably didn't hurt as much as throw him off since I was wearing Uggs. Then I swung around and aimed toward his face. I couldn't see it in the dark, but had the sense of it. Heel of the hand. Then the coup de grace."

"Knee to the b.a.l.l.s."

"And I know that hurt him. I didn't really register it at the time as I was running like a maniac for the door, for my car, but I'm pretty sure I heard him go down. And the nose shot worked, too, because he bled on me."

"You're pretty calm about it."

"Now. You didn't see me curled up in Maureen's arms crying like a baby."

But the idea of it tightened every muscle in his body. "I'm sorry about this, Abra."

"Me, too. But it's not your fault, and it's not mine." She got out of the car, smiled at the deputy who approached. "Hi, Vinnie. Eli, this is Deputy Hanson."

"Eli. You probably don't remember me."

"Yeah, I do." The hair was shorter, and brown rather than bleached blond, the face fuller. But Eli remembered. "Surfer dude."

Vinnie laughed. "Still am when I can grab a board and a wave. Sorry for the trouble here."

"So am I. How did he get in?"

"He cut the power. Shorted it out, and jimmied the side door-the one going into the laundry room. So he knew or suspected there was an alarm. Abra said you left late this morning, went into Boston."

"That's right."

"So your car wasn't here all day, into the evening. You can take a look around, see if there's anything missing. We called the power company, but they're probably not going to get on this until tomorrow."

"Soon enough."

"We didn't find any vandalism," Vinnie continued as he led the way. "We got some blood on the floor right in the foyer, and on Abra's pajama top and hoodie. It's enough for DNA if he's in the system, or if we get him. But that's not going to be quick."

He opened the front door, shone his light, then picked up the flashlight Abra had dropped and he'd already set on a table in the foyer.

"We get a break-in now and then, on rental cottages empty during the off season. But that's mostly kids looking for a place to hang out, have s.e.x, smoke dope or, at worst, vandalize or steal some electronics. This doesn't look like kids. None of the local boys would risk Bluff House, for one thing."

"Kirby Duncan. Boston PI. He's been poking around, asking questions about me."

"It wasn't him," Abra said, but Vinnie took out his book, noted down the name.

"It was dark. You didn't see his face."

"No, but I had an up-close-and-personal with his build. Duncan's soft in the middle, paunchy, and this man wasn't. And Duncan's shorter, more beefy."

"Still." Vinnie tucked his book away again. "We'll talk to him."

"He's at Surfside B-and-B. I poked around," Abra explained.

"We'll check it out. There's some easily portable valuables in the house, and electronics. You've got a nice laptop upstairs, there's flat-screen TVs. I imagine Ms. Hester's got jewelry in a safe. Maybe you had some cash sitting around?"