Olivia was certain that the maid, Bertha, didn’t sleep in. A woman as unpretentious as Rachel (going by Manfred’s description) would not have sleep-in staff. But Olivia hadn’t survived until now without double checking, so she drove back to Rachel’s neighborhood at four thirty that afternoon in her own car. At one minute after five o’clock, she watched Bertha drive away in an old Subaru. Interestingly, the gardener was with her, and they were having an animated discussion. Mother and child?

As a bonus, a moment later Olivia saw Annelle depart in a Lexus. Presumably, that left only the odious Lewis in residence in the pool house. She wished she’d managed to see the garage in back, find out what he drove. She returned to her humble motel to finalize her plan, but it remained very basic. She would break into the Goldthorpe house and search for the jewelry. And if Lewis interrupted her? Well, people got killed when they confronted burglars just about every day. No one could blame her for that, right?

Hours later, Olivia parked blocks away from Old Pioneer Street. She’d leave her car, the rental, on a more modest street, one where there were occasional pedestrians and a few other cars parked at the curb. She was still in Bonnet Park, though, so she’d taken care to be appropriately camouflaged in black jeans, a flowered T-shirt, and high-end sneakers. Her hair was braided. She strode away confidently, the messenger bag slung over her shoulder. In it were some innocent items: a thin dark sweater, a wallet (with the identification of Rebecca Mansfield, which she’d used when she’d rented the car), some keys, a broad knit hair band, things anyone might need. She had had to include a few things no innocent person would carry, though, so this was definitely the vulnerable part of her evening.

Nobody seemed to be curious tonight. A casually dressed, attractive woman out for a walk was not anything unusual in the neighborhood a few streets from Old Pioneer. Perhaps the bag was a little odd; most women wouldn’t choose to take their evening walk carrying a bag. Apparently, if any of the inhabitants noticed her, they didn’t find anything suspicious in her progress toward the fancier area where the Goldthorpe house stood.

Olivia didn’t see a single patrol car as she walked.

In fact, she didn’t see that many moving vehicles, period. Though it was Friday, Olivia estimated at least ninety percent of the people of this Dallas suburb were home. At least two or three percent of the rest were gone on their summer vacations. And a percentage of the remainder were at the movies or out having drinks. By the time Olivia reached the Goldthorpes’ street, she was completely unobserved. When she reached the right driveway, she simply turned in to walk up it.