Then I spot a fat roll of bright yellow tape abandoned in a flower bed next to wooden bulkhead doors that I assume lead down into the cellar. Apparently someone began securing the perimeter and stopped, leaving the roll where I see it now in a flower bed of purple asters and brown-eyed Susans that are rain-beaten and trampled. I think back to when I was alone in the entranceway and everyone was supposed to be gone except Marino and me.

I inexplicably heard what sounded like a heavy door thudding shut. The one in the basement that led out to the backyard was mysteriously unlocked even though Trooper Vogel claimed to have dead bolted it. Next the kitchen trash was missing and the table was oddly set with a decorative plate taken off the wall. Now the Range Rover is gone. I stare at the old house with its dark windows of wavy glass. Maybe it’s haunted but not by a ghost. Someone has been on the property since we were here last.

“Didn’t I hear you tell your guys to wrap this place in a big yellow bow?” I say to Marino. “Because the only tape I’m seeing is there.” I point at the front of the house. “One strip tied to the railings doesn’t exactly serve the purpose of keeping people out of the house or off the property. Do you know who did it and why the tape roll is over there? It’s as if the person was interrupted and decided to walk around to the side of the house and left the roll in the flower bed before driving off. I can see from here that a lot of the plants near the bulkhead doors have been stepped on or crushed.”

“Hyde or Lapin must have come back after you and me left for Lucy’s place.”

“And then what?”

“Damned if I know.” Marino is looking at his phone. “I texted Hyde when we headed here and he’s not answered. Nothing from Lapin either.”

“When was the last time you heard from either one of them?”

“I talked to Hyde when I called him about the kitchen trash maybe three hours ago. I’m trying him again.” He blows out a breath in loud frustration when the call goes straight to voice mail. “Dammit!”

“They haven’t shown up and you’ve not heard from them. Are we worried?”

“I’m not ready to go there yet. If I instigate a search for either one of them there could be hell to pay. You want to get people into trouble and have them hate you then that’s the way to do it.”

“What about the state police?” I think of Trooper Vogel again. “Is it possible they’ve been here? Could they have towed her Range Rover?”

“Hell no.”

“And the FBI?”