With my pulse thundering in my ears, I carefully turned to face the window, pretending I was flipping in my sleep. I opened my eyes as much as I dared and peered up at the glass. I’d covered it with curtains in a cheerful yellow-and-cream chevron pattern, and in the space where they gapped, I saw the outline of something dark. I caught my breath. A shoe. Jesus Christ.

There was no reason for someone to be in that alley. It wasn’t a through street—just a narrow gap between two buildings. There was a gate at each end, ostensibly to keep people from using it as a footpath, but the gates were rarely latched and I’d seen plenty of people using it to cut through the block. That’s all that it is, I told myself. Someone trying to take a shortcut.

I remained perfectly still, watching the shoe, waiting for it and its owner to move on.

They didn’t.

Goddammit.

Don’t freak out, I told myself. It’s probably Ryan, casing the apartment again.

“Go,” I whispered fiercely at the window.

And still the feet remained.

With a sinking feeling, I realized I was going to have to do something unless I wanted to lie awake all night, worrying about my creepy neighbor outside.

My first thought was to call the police. I imagined how satisfying it would be to see red and blue flashing lights arrive and Ryan caught in the act. It wouldn’t be so easy for Leanne to ignore his deplorable behavior then. But my grin faded as I thought about what would come afterward: more middle-of-the-night buzzers, more illicit entries into my apartment, more of me feeling unsafe in my own home.

And what if it’s not Ryan? I challenged myself. What then?

I pictured myself calling the police, reporting a suspicion that someone was outside my window. I saw the officers rolling their eyes about silly women living in basement apartments and losing their pretty little minds over any passersby. How long would it take them to respond to a nonemergency like that? By the time they arrived, whoever it was could be long gone. Or what if the officers arrived and found it was nothing other than a homeless person looking for a safe space to sleep? I would feel awful.

Having talked myself out of calling the police, I climbed from bed, slipped my feet into flip-flops, and armed myself with a high-heeled bootie. It wasn’t the most conventional of weapons, but it would give me something to threateningly swing should Ryan—or whoever it was—lunge at me again. I gripped the shoe tightly and hoped I wouldn’t have to use it.

I quietly made my way through the front door and gate, and began inching toward the alley. The night air was hot and sticky, and still a shiver ran down my spine.

Come on, Audrey, I chided. Let’s do this.

Keeping as close to the front of the building as possible, I crept to the corner, where I paused and listened. I heard someone breathing—panting, really, a disturbing sound that both convinced me this was no innocent party and enraged me.