Troy took the day off from work. He rarely had unplanned absences of any kind, believed that an important factor in being successful was always showing up for duty, but that day, work could wait. His top priority was to get those DNA samples and search through Grace’s luggage.

That morning, the thought of Grace made the base of his spine tingle, a strangely pleasurable yet disturbing sensation. He recalled figments of a bizarre, erotic dream of Grace giving him a blowjob in bed while Monica slept beside him, and then slithering, snakelike, out of the room, but not before displaying a grotesquely long tongue. He had no idea how such a weird fantasy would have ever occurred to him, but it lingered in the back rooms of his memory.

He volunteered to drop off Lexi and Junior at school. Monica seemed surprised by his offer, but didn’t argue. She probably interpreted his offer as him extending the olive branch, after last night’s argument. But she didn’t appear to be feeling well at all, complained of severe inflammation in her joints, and shared that she was hoping to see her physician that day. She likely appreciated having one less errand to complete.

She looks older, Troy thought. A couple of days ago, he had noticed several strands of gray in his wife’s hair, but he had kept his mouth shut about it. Most women were as hyper-sensitive to signs of aging as they were to fluctuations in their body weight. A smart man kept such observations to himself.

By eight-thirty that morning, he had dropped off both of his children. Monica sent him a text as he was about to pull out of the school parking lot: dr appt at nine, Grace taking me, will keep u posted.

This is much more perfect than what I’d hoped for, Troy thought. He’d had a backup plan to clear Monica and Grace out of the house for a few hours: he was going to claim that he’d spotted a few bugs and wanted to fumigate their home with insect killer. His stratagem would have worked, but Monica’s doctor appointment was better as it didn’t require him to lie.

He drove to a CVS Pharmacy, grabbed a few items that would come in handy, and then went back home, getting there around ten minutes to nine. The garage was empty, Grace’s rented Chevy parked at the edge of the long driveway.

He had perhaps ninety minutes until they returned, longer if they ran another errand after the doctor appointment. Plenty of time to get what he needed.

The house was eerily quiet when he stepped inside. Duchess used to bark and scamper around happily whenever he returned home. Damn, he missed that little fur ball.

Upstairs, he headed along the catwalk, to the guestrooms. His heart pounded. He was in his own home, yet he felt like an intruder.