‘I’ll get a DC on the case right away.’

‘Not yet. Let’s get the ball rolling ourselves first,’ Dani said. She looked over at the house opposite again. ‘Come on, follow me.’

Chapter Two

Dani and Easton headed up the pathway to the front door of the house. The unkempt garden, weed-filled paving slabs and the paint-peeling wooden window frames were quite the contrast to the Mondys’ home opposite. Dani wondered whether this house was even occupied or not.

They reached the worn-looking front door and Dani rang the bell. They waited a few seconds but there was no response from inside. Dani rang again, then stepped back and looked up to the window on the first floor where moments before she’d seen the ominous figure. There was nothing, no one there now.

Still no response to the doorbell.

‘Wait there, I’ll check around the back,’ Dani said.

She headed to the rickety side gate, opened it, and walked along the narrow passage to the back garden. A glazed door led into a dilapidated kitchen that looked like it had been last modelled in the sixties. Dani put her face close to the glass. There were no signs of anyone there, but the house was definitely lived in. Fresh fruit and vegetables sat on the kitchen counter. Cups and plates were neatly piled up by the sink, ready to be washed.

‘Anything?’ Dani called out to Easton.

‘No,’ he shouted back. ‘There’s no one home.’

Yet Dani was certain there’d been someone, or something, in the upstairs window. She looked across the messy grass of the narrow back garden. The six-inch long stems were trodden down in a neat line leading from the back of the house and over to the fence in the far corner.

‘Easton, come here.’

She continued to stare over at the footprints as she listened to Easton approaching behind her.

‘What is it?’ he said.

‘Have you got any gloves?’

She turned to him and he reached inside his coat and produced a pair of blue latex gloves. Dani slipped one on.

‘Over there,’ she said, indicating the footprints in the grass as she grabbed the door handle with her gloved hand.

She pushed down. The latch on the door released and she nudged the door open. She glanced at Easton. He gave her a determined look. She stared inside the space in front of her. Thick and musty warm air billowed out from the inside. Dani stepped in. The smell of stale air filled her nostrils.

‘Wait down here,’ Dani said to Easton. ‘Shout if you see or hear anything.’ He nodded in agreement. Dani moved forwards through the kitchen towards the hall, straining her ears for any sounds from within. ‘Hello?’ she called out. ‘This is the police.’