She lay on the floor like a piece of discarded furniture, something I stepped over and tried to ignore.

The siren grew ever closer. I started to go again, but then I saw something under the bedside table, something that caught the ambient light. I went over and picked it up. An iPhone, one that presumably belonged to Jennifer. Impulsively I took it with me as I retraced my steps out of the bedroom, hoping it might provide some information that would explain everything that was going on. I dashed down the hallway, across the foyer, and over the random black glove, which I carefully avoided.

I went through to the back of the house, and before I went out, I took a look through a window that offered a view of the yard. I pressed my head against the cool glass, turning to the right and left as far as I could. I saw nothing. Heard nothing.

Except the increasingly close siren that sounded as though it was less than a mile away.

Since I had no idea if anyone waited outside, but I did know that the siren grew ever closer, it didn’t seem like much of a choice. I needed to go and risk being seen by someone. Sparkle’s owner or someone else looking out their window late at night.

I used the end of my shirt to cover my hand and turned the handle. As I did it, I tried to remember if I’d touched anything else in the house. Maybe one of the dresser drawers. But they’d already been open, so had I avoided any real contact with them?

I couldn’t know. And I couldn’t go back.

I slipped outside into the cool night, a blissful relief from the tight air inside the house.

I pulled the door shut, and then used my shirt to wipe off the outside handle and the keypad. For all I knew, the police were responding to a summons due to my fumbling with the code when I’d first arrived.

It didn’t really matter. I wiped the handle off as best I could, took one more look around, and saw no one. Then I went down through the neighbor’s yard rather than coming out at the front of Jennifer’s house. If the cops were pulling up, I couldn’t be seen. In fact, I went down a few yards until I reached the street I’d walked up before, the one that ran perpendicular to Jennifer’s. The one where I’d seen the dog walker.