“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I was finishing patrol in this area and figured I’d just stop by and check in. What’s wrong? Did you see something? Did someone try to break in?”

“No. But someone was here. This morning and again just a few minutes ago. Snooze alerted me both times—the same bark he was using the other night.”

“And you’re sure he’s not catching scent of a bear or alligator?”

No way could Marina tell Luke that she could talk to her dog. He’d block her number and relegate her to crazy woman status. And with her family history, she couldn’t really make a case to the contrary.

“Snooze doesn’t indicate with a bark when it’s an animal,” she said. “He usually brays. And I went out back this morning and looked. I saw someone run off in the woods. Too tall to be a bear and way too fast to be a bear on his hind legs.”

Luke frowned and headed for her back door to look outside.

“Did you see anyone this time?”

“No. But I didn’t go outside. After this morning and then with Snooze going off again, I got spooked.”

“Of course.” He unlocked the back door and headed onto the porch. Marina stepped outside behind him and closed the door so that Snooze couldn’t get out.

She scanned the woods along with Luke, but this time there was nothing running through the trees. At least, not that she could see. But then, he might have left when he saw Luke drive up.

“Where did you see the guy running this morning?” Luke asked.

Marina almost sighed with relief. No “you thought you saw” or “that you might have seen.” He believed her.

“That way,” she said, pointing to the left. “Just to the right of the cypress tree. I didn’t get a good look, though. He was just a shadow.”

Luke headed down the porch in the direction she’d pointed, leaning over the railing as he went, staring at the ground. When he got to the end of the porch, he frowned.

“There’s footprints here,” he said. “Too big to be yours.”

She hurried over and leaned over the railing. Sure enough, two large boot prints were visible in the soft dirt of a bare patch.

“Oh my God,” she said, feeling slightly dizzy. “He was right at my house.”

Luke nodded. “He probably heard Snooze barking this morning and ran into the woods. Then you came out armed and he figured it wasn’t the time to try anything.”

“Maybe so, but what about this afternoon? If he just wanted to steal something, wouldn’t it be easier to watch the cabin until I left? If he was that scared of Snooze, he wouldn’t have come back at all.”

Luke frowned and looked out in the woods. He didn’t say anything, but Marina could tell he didn’t like the way the events had lined up either.

“Let’s head back inside,” he said.