Raindrops pounded on the hood of the car and sliced the night in front of her headlights, which froze them like a camera flash, making vision difficult. She’d checked for pickups on the way, but none had a Delaware plate. Still, she was relieved to finally reach Barb Saunders’s house. She parked, grabbed her purse, and, putting it over her head, got out of the Volvo and ran up the driveway to the front door. She rang the bell. The door was opened quickly by Barb’s sister Jennifer. “Come in! It’s pouring!” she said, hurrying Nat inside. “Can I take your coat?” “Yes, thanks.” Nat slid out of her coat, trying not to get water everywhere, and while Jennifer left to hang it up, she scanned the living room. Duct tape crisscrossed the couch cushions where they had been slashed, and the computer workstation looked bizarre without the computer, like an eye socket without an eye. The children’s books and DVDs had been returned to the shelves, but one of the drawers in the credenza hung by a screw, broken.
