Highlight from chapter 14

     It was 9:30 p.m. before the locks tumbled on the front door. Eric walked in with three thick manila folders tucked under his left arm. He rearmed the alarm for the night, dropped the folders on the dining room table and picked up the wrapped plate from the stove. ‘Still warm’ he thought. ‘She must have just gone to bed.’ He grabbed a fork from the drawer and dug into his meal while standing in front of the sink. As soon as he inhaled the last bite, he loaded the plate into the dishwasher, reached for the folders and then headed for a hot shower and his warm bed.
  An hour later he was sitting with his back to the headboard of his king size four poster bed, browsing through the files he’d brought home.
  Chirping crickets, croaking frogs and whistling whippoorwills sang their nocturnal songs from the trees and bushes outside the window, adding a peaceful calm to the moonlit night.
  Eric had begun to doze, his head dropping to his shoulder, the words in the file running together as his eyelids slipped down. A thunderous bark sounded from across the hall, followed by a shrill and terrified scream, bringing him to a sudden trembling alertness. He sprang from the bed and ran for the door, spilling the contents of the folder across the floor as he did. He flung the door open and collided with an extremely pale and frightened Mira.
  She fell onto the wooden floorboards and backed her shaking body against the wall, her breathing fast and shallow.
  “What happened” Eric questioned, instinctively reaching for her arm. “Were you having another nightmare?”
  Mira stared blankly at the opposite wall, her mouth trying to form the words she couldn’t seem to voice.
  “Look at me” Eric commanded her. He was becoming frightened by her bizarre behavior. He took her face into his hands and directed her gaze toward his own. “What happened to scare you so badly?”
  “H-he w-w-was there” she sputtered.
  “Who was there?”
  “Eyes – black mask – at the window.”
  “Were you dreaming?”
  “N-no. . . the dog was growling . . . I sat up to see . . . he waved at me!” Her voice was high pitched, quivering in time with the tremors that wracked her body.
  Eric pulled her to her feet and shoved her into his room. He snatched a pistol from his nightstand drawer, dialed a number into his cell phone then rushed outside.