DANIS
he was finally drifting off to sleep when the scratching sound started. She bolted up, her heart pounding. Were there rats in the ceiling? No, the noise was below in the yard. Was a raccoon in the trash? She climbed out of bed and went to the window, looking out into the pitch dark of the backyard. There it was again. Was someone breaking in?
As Jack’s neighborhood had slipped into dead lawns, peeling house paint, and broken-down cars, the way neighborhoods sometimes went, the crime had increased. Dani had suggested that Jack vamp up his security since he hadn’t wanted to downsize into a townhouse or condo; he thought Diane might come back. One old man in a two-story house with a Buick out front was an easy target. “At least get some motion sensor lights, or a security system,” Dan
