Chapter Twenty-One
There was no answer when I knocked at the front door. There was no doorbell, just a couple of colored wires sticking out of a hole in the door trim. I couldn't see in the front window. The screens were caked with years of weather, the windows smeared with grime, and translucent curtains hung behind them, obscuring everything but the yellow light from within. I tried the knob. Locked.
There was no fence around the backyard, so I skirted the edge of the house. Side windows were shut, screens torn.
The back door was unlocked. Not a good idea in this neighborhood.
I went inside.
The back door opened into the kitchen. There was no furniture in the kitchen. The floors were muddy. So were the cabinets and the countertops. There was no refrigerator, but there was a gas stov
