Chapter 26
THE POLICE cruiser squatted before Alice’s house at an angle that blocked half the road. Somebody should have given that guy a ticket. Before driving away, I detoured to knock on Ceren’s front door.
No answer.
A sick feeling sifted into my gut. It was hard to not take a Molotov cocktail personally, but maybe the attack wasn’t about me. Perhaps Teresa was the target, and I had my fingers a little too close to the match. I pounded on the door and leaned on the bell.
No answer.
Frustrated, I looked around Ceren’s bare yard but saw nothing usable to break in. The house next door, though, featured a raised flowerbed ringed in rocks. I took a step towards it—
Click. Clang. The deadbolt turned, the door swinging open an inch. “Yeah?”
“Ceren?” I said, releasing the breath I didn’
