"Stay on the porch."
Knox didn't wait for me to argue. He reached behind his back and came away with something black and heavy, and I looked at the tree line instead of his hand.
"I'm not standing out here alone."
"Then stand with the dog."
Judge pressed against my leg, whining low in his chest. It wasn't the sound of a dog ready to fight. It was the sound of a dog who already knew who was inside.
Knox went in through the kitchen door. It opened without a sound.
Not forced. Unlocked.
I counted the seconds. I got to four hundred before he came back, his face tight.
"Nobody's in there. But somebody was."
---
The first thing I noticed was how neat it was.
The books were stacked the way they'd been the night before, but the stacks had changed. Knox stopped at the old chair and looke
