Chapter 12Once the 9-1-1 operator assured me an emergency vehicle and the police were on their way, I disconnected the call. While trying to fathom who was stalking me, I couldn't help but focus on why Raelynn and Hope Lawson had been loitering a few blocks away. Had they broken in and attacked Bartleby? Was Hope's panicky story about her missing mother a diversion tactic to provide Raelynn with the opportunity to stop Bartleby from accessing something in the basement?
Officer Flatman arrived first. While he yanked unsuccessfully on the knob, I paced the kitchen floor, practically leaving rubber treads from the force of my soles. That's when the effervescent shimmer of something lying underneath one of the nearby cabinets caught my eye. We'd installed shelves on the corner opposite the en
