Chapter 4, continued
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Don lay in bed with his eyes open. Less than twenty-four hours ago, he'd been having a nightmare, and now he was living one. When he'd picked up the file that morning, Don had known that it would consume his life. He hadn't realized to what extent it would do so. This was not a normal case, and Kate Richard was not a normal person. Carefully, Don tried to sift through the information he had learned that day, but with each fact he thought he had gained, there came hoards of converse facts to muddle it. Fact number one: Two young girls had been attacked in their home. Problems with this: no forced entry, no weapon, no noise. The noise was especially a problem, the girls should have screamed, or Chailyn's door, at least, should have creaked. Explanation: Had the girls been attacked unsuspectingly by someone they knew, so they didn't scream? Their mother? She could have lied about the noise, and it if the police records were accurate, than it would match her history. Problem with this: she'd hired an investigator! And Don had felt she was genuinely terrified that morning, and while Don wasn't good at talking to people, he knew he was a good judge of them. Besides, what was the motive? Also, the "message" on the dog didn't make any sense in that situation. Alternative explanations: Did the Richards have enemies? Could someone have entered through the attic? Don closed his eyes and moved on. Fact number two: his mind was blank. He opened his eyes again and stared at the ceiling. Fact number two: . . . nothing. Until he had fact number one straightened out, this case was going nowhere. Unless. . . a picture of the mirror in the Richard's attic slid into Don's mind. Goose bumps crept up his arm. He shoved the thought back down deliberately. It was a creepy mirror that reminded him of. . . .something. It was nothing else. And the attic door had just locked on its own.
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