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could search for it then. “If it’s an emergency, I can ask the building manager to let himself in and look around the apartment for the card,” Sylvia wrote. “But it might be a lost cause. Anyway, let me know what you’d like me to do. Meanwhile, here’s hoping you haven’t had any more broken windows or things of that sort . . .”
    Andrea emailed her friend that it could wait until she was home again and settled in. “Everything’s fine here for now” she wrote. “We’re okay.” At the time, she felt as if she were jinxing things by putting that in writing.
    Perhaps she had.
    A few days later, while Spencer was at school, Andrea went out to run some errands. She was gone for just over an hour. Returning home with a bag of groceries from Safeway, she stepped through the front door and started to kick off her shoes. Then she noticed the footwear on the steps. The pairs were all mismatched, lined up alongside the wrong corresponding shoe. It was as if someone were playing a joke on her.
    Or maybe they just wanted her to know they could get inside her place now.
    Andrea set down the grocery bag and backed out the front door. She kept thinking the culprit might still be inside the apartment. She hurried toward the sidewalk in front of Briarwood Court. With a shaky hand, she grabbed her phone from her purse and called Spencer at school. They usually texted each other, but she couldn’t really explain in a text what she needed to know. Fortunately, Spencer was between classes, and he picked up. He told her no, he hadn’t messed around with their shoes before catching the bus that morning. He didn’t know what she was talking about.
    Andrea felt silly, calling the police because someone had rearranged their footwear on the stairs; nevertheless, she phoned them. She said she thought that someone had broken into the apartment and that they might still be in there. She gave them her incident number and waited outside until a patrol car showed up. The two cops went inside the apartment with her. No one was there. Nothing else had been disturbed. Nothing was damaged or missing. She sensed her credibility with them slipping after each room inspection. She pulled the quilt and the sheets off her bed, just to make sure the intruder hadn’t slipped anything in there—like another dead squirrel. She was afraid they might have done something to her soap or shampoo, her eyedrops or her perfume. Anything that was open in the medicine chest, the kitchen cupboards or the refrigerator might be tainted.
    The two cops recommended that she change her locks and have her home security system upgraded. When they asked if she had any idea who might be harassing her, she thought about Evelyn Shuler again. But she told them she didn’t have a clue.
    Once the police left, Andrea phoned Luke and admitted her suspicions that Evelyn may have been responsible for these strange, unsettling incidents. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s an awful thing to say about someone who is still a very important person in your life. And I’m not accusing her. I’m just wondering. I can’t think of anyone else who would do this—”
    â€œHoney?” he interrupted.
    â€œLuke, I’m sorry. I have absolutely no proof—”
    â€œAndrea,” he interrupted again. “To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t put it past her. I’m so sorry if she’s the one who put you through this. I should have seen it earlier. But I have a history of blinding myself to some of the things Evelyn is capable of. I’ll have a talk with her. She’ll deny it until she’s blue in the face and be furious with me. But I’ll have a talk with her.”
    This time, he insisted she and Spencer come stay with him—at least until all of this was resolved. Spencer could sleep in the guest room, where Damon stayed on alternate weekends. Luke pointed