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door.
    “Please, go away, please.”
    I tried to slip into the hal way to see who was in the house.
    With the door shut, I was as much a prisoner as she. Twice, I
    tried to will myself from the room, but each time, Angel’s terror
    chained me to her. I couldn’t feel anything, sense anything, ex-
    cept her pounding heart and her grip on me, holding me fast,
    keeping me near.
    Whoever was downstairs, I was helpless to seek them out.
    The footsteps began again. This time, they grew louder in the
    downstairs hall and climbed the wooden stairs, clacking up the
    hardwood to the upstairs landing. A door down the hall from us
    opened and closed. Then another.
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    Angel stiffened. She tried to muffle in a gasp but failed when
    the footsteps stopped outside her door.
    “Go away. Leave me alone, please.”
    “Dear?” The voice boomed outside the door, and for an in-
    stant, it startled both of us. “Angela? What’s wrong, dear?”
    Ernie.
    “Ernie? Oh, God, it’s you.”
    It took all her might and Ernie’s shoulder to force open the
    door and push the highboy clear enough for Angel to slip out.
    When she did, she crushed into his arms.
    “Angela?” He looked around her and through the half-open
    door. “What on earth are you doing?”
    “I was so scared.”
    “Dear? Scared?” He relaxed his embrace. “What’s all this?”
    “Someone is in the house.”
    Ernie turned and looked down the stairwel , then back to her.
    He shook his head but stopped when she began to cry. “Angela, it
    was me. I was cleaning up and dropped the tray of dishes and
    wineglasses from last night.”
    “No, before. I saw someone.”
    Ernie held her at arm’s length and tried to calm her with his
    best Uncle-Ernie smile. “No one is down there. No one passed
    me on the main road or my private road. The front door was
    locked. There’s no one here.”
    “Yes. I heard someone. I saw a man.”
    “Angela. You’ve been through a lot. Maybe …”
    “No. I know what I saw.”
    He watched her, silent.
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    I stood beside Ernie. “Hey, go take a look around, Ernie. She’s
    scared—terrified. Just look around.”
    “Ernie, I …” Her hands flashed up and wiped away the fear
    and confusion raining down her cheeks. “I know I saw someone.”
    He eased her hands from her face and held them. “All right,
    dear. I’ll look around.”
    “Hurry, and be careful.”
    She followed him through the house, room-by-room. With
    each door he opened, she withdrew and her body tensed with
    anticipation. Nothing but dusty bedspreads and a sink of break-
    fast dishes waited. One of Ernie’s cats lay sleeping in the living room atop the couch, unthreatened by any intruder or their
    search. A dustpan of broken glass and china waited on the coffee
    table. At the front door, Ernie bade her lock it behind him and
    went outside.
    “I’l go with him,” I whispered. “It’s safe, Angel. Everything is
    all right.”
    She never even flinched.
    Outside, I followed Ernie around the house in a haphazard
    inspection of windows, doors, and gardens. Angel shadowed us
    from inside, peeking out each window, racing to the next room
    until we navigated the house and returned to the front door. We
    found nothing. No scratched door latches. No jimmied window
    latches. No footprints or scuffmarks in the gardens. There were
    no signs of forced entry. Nothing. If there had been an intruder,
    he was more ghostly than I was.
    When Angel opened the front door, she was trembling.
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    “Nothing.” Ernie slipped his arm around her. “No one, my
    dear. All is as it should be.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes, very. Nothing has been disturbed. As I’ve said, the door
    was locked when I returned—I forgot some meeting notes and
    came back. There were no other cars on the county road for
    miles. No signs of anyone on my driveway.”
    Angel’s tone was shallow and uncertain. “Maybe they came
    through the woods. Maybe from another road.”
    “No, dear.”
    “Maybe