“I will scream,” Ariel threatened him, with the shopping bag already poised to launch at him. “I promise you, I will scream and...”

Alex put his hands in his pocket and removed it with a key, and Ariel could only look, open-mouthed, as he opened the door adjacent to hers and entered inside.

The door shut with a click, and her pupils continued to widen as she stared at the vacant space he had just once occupied, putting two and two together.

There was no way he could access the house if he wasn’t a resident there or if he was visiting someone. But the boldness with which he had...