Her father grew motionless. "Still in the house?"

"I didn't check every room, Dad. I just went back to my bedroom and then in search of Blaine."

"That was very foolish of you. You should have run out of the house as soon as you saw the mess in the hall."

"Dad, before I came in I had a feeling I was being watched. Harvey and his wife aren't home-no one would have heard me if I'd screamed. I got inside as fast as I could and locked the door behind me. Once I saw the havoc in the house, I went for my gun."

"You went for your gun. Dear God."

"Dad, the fact that I have a gun is hardly the big problem here." Natalie stood up. "Someone has invaded our home."

"I should never have left you alone."

"Have you been with Alison all this time?"

"No. I sedated her and left her sound asleep. Then I went back to the hospital to check on some patients." He paused. "The blood in the hall and the shredded clothes and picture. Is that all the damage?"

"Well, there's a skull with a flower in its teeth on my bed."

"A skull? A real skull? A human skull?"

"It's human and I'm fairly sure it's real."

"Natalie, how can you act so calm?" Andrew finally thundered. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me. Would you be happier if I were standing here shrieking my head off?" Andrew slowly shook his head. "I will never understand you if I live to be a hundred." A car pulled into the driveway. He looked out the window. "Not the police. No light bar flashing on top."

"I asked them not to flash the light. There's no sense in disrupting the whole neighborhood."

"Natalie, you act as if this kind of thing happens to you every day!"

Something has been happening to me almost every day, Natalie thought. "I have delayed reactions, Dad," she said gently. "Half an hour from now I'll be shaking like a leaf." Andrew looked relieved at the promise of what he considered a normal response. "You'd better open the door for the police."

Natalie led Blaine inside and watched the police enter. She was relieved to see Nick with Hysell following close behind. Nick looked controlled, but Ted was nearly vibrating with excitement. "A little trouble here, Dr. St. John?" Nick asked calmly.

"Shredded clothes and picture. Something that looks like blood in the hall."

"And some real creativity in my bedroom," Natalie said. "I didn't touch anything except some light switches. I haven't checked all the doors and windows to make sure they're locked, but they usually are. The sliding glass door to the terrace was unlocked, but the intruder had put Blaine out there and might simply have left it unlocked. I covered my hand when I touched the door handle."

Nick looked at her approvingly. "Sounds like you know how to handle yourself in this kind of situation. Careful not to disturb evidence."

"I watch a lot of those television police shows you don't like."

Nick glanced at Blaine. "Dog all right?"

"Yes. She was chained to the light pole on the terrace and muzzled. She's scared but not seriously injured."

"How much of a fight would she put up if a stranger broke in?"

Natalie shrugged. "I don't know. I've had her such a short time. She's slightly hurt-she received a blow to her left side. I don't think anything is broken, and I don't believe she bit anyone."

"Sheriff, take a look back here," Hysell called from the direction of Natalie's bedroom. Nick disappeared down the hall. Their voices lowered. Then Natalie heard the click of Hysell's ever-present camera. Someone's handiwork would be immortalized. Is that what the intruder wanted?

Natalie and her father sat silently in the living room. No damage had been done here. Blaine still trembled slightly but was gradually calming down. They could hear Meredith and Hysell going from room to room, searching, testing windows. At last they returned. "All the windows are closed and locked except for a small bathroom window. There's some undisturbed dirt in the grooves holding the screen," Nick said. "No one came in that way. Natalie, you said the sliding glass door was unlocked. Do you normally lock it when you leave the house?"

"Always," Andrew said.

"Dr. St. John, who else has keys to this house?"

Andrew looked blank for a moment. "Keys? Well, Natalie of course. Then there's a set I keep in my office at the hospital."

"Is the office always kept locked?"

"No. During the day it's usually open."

"Even when you're in surgery?"

"Yes. But there's a secretary in an outer office. Mrs. Rosen. Ralph Harkins and I share her."

"As a secretary?" Hysell interrupted.

Nick's lips tightened in irritation. "Of course as a secretary," Andrew said indignantly. "What else?"

"I don't know. Maybe a nurse or something."

"She isn't a nurse."

"Well, I just thought-"

"Does anyone else have a key?" Nick plowed on.

"Let's see…" Andrew frowned. "Harvey Coombs."

"Harvey Coombs!" Ted burst out. "You trust old Harvey with a key?"

Andrew shot him a paralyzing look from steel-gray eyes. " Harvey has been my friend for thirty years. He's had some problems lately, but that wasn't always the case."

"I see," Ted said loudly, then mumbled, "but I wouldn't let him have a key to my house."

Nick took control again. "We'll have to talk to Mr. Coombs."

"He didn't break into my house," Andrew protested.

"I'm sure he didn't, but I want to make certain he still has the key," Nick said. "He could have lost it or loaned it to someone."

"He wouldn't have loaned it." Andrew paused. "He could have lost it, though. He's had it for over twenty years."

"So he lost it five or ten years ago and it just happened to fall into the hands of a killer?" Ted asked.

"A killer?" Andrew thundered. "Why do you think whoever did this was a killer?"

"Because of your connection with Eugene Farley and Natalie being your child," Ted explained earnestly.

Andrew fixed Nick with his piercing gray gaze. "What in hell is this man talking about?"

"Hasn't Natalie told you?"

Andrew sighed. "Sheriff, my daughter has a lifelong habit of forgetting to tell me things. Why don't you fill me in?"

Ted looked as if he were dying to tell the tale, but mer cifully Nick cut him off, outlining the Farley theory concisely and dispassionately. When he finished, Andrew stood and walked around the room, his head down. Finally he looked at them and said, "Well, what are you doing to protect Lily, Alison, and Natalie?"

Natalie was stunned. She had thought her father would first declare the theory absurd, then demand to know why she hadn't told him sooner. It seemed she didn't understand him any better than he understood her.

"I've only warned Mrs. Cosgrove and Mr. Peyton and Lily," Nick said. "We don't have the manpower to guard three people. Of course, Alison stays home most of the time. I believe a housekeeper is with her during the day."

"Yes," Andrew said. "In spite of her mental condition, she's probably not as much trouble as Lily Peyton and my daughter."

"Thank you, Dad," Natalie said dryly.

"It's true. You've always been headstrong and reckless."

"This gets better and better." Natalie looked at Nick. "I've told you I'll be careful. I'm sure Lily will, too. Now what about the havoc in this house?"

"I'll call our tech team, such as it is. Have you moved anything?"

"No. I do know that's real blood in the hall, but I'm not sure if it's animal or human. And I think the skull on the bed is real, although I can't imagine where someone would get a real human skull."

"Can't be real," Ted pronounced. "Not unless we've got grave robbers in Port Ariel."

"Given everything else that's been going on, I wouldn't rule it out," Natalie said wryly.

The phone rang. Andrew answered, his expression distracted. Then his face tensed. "Certainly she isn't here. I would have called you." He paused and looked at Nick Meredith. "It's Viveca Cosgrove. Alison has been missing for over two hours."