Feeling the cord pulling taut, I glanced around the little side table and frowned. The flex of the cord was badly frayed, and the wires were exposed. It could easily have caused a nasty shock in that condition. "Has your lamp always been in good condition?" I asked.

"Yes, I only bought it last month."

I took another look at the frayed cord before I dropped it and pulled the plug from the socket. "I'm going to take it with me and get it looked at," I told her.

"So now you believe me?"

I nodded, trying to remain casual and hoping Juliet wouldn't ask about my interest in the lamp. I didn't want to tell her someone might have tried to electrocute her. She was already afraid enough. "Okay, show me what else was moved?"

"Just some more little things. Things on the bookcase," Juliet said, pointing to a collection of crystal animals dotted across the shelves. "Not many people know that I display these animals chronologically, according to the dates I bought them, or when they were bought for me. The little frog was the first one I got from my grandmother when I was six, so it shouldn't be third from the left. Then there're the candle holders. They've been turned around; and my iPod was in its docking station last night, and now it's lying next to it." Juliet moved on, pointing out lots of little changes, things that only a diligent homeowner would notice.

"Do you have a housecleaner?" I asked.

"Yes, but we told her not to come for a while, so she couldn't have done it. I just don't want anyone I don't know really well in my home. Not now," Juliet explained as we walked to the doorway of the dining room. Juliet pointed to the little, snug seating area by the window. "Rob probably thinks I'm being silly, but even he couldn't work out how those two armchairs swapped places."

"I don't think you're silly at all," said Rob, walking through the doorway. "What do you think, Lexi? This stuff is weird."

"Very weird," I agreed, turning back to the living room. Everything seemed so inconsequential, except when they were combined with all the other things in the case.

"Do you think we're being haunted?" asked Juliet. "I know, I know. It's a crazy question, but all the doors were locked and the alarm was still set. How could anyone but a ghost have done this?"

"I don't think you're house is haunted," I told them. I thought she was right; someone corporeal had been inside their home. I could almost follow their invisible tracks as they made their way through the house, picking up something here, moving something there. It made me wonder what kind of person moved things, but didn't steal anything? It was pointless to call the police for a moved candle, or a rearranged crystal menagerie, and I suspected the stalker knew Juliet wouldn't do that. What could a police officer do, but scratch his head and say, “if nothing was missing, no crime had taken place”? No, this was all done for a very specific, and very nasty reason: playing psychological games with Juliet and forcing her to question her every move.

"I don't see what the point of this is," said Rob. He wrapped an arm around Juliet's shoulders and pulled her closer, acting the protective man while his face belied serious worry.

"I think someone is trying to mess with your heads, but you have the advantage here," I told them.

"What's that? They can walk into our home while we're asleep!" said Rob, his voice rising.

"No, the advantage is: they can't mess with your head if you know they're doing it... or trying to do it. You're already fighting back by hiring me."

"I feel like I'm losing though. Look at me. I'm a mess." Juliet shook her ankle. She didn't need to remind me of the obvious ankle bracelet that peeked below her maxi skirt. "I can't leave my house. I've probably lost my job. Someone is screwing with us while we sleep! I’m scared to even have Robbie over in case whoever is doing this hurts him."

Rob hugged her tighter. "No one is going to hurt Robbie, honey."

"We don't know that. They could have killed us in our sleep! What if they kidnapped him? We would never forgive ourselves for letting something happen to him."

"I don't think you need to worry about your stepson. You're the focus of the stalker's obsession, Juliet," I told them. It sounded better in my head. Seeing that neither Juliet or Rob looked assured, I probably didn't help at all. I thought about the frayed lamp cord, trying not to grimace as I said, "I agree it might be better to keep him out of the house until we've caught the stalker."

"How do we do that? How do we catch them?" asked Juliet.

"Your house is still under surveillance," I replied, wondering exactly how effective my surveillance was. My motley crew of a best friend, parents, and another friend, hadn't spotted anything unusual so far and it was doubtful they ever would, especially since we only watched over Juliet during daylight hours so far. Clearly, my surveillance needed beefing up and had to be around the clock. "I think it's time we tightened security."

"Tell us what we need to do," said Rob.

"First off, call a locksmith and get all your door locks replaced. Change your alarm code too, and make sure it's not easy to guess; so no using birthdates or anniversaries. I'm going to check on my surveillance team," I told them, hoping I sounded authoritative enough that they wouldn't ask exactly whom that consisted of. "Then we're going to look at getting the best security system in the house that we can. Next time..."

"Next time?" Juliet whimpered, her voice starting to break.

"Next time, we'll be ready for them," said Rob, looking squarely at me. I nodded.

It didn't take me long to find the car containing my surveillance "crew." It helped that my mom was in the driver's seat and waving frantically all the way from when I stepped outside of the house with the bagged lamp in my hand, until I pulled open the passenger door.

"You didn't have to wave so long," I told her, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"I didn't know if you saw me."

"I was walking towards you!"

"Why were you checking their door? You ran in there like the house was on fire!"

"I would never run into a house on fire." At least, I hoped I wouldn't. It seemed dumb, but I suppose it depended on who was inside. "Someone was in the house last night," I told Mom before she asked anymore questions. Unfortunately, I opened with something that couldn’t fail to inspire even more questions.

"Were they burglarized?"

"No, someone just went in and moved a bunch of stuff. Nothing was missing."

"That's weird."

"Agreed. What time did you get here?"

"Eight. And your father stayed until ten last night."

"Did you see anyone?"

"I saw a couple walking their dog."

"Did they go into the house?"

"No."

"Did you see anyone approach the house? Or knock on the door? Or go around back?"

Mom shook her head. "No, sorry."

"That's okay. I figure the break-in happened during the night. I have to go. I need to get my clients a new security system."

"You should ask Antonio. The system he installed for Serena is very good. She even has one of those little cameras over the door so she can see who's out there."

I brightened. My ex-colleague, Tony Delgado, was extremely efficient when it came to electronic systems. I asked him to install my sister's alarm system back when she was getting a divorce, and her now ex-husband was defining exactly what it meant to be an asshat. Delgado installed a comprehensive system and started dating my sister, which no one ever gave me any credit for. Later, after my nighttime attack at home, he was part of the crew Solomon assembled to install my alarm system.