Chapter 7 — The Unwelcome Interruption
The heavy pounding on the front door echoed through the entryway.
Arthur froze mid-lunge.
His hand hovered in the air just inches from the leather notebook.
The knocking started up again, louder this time.
A muffled voice called out from the porch.
“Arthur? Are you in there?”
Brenda kept her grip on the notebook and the metal tool.
She turned her head slightly toward the door.
Arthur’s eyes went wide with sudden panic.
He scrambled back from the entryway table, avoiding the shattered ceramic bowl on the floor.
“Don’t answer that,” Arthur hissed.
His voice dropped to a desperate, urgent whisper.
“Just tell whoever it is to go away.”
The front door handle rattled violently.
“Arthur! Open up!” the voice called again.
It belonged to Samuel, the elderly neighbor who lived two houses down.
Before Brenda could move toward the lock, the heavy wooden door creaked open.
Samuel pushed his way into the foyer.
He was holding a rolled-up newspaper and looking flustered.
“I saw someone messing around your side window earlier,” Samuel announced, stepping onto the hardwood.
He stopped when he saw the broken ceramic on the floor.
Samuel looked from Arthur’s flushed face to Brenda standing in the center of the hall.
“And I heard a loud smash coming from inside,” Samuel added, adjusting his glasses.
“I was walking my dog around two o’clock when I saw Arthur out here tampering with the exterior frame ledge.”
Brenda turned her sharp gaze back to her father.
“Two o’clock?” Brenda asked, her voice dangerously quiet.
“You told me you just got home ten minutes ago.”
Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Samuel blinked in confusion at the tense atmosphere.
“Well, anyway,” Samuel muttered, stepping back toward the open doorway.
“I just came to drop these off.”
Samuel reached into his jacket pocket.
He pulled out a heavy metal ring holding three brass keys and a worn leather strap.
“I found these lying right on your front porch step when I walked by the first time,” Samuel said.
He held the keys out toward Brenda.
“Thought you might need ’em.”