He kissed her lightly, winked at Lily, and walked into Charlie’s bedroom, grinning at the retro-Batman pajamas. The little boy’s energy was fading, and he crawled into bed with no complaints, yawning widely.
“You gonna be able to sleep?” Ben pulled the covers over Charlie’s small frame.
Rolling to his side, Charlie nodded. “Yeah, I’m tired.” He scrunched his face and asked, “Did you find anything in the yard?”
“Yeah, I found some small holes. It might be moles… they like to dig under the ground. Maybe they come from the park across the street.”
Charlie glanced toward his window overlooking the backyard before peering up at Ben again. “Will the light come on if someone’s out there?”
“Yeah, buddy, but if the moles are under the ground, the light won’t detect them so it won’t come on.”
Charlie’s nose scrunched as his expression turned pensive.
Ben’s brow lowered, and he rubbed his chin while sitting on the side of Charlie’s bed trying to figure out what to say. He didn’t want to discount nightmares, but also didn’t want Charlie worrying over something that wasn’t real. “Well, buddy, remember how we talked about the sensor able to detect motion?” Gaining Charlie’s nod, he continued, “Even though a dream can feel real, it’s not. Therefore, the motion detector won’t go on when you’re having a nightmare.”
“But it’s not a nightmare.” Charlie sat up in bed, his brow crinkled. “I saw him.”
“You saw him in your imagination?”
“No, in the backyard looking for something.”
A trickle of unease slithered through Ben as his gaze moved from the serious child to the window overlooking the backyards and then back to Charlie. “How did you see him from here?”
“I got out of bed and looked out the window. Then I got scared and ran back to bed.”
Ben heard a noise at the door and swung his gaze around to see Violet standing there, her eyes wide. She was doing the same thing he had been—her gaze moved from Charlie to the window and back again.
“Baby,” Violet began, walking into the room and sitting on the opposite side of the bed, “when I would come in, you’d just tell me about being scared of the bad man. You never said you looked out your window at him.”
Charlie shrugged, his fingers fiddling with the covers. “I figured you might get mad if I was out of bed.”
Violet leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, kissing the top of his head. “I always want you to tell me what is going on. That’s the only way I can make sure I’m taking care of you.”
After a moment, Charlie began to squirm and Violet let go, allowing him to snuggle back under the covers. Bending, she kissed his cheek before pulling the covers up to his ears. Ben leaned over and ruffled his hair, then reached his hand out toward Violet and they walked hand-in-hand out of Charlie’s room. With the nightlight in the corner and the hall light left on, there was plenty of illumination for Charlie to see that he had nothing to be afraid of.
Neither spoke as they made their way downstairs, but as soon as his feet landed on the first floor, he led Violet into the kitchen before dropping her hand and stalking to the door leading to the backyard. Flipping on the light, he moved out onto the steps and the security light came on, illuminating the whole backyard. Hands on his hips, he stared at the small expanse of grass and fence, moving his gaze from the sidewalk next to the street to the place where Lily had fallen.
The sliver of unease that had moved through him earlier grew. He tried to imagine what Charlie had seen—if someone had actually been in the yard, and if so, what the hell they were doing that made indentions in the ground?
A gentle touch of hands on his waist had him suck in his breath as Violet moved behind him, gliding her arms around as she pressed her front to his back. Her soft floral scent surrounded him, offering a small bit of comfort with his turbulent thoughts. They stood silent for a moment with his hands holding hers at his abs, and then he reached around to guide her to his side.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
Both fell silent and the only sounds heard were the traffic on the parallel roads fronting Anna and Violet’s townhouses with a rare vehicle traveling on the smaller road next to them.
“I was so sure Charlie was dreaming.” Sighing heavily, she lifted her face to his. “I comforted him but never thought that he might have seen someone out here. I know this sounds terrible, but I’m still not quite sure. God, now I feel so guilty.”
He looked down and squeezed her waist. “Don’t take that on. You’re a wonderful mother and it’s not hard to imagine he was having a nightmare.”
“Why would someone come here? To break into the house? God, that’s so scary. But there’s nothing of value here. Maybe it was a vagrant searching through the garbage?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his mind turning over possibilities but coming up empty. “But, tomorrow, I’m going over this yard carefully. If there has been someone out here, I want to know why… and who.”
The next day was sunny but the weather didn’t match anyone’s disposition. Lily was in pain and grumpy, and Ben finally carried her over to give his grandmother a chance to pamper her. It also served to give Violet a chance to run back to the grocery store to replace the frozen items that had thawed in her car while she was at the emergency room. Ben offered, but Violet wanted to pick up Lily’s favorites.
Charlie had wanted to play with a friend, but the other mom had to cancel at the last minute, and he was sitting in the living room, his arms crossed over his chest as he pouted.
“Come on, Charlie. Let’s take a look at the backyard to see if we can discover what made the holes.”
The little boy’s head popped up and his eyes widened as much as the smile that spread over his face. “Like we can play detectives looking for clues?”
“Absolutely.”
Now, he and Charlie were moving over the backyard with a purpose. “So, what did you see the man do when you looked out your window?”
“He was bent over.” Charlie mimicked a man stooping as he moved along.
“Okay…” Ben nodded, although he still had no idea why someone would be stooping in the yard. “Did he have anything in his hands?”
Charlie scrunched his nose in thought then shrugged his thin shoulders. “Don’t know. It was dark.”
“Was it a man or maybe a teenager?”
Charlie looked up and shaded his eyes from the sun with his hand as he stared into Ben’s face. “I think it was a man… but I don’t know. Why would a teenager want to be in our yard?”
Patting Charlie on the shoulder, Ben sighed. “I don’t know, buddy. I don’t know why anyone would want to be in the yard.”
Ben continued to carefully make his way around the small yard, discovering four other places where the ground appeared to have been disturbed. Closer investigation allowed him to see where areas of sod had been lifted and the dirt disturbed underneath and the sod replaced. Sitting back on his heels while Charlie climbed over the fence into Babciu’s yard to play with Bounder, Ben scrubbed his hand over the back of his neck. Someone was here.