Daniel let himself in with the spare key hidden under the porch light, the same key that had been there for six years. He barely noticed the small keypad mounted by the door, its single red light blinking where there used to be nothing at all. He didn’t have time to think about it — he wanted to find Laura.
He climbed the stairs two at a time, already picturing her face. The bathroom door stood ajar, and he pushed it open on his way to wash up before he went looking for her. He stopped cold in the doorway.
A razor he didn’t own sat on the sink. Beside it, an unfamiliar cologne bottle, and on the towel rack, a navy toothbrush that wasn’t his and definitely wasn’t Laura’s. Seven months away, and someone else’s life had moved into this house as if it belonged here. Behind him, faint and far off, he thought he heard a soft electronic chime from downstairs. He didn’t think anything of it…