The living room, lit only by the afternoon light, echoed with a heavy knock on the solid wooden door. After a pause, the doorknob jiggled until it clicked. Slowly, the door opened on hinges recently oiled to reveal a small group of anxious men. 

     They looked around toward the tree line behind them as the first one cautiously entered and looked about. There was a vehicle in the garage that had been recently driven. No one answered the knock, and no one was supposed to be there. 

     Perhaps the previous owners had come by to check on the place and left the vehicle until they returned to gather the rest of their things. There were numerous possibilities, and the men couldn’t afford to make incorrect assumptions. 

     “Pierce, where do we put our stuff?” one of them asked as they joined the first. 

     “It’s supposed to have six rooms,” answered the man the other called Pierce. He dropped one of the bags he carried and hung a smaller one on a rack near the door. “Each of us gets one to ourselves,” he told them. “I get the big one. That’s where we’ll set up the equipment.” 

     “Why’s it so damn hot in here?” he wondered as he shifted his black duffel bag over his shoulder.    

     He turned to look around for the thermostat just as another man found it. 

     “The heater’s on,” replied the man nearest it. 

     “Who the hell would set the heater in the summer?” asked another setting down more bags. 

     “Turn it off, Davis,” Pierce ordered the one at the thermostat. 

     “Did the realtor know we were coming?” asked Davis. “Maybe she meant to turn on the air conditioner but hit heat, instead.” 

     “No one was supposed to know,” Pierce answered, looking upward at the second floor. “Harrison, you and I will check it out. The rest of you, look around down here.” he commanded.   

     He set down his bag and reached into it. He released a handgun from its holster as he and Harrison climbed the solid wooden stairs to the second floor.  

     Pierce walked directly to the room at the top of the stairs as Harrison explored the rooms on the right. The left side of the pathway was lined in rooms while the other side was open and overlooked the living room over a sturdy wooden banister. 

     Pierce quietly made his way to the main room he had seen when he visited with the realtor. It was obviously the master bedroom and had an incredible view across the wide, clear river.  

     He opened the door carefully and walked in, hoping to find a logical and uneventful answer to all their questions and eager to get a bit of sleep after their long drive.  

     The soft white curtains lifted gently from the warm wind entering through the large opened windows. The sunshine beaming in allowed him to see everything. It was beautifully decorated with the elements of the mountain in mind.   

     The décor of the room, however, was not what caught his breath. The culprit for that was laying face down naked on the queen-sized bed, sound asleep with an opened book beside her. She had her head at the foot of the bed and her feet were crossed at the pillows.  

     Her creamy skin caught the sunlight and her soft curves caused gentle shadows upon the crisp white sheets. Her long honey-brown hair formed a wispy halo around her head and cascaded down the side.  

     He set his gun down quietly onto the dresser before he moved around to look at her face. She was sleeping peacefully. He didn’t want to wake her, but he needed to let her know they were there.  

     He, also, wanted to find out what she was doing in that house. She wasn’t in any of the pictures of the previous owners, so he was positive she had no business there. Still, she didn’t look like any ordinary squatter, and he concluded that the expensive, newest edition Jeep in the garage was hers.  

     She was clean, with no sign of hard living. Her hair was well-kept, her hands were smooth, and the light pink polish on her nails looked recent. She took care of herself. She was somebody, so why was she trespassing? If she knew the previous owners, she would have known they moved. How did she have a key? The realtor had given him a new set after changing all the locks, as per their agreement upon purchase. 

     He sighed quietly as he watched her sleep. He couldn’t help allowing his eyes to wander across her body until he saw again the strange marks around her ankles and wrists. Instead of a quick glimpse as he looked her over, he stared closer this time. What had this young woman gotten herself into, and was she there to hide from it?