Sheila exhaled, relief flooding through her like a wave. She touched her chest. “Oh, thank God. Oh, thank heavens. Yes, yes, of course, please, come in.”
She held the door for them and shut it once they’d entered. “Please, make yourselves comfortable. Can I get you anything, a diet soda, or—”
“No, no,” said Whitman. “We’ll only be a few minutes. Mainly we’re just doing a welfare check. There’s been, ah, a number of reports filed from the surrounding homes in the last 24 hours. It seems ...” He hesitated, as though embarrassed by what he was about to say. “It seems there’s some kind of animal wandering the area. An emu, by the sound of it. Of course, we won’t be sure until we’ve see it for ourselves, but—”
“An emu?” Sheila was amused by the thought. “I knew there were deer and maybe some
