First draft (5)

The old fool had been much too late with his warnings, of course,
the mere presence of the man had unsettled but be he the note writer
and the trespasser, it should have given him some relief. The quietude
of the house and the seeming boldness of the bright day did reassure,
and sleeplessness with the resulting tensions looked to be the obvious
explanation. Add to that the initial note and its forebodings, and
imagination was the fictive solution.
Fallen into a mid-afternoon nap, the cold clamped fingers at his throat
and rotted mouth closing in had him awake. At least now there was a
single source to his frights, and perhaps the key was rattling the
story from the unclean dodger.