What Does Catawampus Have to do with a Crime Thriller?

I've received many wonderful reviews for my latest crime thriller Dark Mind and a few comments about one of the scenes in the beginning of the book.  In Chapter Three, my heroine has a physical confrontation with a couple of slave traders that kidnapped a little girl.  There's quite a bit of action and suspense to set the stage for the rest of the story.  To make a long story short, without any spoilers of course, I used the word catawampus to describe a decrepit and uneven porch.

One of the b...