Chapter Eight #2
She’s shaking and I wrap an arm around her, pulling her into me. “Are you hurt?” I ask.
“No. It just scared the shit out of me.”
What the hell just happened? I try to stand but she grabs onto me, and I hold her for a while longer, breathing in her familiar scent, waiting until she stops shaking to release her. “Okay?” I ask.
She nods, so I stand, pull my phone from my pocket, and call 911, reporting the incident. Then, I look toward the destroyed window. I don’t see anything or anyone outside. Stepping on the glass would be stupid, so I’ll wait until the police show up.
I help Rainey to her feet as something dawns on me. “Why is the glass fragile enough to break? We live in a hurricane zone. You should have high-impact resistant glass.” I know because we redid the windows on the building when we designed and built the club.
She winces. “The landlord is a cheap bastard on most things, and to be honest? I didn’t know. Now I do.”
I make a mental note to make sure that’s handled soon.
The police arrive and while one officer checks the area outside, his partner questions Rainey and me. As she answers, I learn there are only cameras inside, not out, so there’s no capturing the person’s face. Strike one.
“Can you think of anyone who has problems with you?” the young officer, who can’t be more than twenty-two or -three, asks.
She shakes her head. “I really can’t.”
“What about the story you just told me?” Gregory Atwood sounded like a vengeful man.
“Miss?” the officer prods.
Rainey draws a deep breath. “I had issues with a client three years ago, but I haven’t heard from him since. He’s probably forgotten all about me.”
The cop frowns. “I can take the name, but I agree with you. It’s doubtful the person’s held a grudge this long. Anyone else?”
“Pete,” his partner says as he joins us. Wearing thick gloves, he’s holding a brick which has heavy-duty paper wrapped around it. “Check this out. It was thrown through the window.” He pulls off a large, thick band and removes the piece of paper from around the brick.
In red marker, is a note. The officer holding the paper reads it aloud, then turns it around for us to see.
You don’t deserve a good life. Prepare to lose everything.
Anger fuels me and I clench my fists. Who the hell would want to scare her so badly?
Rainey gasps. “I just remembered something!”
“What is it?” I ask.
“Give me a second.” She rushes over to her desk, opens a drawer, removes something, and returns, handing what looks like a postcard to the police. “This arrived with the mail a couple of weeks ago, except there’s no postmark. I brushed it off at the time, but something made me save it.”
“Similar,” the cop with the gloves says, showing his partner.
“Can I see?” I ask.
He turns the card over to me and I glance at the writing.
You think you’re special but you’re not. You don’t deserve good things. Go away!
“Same writing, Similar message,” the officer says.
The two men step aside to confer. Meanwhile, Rainey moves closer and I pull her into me, wrapping my arms around her tight. I don’t want her afraid and I’ll be damned if anyone hurts her. Right now, though, there’s not much I can do and if there’s anything I despise, it’s feeling useless.
After a few minutes, the officers return, and Rainey steps out of my embrace and stands up straight, facing them.
“Okay, here’s where we are,” one of them says. “We’ll talk to other businesses in the area, see if there are outdoor cameras that caught anything. We’ll bring the brick and the notes in for evidence. But frankly, without cameras, right now, we have nothing to go on.”
I scowl at the man even as I know he’s right.
“Do you live alone?” the other man asks.
Rainey nods. “But my building has a doorman.”
He meets her gaze. “Depending on the security at the desk, you might want to stay with a friend for a couple of days. Just until we check cameras and see what we can find out.”
They talk for a few more minutes and promise to be in touch.
Once we’re alone, I turn to Rainey. “I’ll call a friend and get the window boarded up for tonight so you don’t have to worry about everything inside.”
She nods, her eyes glazed and glassy. “Thank you.”
I wish I could do more. “I’m assuming you’re too shaken up to drive?” I ask, knowing I won’t let her even if she says she’s okay.
Rainey wraps her arms around herself in a self-protective move. “You assume right.”
“Then do you want me to take you to your parents’ house?” I offer the only place I think she’ll feel safe.
She shakes her head. “No. Dad will lose his mind, and Mom will worry too much. Can you take me to Kaylee’s instead?”
“Of course. I’ll take you.” Though I’d love nothing more than to bring her home with me, that would cause a whole host of problems neither of us are ready for.
Besides, I’d kissed her and we haven’t had time to process or talk about the step we’ve just taken. If she came to stay in my apartment, Jack would have questions that, again, neither of us could answer right now.
“Let me call Kaylee,” Rainey says. “She needs to know what happened and I’ll find out if she’s home from dinner yet.”
While Rainey tries to reach her friend, I get in touch with a contractor pal and arrange for him to board up the window so no one can get inside tonight. He’s a good guy and promises to come right over despite the late hour.
Not wanting to leave the office empty with the windows shattered, we wait for him to arrive.
I pull Gary aside. I tell him to enjoy the Chinese food that will be delivered soon, then we discuss replacing the windows with shatter-proof and hurricane-resistant glass.
I don’t care what it costs. Do I think Rainey will be annoyed that I stepped in?
Definitely. But as long as she and Kaylee are safe, I’ll sleep just fine, even if she’s upset.
Still shaken, Rainey gathers her things. She gives Gary the alarm code so he can set the system and bypass the set of windows, allowing the rest of the place to be armed. She tells me she’ll change the code in the morning.
With my arm around her, we walk to my SUV so I can drive her to Kaylee’s, all the while wishing I was the one watching over her tonight.