Chapter 18 #2
I felt relief run through me at her joke, and I swatted her butt. She giggled. Good, she was laughing, not trembling. This was very good because I knew she would be getting to some dark stuff soon enough.
“Keep talking, brat.”
She sighed. “Of course, there was no one in Susie’s room. The window was partially open, but it was locked at that height so nobody could get in. They could have said it through the window. I had to wake up Mr. and Mrs. Smythe. They were nice… kind of.”
“What do you mean, kind of?” I clenched the arm of the recliner. It was a wonder I didn’t break it.
“They told me it was my overactive imagination. That I must have dreamed it. I insisted I had heard a man’s voice over the baby monitor saying my name.
I could tell they didn’t believe me. Finally, Mr. Smythe said it could have been a frequency overlap with a neighbor’s monitor and left it at that.
Mrs. Smythe said she’d take Susie’s monitor for the night, and she insisted I take one of her sleeping pills. ”
I jerked upward, jostling Joy. “She what? You didn’t take it, did you?”
Joy nodded. “I did. But you’ve got to remember, I was twenty, and this was the first time I was away from home. Mrs. Smythe was close to my mom’s age.”
“You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.” I tucked her closer. “I understand.”
Joy looked up at me from under her lashes. I could see her hesitation. Once again, I’d fucked up on my reaction. I rested my hand against her back and started tracing soft circles against her T-shirt, trying to soothe her.
“Do you want to hear the rest?”
“Absolutely.”
Joy’s arms crept around my waist, and I could feel her breath as it wafted against my neck.
“I started getting Snapchats. It was of a blacked-out silhouette of a man asking me to marry him. Or he would say we should start a life together. The first time I tried to show it to Mrs. Smythe, they’d already deleted the chat.
I could tell by her face that she was considering firing me.
She thought I was crazy. So, I shut up when it kept happening. ”
“Fuck her. You needed to go to the police,” I rumbled softly, taking care to keep my voice soft.
“No, she was right. I learned later that they couldn’t have done anything anyway. It isn’t until someone makes physical contact with you that they can do something.”
“You learned that after he cut you?”
Joy didn’t say anything. She just nodded against my neck.
I continued to gently stroke her. I needed to touch her as much as she seemed to need my touch.
“Can you tell me what happened next?”
“I deleted my Snapchat account. Nothing happened for a week, but Mrs. Smythe told me that my contract was ending sooner than expected, and I would be going home at the end of the month. That was three months early. No big shocker.”
“Bitch.” I growled.
Joy snorted. “That was my thought, too. Then one morning, we woke up to the words ‘Marry Me’ spray-painted on the inside of the garden wall. Mr. Smythe called the police. A spray can was left at the scene. I knew they were mad at me when they had me taken in for questioning and fingerprinted.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” If Joy hadn’t been on my lap, I would have jumped out of the chair.
She sighed. “Yeah, it was pretty awful.”
It took everything I had to continue tracing soft patterns on her back. I wanted to fly to London and beat the shit out of that fucker, Mr. Smythe. “Tell me what happened next, baby.”
“I told the police everything that had happened, starting with the posy. The detective that I talked to seemed to believe me in the end, but Mr. and Mrs. Smythe had everything packed up for me by the time I was released from the station. Mr. Smythe must have talked to the detective and felt guilty because he was waiting for me outside the station with a check that included the entire two and a half months left on my contract, along with a wad of cash and a business-class ticket back to the States for the next day. He dropped me off at a posh hotel downtown.”
“He left you there, even though he finally believed there was a stalker after you? Are you fucking kidding me?” I roared. I couldn’t remember being so pissed.
Joy nodded against my chest, her fingers digging deep into my shirt.
“The worst part was he didn’t say he was sorry.” She lifted her head and stared at me. “Graham, he didn’t even look at me. I could see he was still unsure whether or not to believe the detective. I still think he thought I did it all, even though my fingerprints weren’t on the paint can.”
God, tears were filling her eyes, and it was killing me.
“I didn’t even get to hug Lionel and Susie good-bye.”
After everything that happened, Joy still hurt at leaving the children. She had such a big heart.
I cupped her cheek, and she nuzzled against my palm. “I’m so sorry, baby. That must have killed.”
She nodded and took in a deep breath. “It did.”
“Then what happened?” I asked quietly.
“I’d been at the station from early in the morning ‘til late afternoon. I was hungry, but I didn’t want to do room service. I didn’t want to stay in that nice room paid for by him. You know?” She looked at me with those big blue eyes awash with tears.
I nodded. “I know.”
“I decided to go out. There was a fish and chips place I liked on St. Anne’s, close to the park where I took the kids. I took the tube. That’s their word for the subway.”
I couldn’t believe she’d gone that close to the Smythes’ house when she’d been stalked. “No. Say it’s not true.”
She bit her lip, then gave a small nod.
“Jesus, why?” I groaned.
“Don’t you think I’ve asked myself that question a thousand times?” The question burst out of her. “I think it’s because I knew I was going home, and I thought the whole thing was over. That’s the only reason I can think of for being so damned stupid.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “Okay, so you took the subway. Then what happened?”
“I got my fish and chips and decided to eat it in the park. I know, I know. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But in my defense, it wasn’t dark.”
“Yippee.” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice.
She looked up at me, hurt.
“I’m sorry, baby. That was out of line.” I picked up her hand and placed it against my heart, needing the connection.
“No, you’re right.”
“No. The last thing you need is someone Monday morning quarterbacking you. Tell me what happened next, baby.”
Her bottom lip trembled, but she nodded.
“It was when I was going to throw my finished dinner in the trash bin that I saw somebody coming up behind me. He wasn’t big.
Not like you or my brothers. But he was still bigger than me.
He jammed me against the trash bin, his face against mine.
He said he knew I’d betrayed him.” Her lip quivered.
“He was crazy, Graham. Just plain crazy.”
She was telling me that like I wouldn’t believe her.
“I believe you, Joy. I know he was crazy.” I brushed a strand of hair away from her wet cheek. “How did you get away?”
“He kept saying crazy things like, I was supposed to be his wife. And that wives never testified against their husbands. Apparently, he’d seen me at the police station.” Joy shivered. “He must have been following me for months, Graham… Months.”
Joy shuddered, and I pulled her against me, as close as I could. If I could cut myself open so that she could burrow into my warmth, I would have. “How did you get away? How did he manage to cut you?”
“He said he’d made a mistake in choosing me. He said I wasn’t worthy.” Joy wasn’t looking at me. She was caught up in the past.
“My brothers had taught me self-defense, and Seth made me take a refresher course before I went to London. I knew I had to break free of his hold and hopefully incapacitate him. He was holding on tight to me, so I went limp, and he lost his grip. I fell to the ground. When he bent to pick me up, I shoved both of my feet into his balls. He fell over, howling. I got to my feet and started running. The only place I could think of was the Smythes’ house. ”
“When I got to the front door, it was locked. I could feel him coming up the stairs behind me. I pounded on the door, and it still didn’t open,” she said. “It just didn’t open,” she whispered.
“You’re here in Tennessee, baby. I’ve got you.”
“He yelled that I was the wrong choice.”
Joy hadn’t heard me. She was lost in her story.
“He said it over and over again. He said I wasn’t worthy.
I tried to pound on the door again, but he had me pressed against it, so I couldn’t move.
I could smell his breath. It was sour. He told me I had to die.
He lifted the knife. He was aiming for my heart.
I didn’t want him to stab me in the front, so I jerked hard.
He was only holding me with one hand, and I managed to shove my face against the door. ”
Rage like I’d never felt before roared through me. I could picture a younger Joy, in the hands of a madman with a knife, begging for help, nowhere to go. If I ever got my hands on this motherfucker, I’d kill him. I’d rip him apart.
She stopped talking. “Graham?” she said hesitantly. “Are you all right?”
Fuck, I needed to mask my feelings. I took a deep breath, then gave her a gentle smile.
“Then what?” I prompted.
“I felt the knife tear into me as the door opened. I fell inside onto the marble floor. Mrs. Smythe said I cracked my head hard against the marble floor. I remember nothing after that until I woke up in the hospital.”
“Jesus, Joy. Was it Mrs. Smythe who opened the door? Did the attacker come into the house?”
Joy shook her head, her hair flying around her face.
“She saw my attacker, but he was already running away, so she couldn’t describe him.
But I saw him. She finally believed me. She was waiting in my hospital room when I woke up.
She begged me to forgive her for ever doubting me.
She stayed with me a lot of the time I was in the hospital. She was really nice.”