Chapter 32 Lived In Fear
LIVED IN FEAR
“He’s coming for you next.”
“What?” Gale asked.
She heard the voice again. “Can you see me? Can you hear me? I’m not sure. I haven’t tried this before.”
“Yes. Who is there?”
“It was so hard to get to you. I don’t have time. You don’t have time. You’re the next target. He’ll try to hurt you to get to Rory.”
It was only a voice and no face. “Rene? Is that you?”
“Watch yourself.” It was just a light in her dream. A voice and no face.
“Show me who you are?”
A teenage girl came into the light as if she were struggling to be seen and heard. “You know who I am. I can’t hold this long. You were a girl the same as me when it happened.”
Gale felt tears gathering in her eyes. She didn’t know that she could cry in a dream but seeing Rory’s sister standing there like a typical teen from fifteen years ago and knowing she wasn’t alive just broke her.
It was a picture of her that had been in the paper at some point. That was the only way she’d know what Rene looked like.
“I was. It’s haunted me for years. We all lived in fear of it happening again.”
“It sucks to live like that,” Rene said. “I know. I’ve watched it with my mother and brother. The fear that they had failed me. The guilt too. I’m ready for it to be done.”
“I want to help,” she said. Rene’s image seemed to fade, but the girl gritted her teeth as if she was battling to hold herself here for this talk. “You won’t tell Rory who it is, tell me. Describe him to me.”
“A big liar,” Rene said. “Believe no one. And watch yourself. You’re next.”
Gale sat up with a start in bed, her fingers going to her face and coming away wet. She’d been crying talking to Rene.
She reached for her phone next to her to check the time. Her alarm would go off in three minutes, so she got up and shut it off.
As much as she’d wanted to stay another night with Rory, she left when she saw how tired he was.
Maybe she shouldn’t have woken him up so much the night before, but she’d been nervous about the concussion. Then she’d been uncomfortable in the small bed and moved around waking him more.
When her brothers showed up to talk last night about Rene’s case, she’d made them leave when Rory looked too tired to focus. They had nothing all that important in her eyes that couldn’t wait.
Rory hadn’t argued and that told her everything she needed to know.
So she came home and did some work, went to bed and fell right to sleep quicker than she had in the past. Guess she was more exhausted than she remembered also.
After a quick cup of coffee and a container of yogurt, she grabbed her briefcase and purse and was out the door.
She was pulling out of her parking spot and realized there was no music playing.
She reached for her purse and forgot her damn phone.
After parking in the spot next to hers, she jumped out and ran back to her place to get it, then returned.
“Gale.”
She turned her head to see a few guys next to the building working on landscaping. “Hey, Rocco.”
“Your car is leaking something.”
“What?” she asked.
“Jared noticed it. He said there’s a spot where you pulled out.”
She walked over and looked down. It looked wet and the first thing that came to her mind was what happened to Rory.
No way someone could do this to her. Not here where she lived and could be caught.
Best to just play dumb. Maybe it wasn’t her car. It’s not like she always parked in the same spot.
“Could it be someone else’s?” she asked. “Do you think?”
Rocco and Jared walked over with her. She squatted down but had no clue what it was.
Rocco bent over and ran his finger through it. “It’s pretty wet.”
“Do you know what it is? I had my AC on, could it be that?”
Stupid in her eyes to say that after yesterday, but they were all grinning at her like she was some dumb woman anyway.
She’d just let it ride with her advantage.
“I don’t know much about cars,” Rocco said, rubbing his fingers together. “It’s kind of slick.”
Jared touched it, then put it to his nose. “Brake fluid. Has a fishy smell to it. Might want to get that checked.”
She didn’t want to pale, or at least have them see it, so she pulled her phone closer to her face and took a picture to send to Ford and Clay.
“I’ll just call one of my brothers to come check it out before I drive away. They’ll be here right away. Thanks so much for noticing it.”
Rocco went to stand, pushing himself up from the ground, his knees popping and his keys dropping that were always clipped to his belt.
She grabbed them quickly to hand back. They were big and bulky covered with keys and tags and other nasty things hanging off she didn’t want to know could be. Dark and brown, aged, and frayed.
She wanted to grab the sanitizer out of her purse after touching them.
“Thanks,” Rocco said. “Guys, let’s get back to work. I’ve got shit to do and don’t need Cindy on my case that the flowers weren’t nice enough this year.”
Gale kept the roll from her eyes. “I thought they were pretty last year,” she told Rocco. “Good job.”
“Nothing I do,” Rocco said.
“He doesn’t do much,” Jared said, snickering. “Just walks around watching everyone to make sure they do what he’s told he has to tell us.”
Jared laughed and walked away after saying that. Rocco flushed.
“Hey,” she said. “Middle management is the hardest thing. Especially if Kane is your boss, I’m sure.”
Might as well fish for a second.
“Kane is only going to get worse the more power and authority he gets,” Rocco mumbled. “We all know it.”
“Why stay?”
“I’ve worked here my whole life,” Rocco said, shrugging. “My mother worked for Daniel before she retired. I don’t know much more and it’s not like there are a lot of project manager positions around these parts. When my mom leaves, I’ll go with her, but she likes it here.”
“That’s nice you’re staying for your mom, even if it means dealing with Kane.”
“He’s not so bad,” Rocco said. “As long as he gets his way.”
Rocco walked away from her and she took a deep breath, climbed into her car to sit and make the call. No way she was letting anyone know what she was going to say.
Ford was the first call. “What’s going on, Gale? You should have texted you were leaving for work by now.”
“Yeah, well. I would have done that but forgot my phone, ran back into the condo to get it and when I came out was stopped because my car is leaking something. I’d moved it and pulled back in.”
“I’ll come check it out. I hope it’s nothing.”
“Oh, it’s brake fluid,” she said sarcastically. “Couple of guys working noticed it and came over to tell me. I didn’t want to call until I was away from them.”
“Motherfucker,” Ford snarled. “I’m on my way. I’m calling Clay. Stay there if there are people around. It’s safer that way.”
“I’m fine,” she said. “There are people walking outside and no one is stupid enough to do anything in broad daylight.”
“You keep telling yourself that, but they obviously got ballsy enough to do it last night.”
“Don’t remind me,” she said, hanging up.
The next call was to Rory. She had to tell him.
“Oh, I get a call rather than a text?” he asked. “Or are you just checking to see if I’m okay?”
“I’m sure you’re fine,” she said. “Your voice sounds stronger too.”
“But yours doesn’t. What happened, Gale?”
“My car is leaking brake fluid. Thankfully, when I moved it to run back inside to get my phone, the worker outside noticed it and stopped me. Ford is calling Clay and they are coming down.”
“I want to be with them.”
“No, don’t. I played dumb because I can’t trust anyone right now. This was a message loud and clear. I never go anywhere other than around town. If I lost my brakes, I’d get into a wreck but nothing like you.”
“You go to your parents and the speed limit is faster on windy roads. Don’t fool yourself, Gale. Don’t let your guard down.”
“I’m not letting it down. Rene told me I was next.”
“What?” Rory asked. “You talked to my sister?”
She leaned back in the car and shut her eyes. “You’re the only one I can say this to.”
“Tell me everything she said to you. Leave nothing out.”
She told Rory about her dream, how it made her feel, and what happened this morning, step by step. Just being distracted and leaving without her phone.
“That sounds like Rene. Not really giving everything but enough. Maybe it was a good thing you were distracted enough to forget your phone.”
“It feels as if it was fate for me to do that and have to run back in. Then to have the guys see it.”
“What were they doing watching you?”
“Are you jealous?”
He laughed. “No. Not in the least.”
“Well, I do have a skirt and heels on. I’m sure they heard the clicking on the pavement. Some of them made eye contact with me when I ran back in. Maybe they thought I was an airhead.”
“Never you,” he said. “Not if they know you. Do they?”
“Jared was in school with me,” she said. “I think a year ahead, not sure. I’ve known Rocco for years. He’s older than me, but is the project manager for the condos and always has been.”
“You’ve said his name before. That he works for Kane.”
“Yeah. I think Kane treats him like crap. I didn’t know his mother worked for Daniel before she retired, so my guess is Rocco got the job for that reason and Kane is the type to resent that shit.”
“Not our problem. How old is Rocco?”
“Not sure exactly, younger than Kane, why?”
“Just curious his age at the time Rene was killed.”
“He would have been in college,” she said. “Anything is possible I guess, but he’s quiet. He never says much. I even egged him on about Kane maybe not being an easy boss.”
“What did he say?”
“He alluded to his expectation that Kane was going to be worse when he had more power and authority, but then kind of backtracked as if he wished he hadn’t said it or someone didn’t witness it.
Jared was riding his ass about Rocco never doing much more than telling them what to do per Kane’s instructions. ”
“I trust no one,” he said.
“Here is Ford,” she said. “I’ll talk to you later. I’ve got to get a ride to my office and then figure something out. No way I can drive my car right now.”
She hung up with Rory and got out. The guys working on the building turned when the sheriff’s car pulled in.
“You didn’t touch anything, did you?”
“Nope. Only Rocco and Jared did. They ran their fingers through it to see what it could be.”
“Did you get pictures of it? It’d look funny if I did that right now and I’m not sure we want to alert anyone to what is going on.”
“I did. I took about four of them. Even joked I was sending them to you so you knew I had a car issue.”
“You’re good at playing up the ditzy woman,” Ford said. “How are you feeling?”
“Pissed off. I mean we know there is no way this is a coincidence.”
“Nope,” Ford said. “Not buying that. The question is, how are we going to play this? I’ve got a tow truck coming to get it for you. Someone I trust.” Ford looked around. “You’re parked on the end. The cameras don’t go out that far.”
“Yep, I gave whoever it was the perfect chance. That’s on me. Thanks for calling people you trust, though I didn’t doubt it.”
“He’ll bring it back to the garage and we’ll look it over and get it fixed. I’ll have to let the State Police know too. It’s hard to do all of this and not alert all the gossips in town.”
“We’ll have to decide if it’s worth hiding it now. They are getting bold. Do we let everyone know we are onto them?”
“That will be something we can all talk about tonight. Clay has a few things he found out late last night.”
“About what?”
“We’ll talk later. Here he is now. I’m going to leave and let him stay with you until the tow truck gets here. You know I want you on the farm with Rory.”
“I’ve got to be in court today,” she said. “I can’t put my clients on hold. I have no reason to.”
“We’ll talk tonight. You know damn well Clay and Mom and Dad are going to want to keep a better eye on you. Me too.”
“I’m safe in the courthouse,” she said. “If need be, without a car, someone has to kind of drive me around anyway.”
“And I’ll make sure that is brought up too.”
Clay pulled to a stop and got out, went to talk to Ford and then came to her.
“Don’t even tell me to not go into work,” she said. “I can see it on your face.”
“What time do you have court?” Clay asked.
She looked at her watch. “In an hour.”
“I’m bringing you to court and then you can call me or Ford to come get you and bring you back to the office. Then we’ll pick you up when you close. You’re not to be alone at all. Do you hear me? It’s that or I’m your bodyguard until we get this situated.”
She shivered. That might be worse than living on the property, which she knew damn well was going to be the next thing they’d want her to do.
She’d give them another option before tonight and she hoped they’d listen to her.