Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Matt
Saturday morning, I woke, showered, dressed, and decided I’d go food shopping. I took the elevator down, thinking about how happy JJ was that I said I’d stay on. I never saw Nick while I was there, and I couldn’t figure out why that made me a little sad.
When the elevator opened, I made a detour to get my mail before heading to the garage. There was a package on the floor where the boxes were with my name and address. It was far too big to fit in my mailbox, but usually the postman came up to the apartments.
“It was a late delivery, most likely.” I turned and saw a woman—I thought maybe her name was Connie—she lived on the fourth floor. “If they come too late they don’t bring them up.”
“Oh, thanks.” I tried to remember if I’d ordered anything but honestly, one-click was the devil, so it was possible.
I tucked it under my arm, opened my mailbox, took out the rest of my mail, and made my way to the garage.
Shopping was uneventful. I got what I needed for the week and returned to my car. I drove home, gathered my bags and mail and went up to my apartment. The package was making me curious, so I grabbed a knife and cut it open. There was a lot of Bubble Wrap, and then something wrapped.
It wasn’t my birthday. I was giddy for a brief moment, until I realized this was probably a gift from my stalker. I stepped away and grabbed my phone.
Officer Mendez had looked into the flowers Trinity had gotten, and the bear Darnell had received. No luck with Tony since he’d tossed the chocolates. The sender was anonymous and the flower lady and gift shop couldn’t remember who’d ordered them.
I called him and was thrilled when he answered. “Officer Mendez.”
“Hello, Officer, this is Matt York. I have a package here with no name on it, and it was in the lobby. I guess it was delivered last night when I was asleep. I started opening it but stopped.”
“Okay, Matt, breathe. I’ll be there in a little bit. Don’t touch it anymore.”
“Thank you.”
I went about putting my groceries away, glancing at the partially opened box every few seconds as if something were going to crawl out of it.
The knock on my door sounded the same time as the Ring chimed, letting me know someone was at my door. My phone showed it was the officer, so I went and let him in.
“Hello, come in. The package is on my counter.” I closed the door and Mendez went over to it.
He slipped on gloves and slowly unwrapped the gift. I wanted to know what it was just as much as I didn’t.
Mendez lifted a note and read it, showing no reaction. Then he lifted what appeared to be a glass heart.
“A heart?” I stepped forward.
Mendez went to place the heart down and it shattered. “What the fuck?” I moved away.
“The note said, ‘You’re breaking my heart.’ Something tells me this was supposed to happen.”
“How am I breaking anyone’s heart?”
The officer searched inside the box, but there wasn’t anything else. “I can take this all with me, and maybe we can pull a print off it. If they’re in the system, we might be able to find them.”
“Yeah, okay, that’s a good plan.”
“Are you okay, Matt? Anyone that can stay with you?”
I shook my head. “It’s obvious they can’t get to me. I’ll be all right.”
He gathered the box, glass, and note, and I walked him out.
I leaned against the cool wood for a minute before going back to putting things away and figuring out what I would be making for dinner.
I had just finished chopping the onions when there was another knock on my door, followed by the chime.
With a sigh, I wiped my hands off and looked at my phone.
“What on earth?”
I opened my door and came face-to-face with Nick.
“What are you doing here?”
“What was in the box?”
My eyes widened. “Are you watching me?”
“Matt! Answer me, what was in the box?”
“Calm down, Brad Pitt. Answer me first.”
For the first time ever, Nick appeared unsure. I stepped back, inviting him inside. He walked in, and there was no hiding how alert he was. His head moved left and right and his eyes were all over the place.
“Are there cameras in my apartment?”
“No.”
“Then how’d you know about the box?”
“Your Ring and the outside cameras. I saw someone on a motorcycle last night, had to be them.”
I knew the bike he was talking about; he’d mentioned it before. “The same person?”
“I don’t think so. The bike is registered to him, but I don’t think it’s Morgan.”
I went to the kitchen and returned to cooking dinner. “I don’t know how I’ll explain it, but I can tell Officer Mendez about Greg Morgan.”
“He’ll have to know how you know that, and you can’t involve me.”
I nodded and started sautéing the onions. “I asked you all not to get involved.”
“We know. But they wanted eyes on you.”
“To make sure I kept my mouth shut?”
He shrugged. “Also to see if it escalated. We wouldn’t have jumped in—if we saw something we’d call the cops.”
Chuckling, I added more veggies to my pan. “But you showed up here instead of doing that.”
“You’d already called.”
True. “I see, and you want to know what I got.”
“Yes.”
I explained the present and the note. Told him how Mendez was going to check for fingerprints and see if the person was in the system.
“Clever, but I’m not sure it’ll work.”
“Why is that?”
“Because this person isn’t stupid. There’s no way they left anything behind.”
I huffed and pulled down two dishes. “How do you know that?”
“They’re watching you, Matt. Do you think they don’t know you went to the police?”
I was certain they knew. They’d gotten mad when I’d showed them the gifts. “So, expect a dead end, then?”
He watched as I split the veggie stir fry between two plates. “You might as well stay for dinner.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “I’d love to, thanks.”
“Beer, wine, or water?”
“Water, please.”
He sat at my table, hummed as he shoveled the stir fry into his mouth. I watched him; he was so fucking gorgeous. My eyes were locked on his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.
“Not hungry?”
I lifted my gaze to where Nick had a smug expression on his face. I was totally busted.
“I am.” I concentrated on my meal after that.