Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Matt
All this was beyond strange. Also, it had been a pretty quiet twenty-four hours. Maybe they were backing off? Then I remembered what Nick had said about how this Lenny person was away. I secretly hoped Lenny would show up at Greg’s and this could finally be put to bed.
“I have searched everywhere, scoured the Internet, the darkest corners of the web, and there is no Lenard, Lenny, Len Harlston that this fits. There are four within a fifty-mile radius, but three are in their eighties or nineties, and one is sadly only five…That poor child, growing up with the name Lenny.” Noel was shaking his head as he came into the living room to tell us the news.
“Maybe they changed their name?” Mason suggested. “Because someone goes by a name doesn’t mean it’s their legal one. Maybe here, in town, he has a different one but to Greg, he’s always known him as Lenny.”
It was the only thing that made any sense. “Plus, do we know Lenny is a man?”
“We don’t.” JJ plopped down next to Mason. Shep was currently with Greg. It was Sunday afternoon; Angel had been relieved by Shep at around eight this morning, and Gabe was heading to Greg’s shortly.
Nick’s phone vibrated in his pocket—and it seemed Noel’s did at the same time. Nick took his out and woke it up.
“It’s an alert.” He jumped up and rushed to the tech room, where all of us followed.
“An alert to what?” I asked.
“Your apartment.” He was typing on one keyboard while Noel was on another.
“My Ring didn’t go off.”
“It’s from inside. By the fire escape. There.” Nick pointed to one of the monitors, and sure enough, there was someone dressed in all black pushing up my window.
“Oh, my God.” I covered my mouth.
“How could that be Lenny?” JJ voiced what I was thinking.
“Lenny said he’d be home tonight and that he’d go to Greg’s Monday morning. He could be home by now.” Nick glared at the screen. “Maybe we’ll get lucky, and they’ll take off their mask.”
“Should we call the police?” All heads turned toward me. “Or maybe not.”
I watched in horror while the invader walked around my apartment. They wore gloves, but they were touching everything. They were lifting my pillows up to their face—I was guessing to try and smell through the mask. They went into the bathroom, but there weren’t cameras in there, so I didn’t know what they were doing.
When they opened my drawers and started rubbing their masked face on my boxers, I had to look away.
“Matt, why don’t you and I go make some coffee?” JJ wrapped his arm across my shoulders.
“Uh…”
“Go.” Nick kissed my cheek. “We’re going to track them here and then see if we can follow them back to their ride, and however far the street cameras take us.”
“Okay.”
“Noel, call Shep and let him know what’s going on.”
“On it.”
“I’m still going down to relieve Shep.” Gabe was watching the monitors too.
“We may end up not needing Greg if I can follow them. But if not, I’ll be there by the time the sun is up. I want to talk to Lenny myself.”
I grabbed Nick’s arm. “You need to be careful.”
“I will be. Now, go with JJ. You don’t need to watch this.”
I followed JJ out, mentally cataloging all the things I’d need to get rid of that the creep had touched.
In the kitchen, JJ made coffee. I sat at the table, playing with the necklace Nick had given me. I’d remembered to put it on today, something I forgot often and he loved reminding me to stop doing. JJ came over to me while the pot percolated.
“We’ll find them, Matt. Believe me, these brothers, Mason, Four, and me, we’ve seen some of the darkest parts of humanity. There were times we never thought we’d get out alive. A lot of us are messed up because of what fate dealt us. In the end, we are the ones who walked away.”
“I’m not like any of you. Before all of this, the scariest thing that ever happened to me was blowing a tire on the highway. And for the record, I didn’t handle that well.”
JJ chuckled. “None of us knows what we’re capable of until we find ourselves face-to-face with the impossible.”
I stared at the tabletop, my finger following a ring in the wood. “This person, monster, they’re inside my place right now. If I were there, what would have happened to me?”
He reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “You’re not there, you’re here. Don’t even think about that. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”
The coffee finished, and JJ got up and began taking mugs down for everyone. When he brought mine to me, exactly how I liked it, I thanked him.
“I’ll be right back.”
I nodded and sipped my coffee, my mind wandering in a million directions. Mason came in and helped JJ bring the mugs to the others. Then the two of them sat with me, trying so hard to distract me.
About half an hour later, Gabe strode in, rinsed out his mug, and kissed Mason. “I’m heading to Greg’s.”
“Okay, babe. Were they able to track them?”
Gabe shrugged. “Not sure. I don’t understand that tech stuff. Noel and Nick are in the zone, and Four is expressing his professional opinion about everything.”
JJ snorted. “He’s invaluable.”
“Yeah, okay, I’m out.”
“Be safe,” Mason shouted after Gabe.
“I’d say I’d go home, but well…” I finished the rest of my coffee in one gulp.
JJ and Mason tried so hard to occupy me—we talked about JJ’s therapy and how amazingly he was doing and how I was sure by this time next month he’d be down to twice a week.
“That would be great. I feel good most of the time. Stiff some mornings.”
“It’ll take time,” I reassured him.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but Shep returned to the house just as Nick came into the kitchen.
“How’d it go?” Nick asked Shep.
“You know what’s strange?” Shep leaned against the counter, arms folded over his chest. “I wanted Greg to show me a picture of Lenny, and he didn’t have a single one. How does a person who grew up with someone not have any photographs of them?”
Nick cocked his head. “That’s really odd.”
“I said as much. Greg just told me Lenny never was a fan of the cameras. But he did say Lenny’s mother likely had some. I made him text her and ask for one.”
“And?” I practically jumped out of my seat. Could we finally have a face?
“Nothing yet. I told Gabe, and he promised he’d stay on it.”
“How’d you fare?” Mason looked at Nick.
“They left something behind, on the bed. Noel and I are heading to your place, Matt, to get it. We’ll be right back. We tried to track him—he had the bagger bike, but we lost him.”
“I’ll go with you.” I stood, but Nick was shaking his head.
“It’s not safe, Mattie. Let me and my brother go. I promise we won’t be long.”
“You gotta stop calling me that. Nick, if James and Nicole see you enter, they’ll have a million questions. It could be an issue.”
Noel snickered. “We got a plan for that. Nick’s gonna tell them you’re staying with him for a few days because you aren’t feeling well, and we’re grabbing a few of your things.”
That would work. “I feel like a lump. I have to do something.”
“You are.” Nick took my face in his hands. “You’re staying safe. I need you to keep doing that.”
My belly warmed at the sentiment. “I need to go into work on Tuesday. I can get away with staying here tonight and tomorrow, but Camie will have my head if I don’t show up on Tuesday for my client.”
“Okay.” He kissed my nose. “You’ll be there.”
“Can you actually grab me a few things? Nothing that they touched, though.”
Nick smiled. “Of course.”
After Nick and Noel left, Shep started prepping dinner. With nothing to do, I helped.