Chapter 12
Twelve
I fully intend to haunt people when I die. I have a list.
—Birdee to Creed
Birdee
She sat staring at me for long moments after I’d explained everything that I knew, and I wondered if she believed me.
“I don’t have the full story,” I whispered just as the waitress left with our food orders. “I just know that he’s not dead. And he misses you. Oh, and he’s living in the same area with several other ex-cons. So this has to be very hush-hush.”
I hoped that I hadn’t just made a huge mistake.
Because I really liked Creed, and I wanted him to be happy.
And I had a feeling that Bernice would make him happy.
Her breathing was coming faster and faster, and I leaned forward as a shot of adrenaline coursed through my veins.
“Hey, are you okay?”
She scrambled for her purse, and I watched in avid horror as she pulled out an inhaler, yanked the cap off, and pressed it to her lips.
She inhaled two deep puffs, then capped the inhaler and stared at me in shock.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Are you okay?” I asked again.
She licked her lips as she seemed to search for the words.
Then she said, “Who are you to him?”
I bared my teeth in embarrassment. “Not really anyone to him. He’s just someone that’s helped me out. He actually hit me while I was on my scooter driving home. And I think he feels guilty so he gives me rides to and from work sometimes.”
She shook her head. “Are you sure it’s him?”
“I have a photo on my old phone of him. It’s not a great one since I took it through the window of my work,” I said. “I’ll show you when we get back.”
She didn’t say much for a long time.
So long, in fact, that the food came out and she still hadn’t said a word.
“How’d you find me if he didn’t talk about me much?” she asked after she’d eaten half of her soup.
I tugged on a loose curl before admitting, “I had my friend internet stalk you with the very limited information that Creed shared about you, and I overheard him talking about you to his friend. A friend that I think was responsible for covering up his prison escape.”
She shook her head, as if she couldn’t quite believe my words. “This is unreal.”
Then she promptly burst out crying.
I leaned forward, placing my hand on hers. “Are you okay?”
She blubbered for a solid five minutes as our food cooled.
The waitress kept tossing surreptitious looks, as if she was afraid that she might have to call medical personnel, but Bernice eventually got it together.
When she did, she looked me right in the eye and said, “Where do I go?”
I arrived back at my place around midnight the day after I’d met with Creed’s sister.
My eyes were heavy, and my shoulders were tight, as I hauled all of my crap out of the Uber and headed for my front door.
There was a wolf whistle from the assholes across the street, but I didn’t turn around and give them any of the attention that they so desperately wanted.
Using my key to unlock the handle, I pushed inside and froze.
There was a man on my couch.
“What the fuck?” I screeched.
My stepdad stood up, the blanket falling to the floor, and stared at me in shock. “What are you doing here?”
I blinked. “What am I doing here? I live here!”
“You’re supposed to be asleep!” he roared.
I opened my mouth then closed it, searching for the words that wouldn’t come.
“Get out!” I eventually cried out.
He held up his hands. “I just need a place to…”
“You’ve done enough!” I screeched. “I’m not interested in hearing what you have to say. Get out of my house and stay out!”
Before my stepfather could argue some more, a menacing voice from behind me said, “I think I’d do what the lady says.”
I turned to see Boone, my end-of-the-street neighbor, standing there with his feet spread apart and a ferocious frown on his face.
“This is my daughter. You’re interfering.”
“She asked you to leave. Twice. Next time she asks, I’ll help you out.”
My stepfather’s face went electric as he said, “I’m allowed to be here. My friend owns this place.”
“Even if he did, she has a lease. I heard her talking about it with the man that owns this house. You’re not on that lease. I would know, because I make sure I know who my neighbors are.”
“Oh, yeah. Like you agreed to have those miscreants as neighbors?” Tom scoffed.
“They’re exactly where we want them to be.” Boone tilted his head. “Now, either leave, or I make you leave.”
Tom slipped on his shoes and marched past me out the door, but not before shoulder-checking me on the way.
I caught the suitcase before he could knock it down the stairs and then stared in shock as my stepfather walked down the road to climb into his car that’d been parked behind some bushes.
Only when he’d peeled out of the neighborhood did Boone say, “He been living here?”
I thought about all those times that I’d smelled his cologne on the blankets on my couch.
A sick thought occurred to me.
Because a lot of things started to come together after we’d seen my stepfather sleeping in his car.
Mostly because when he’d asked me if he could stay with me, I’d said no, and he’d just given up.
But he hadn’t given up.
He’d been living with me, and I just didn’t know it.
Well, maybe not living, but staying for sure.
“I’ve been hearing some strange things at night that I thought were a squirrel,” I admitted. “In the attic. But I think it was him out in the living room all this time. It’s been months.”
Months, I’d been sleeping with Tom down the hall. That was so creepy to even think about. Had I not come home when I had, would I have continued to have him sleeping just down the hall from me forever?
Boone grunted as he picked up my suitcase and pulled it up over the threshold. “You need new locks. Keep that motherfucker out.”
I squeezed my eyes closed. “I think you’re right.”
Thank God, I’d just gotten a new job. One that allowed me the type of salary that would leave me with a lot of extra to play with at the end of the month.
Boone left just as quietly as he arrived and waited at the end of the drive until my stepfather was no longer in sight.
Boone looked back at me and gestured for me to lock the door, and I sighed and did as requested.
When the door was locked behind me, I rested my back against the door and stared at the couch.
Jesus Christ.
What a day.