31. Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-One
B rooke answered her cell phone without looking at the caller ID. “Hello.”
“Miss Banks, this is Detective Radnor. San Antonio police. We’ve spoken a few times about your case.”
“Yes, Detective. How can I help you?”
Brooke stood on her dorm steps. A wave of fear shot through her. She turned, looking behind her, searching the faces for anyone watching her. She couldn’t help the reaction anymore. When not in her room, she always felt like someone was watching now. Even though no one walking past or sitting on the lawn beyond seemed to take any special interest in her—but he was out there. Watching. Waiting. Biding his time. For what, she didn’t know. And the not knowing was making her crazy paranoid.
“There’s been a series of attacks on campus. The first two girls, though drunk, got away after a minor assault and brief struggle with their attacker. Last night, the girl wasn’t so lucky. The assailant had a knife. There’s no other way to say this—”
“He raped her.” The words came out as a whisper but they were no less ominous.
“No. But only because a jogger interrupted him right before…”
She filled in the blank in her mind.
“He said something interesting to her.”
“What?” She didn’t really want to know.
“You’re not Brooke.”
“What?” she gasped. Stunned and a little sick, she pressed her hand to her stomach. “Oh my God.” She swallowed back the bile rising in her throat. “I can’t believe…” She choked back the words. Of course she knew this was about her. She couldn’t deny it. Especially now. “It’s him, isn’t it? My stalker is the same person attacking these women.”
“Yes. It seems that way. Though he didn’t go after you. He’s using surrogates. That’s a hunch, because of the pattern we’ve found in these three attacks.”
She made an educated-by- Dateline guess. “They all look like me.”
“Smart girl. Yes.”
A chill ran down her spine. “What does it mean?”
“This guy is dangerous. He’s not going to stop. His attacks are more aggressive with each victim. Be vigilant. Don’t go anywhere alone. Keep your dorm room locked at all times. If a stranger approaches you, be careful.”
“Right.” Sound advice, but useless. If this guy was determined to hurt her, nothing would stop him. And from what she could tell by his online messages and notes, she knew him.
He’d been in her house. That still disturbed her on a deep level.
“We have a vague description. The guy’s about five-nine, five-ten with a slight but strong build. He wears latex gloves and a black knit ski mask.”
“So absolutely no help.” And it was so vague she couldn’t eliminate enough of her friends, classmates, and acquaintances to point the finger at anyone. “Well, thank you for notifying me. I’ll let you know if anything else happens.” Like that had done her any good so far, but at least she had it all on record. If it was the same guy, he hadn’t done anything more disturbing than following her around and taking pictures of her. The gifts were all things she loved. Creepy, but not menacing.
But if it was the same guy, he’d attacked three women and nearly raped one of them.
She felt terrible for those poor students.
“Maybe you should think about going home for a few weeks while we investigate this latest attack.”
Not an option. And it would probably only make things worse. Her stalker could just follow her home. “I’ll think about it, but I’m not safe there either. He knows where I live. He’s been in my house.”
“Being on campus gives him more opportunity. At home, you could be safer, more easily protected.”
At this point, she didn’t think anyplace was safe enough. “Maybe. I’ll let you know what I decide.” Brooke hung up and sank down on the step, trying to ignore the desperate and overwhelming urge to run up to her room and lock herself inside. Forever. If her stalker came for her, she wasn’t safe there. She wasn’t safe anywhere. The bastard left her notes and gifts at her room, in her classrooms, and had them delivered to her in the library and out in the quad by unsuspecting delivery services. He used burner phones to place the orders. He paid cash or used gift cards to pay for everything, so nothing could be traced back to him.
The whole thing was frustrating and maddening.
She refused to give in to this guy’s terror campaign and move back home. Besides, she couldn’t do that when Cody was getting ready to marry Kristi. She didn’t want to ruin that for him.
But she should tell her mom. Just in case something happened.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her eyes again, and dialed her mom. Cody should be at work, but she still prayed he wasn’t there. Her mom answered on the fourth ring. It had been months since she’d been to the ranch, or returned her mother’s phone calls without leaving a message when she knew her mom was busy.
“Brooke.” The relief in her mother’s voice squeezed her heart with regret. She should have spoken to her mom sooner.
“Hi, Mom. How are you?”
“I’m fine, honey. How’s my girl?”
“I’m okay.” She was, too. The morning sickness had subsided now that she was in her fourth month. She hardly ever woke up only to throw up.
“We missed you during your spring break. I’d hoped you’d come home.”
“I’ve been trying to get some things done here at school. I have term papers due at the end of the semester, and I want to get a head start on them.”
Lame excuses, but the truth. She’d spent spring break doing research for two classes that she had papers due for in June before finals. She’d also had a doctor’s appointment for a check-up that she didn’t want to cancel or move. The baby was more important than going home.
“You mean you didn’t want to come home and see Cody.”
“He has his own life, and I have mine. Here. At school. For now, anyway.” Just like he’d said in his message to her.
“Well, maybe it’s for the best, honey. They’ve grown very close. Closer than I’ve ever seen them.”
For the best.
First Cody tells her that and now her mom. She didn’t want to hear it. She didn’t believe it. She’d never believe anyone would be good enough for Cody. No one would love him more than she did.
But he didn’t care. Neither did her mom.
“You’re so young. You’ve got plenty of time to find the right person and fall in love.”
She supposed that love and friendship just wasn’t enough for some people. Not her. She’d have jumped at the chance to marry Cody. But she wouldn’t use her pregnancy to get something that her mother and Cody thought wasn’t enough.
“Then you understand my absence. I’ve moved on, and I’m letting him do the same.”
“Come home the weekend after next for a visit. He won’t be here. They’ll be in San Antonio for a benefit Cody has to attend. Come to the ranch and let your mom spoil you for a few days. We’ll go horseback riding.”
“You hate horseback riding.” Not that it mattered, because she shouldn’t be on a horse in her condition and she wasn’t going home.
“But you like it, and I’d go with you just to spend some time alone with you. I’m worried about you, honey.”
“I’m fine, Mom. In fact, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Have you decided to come to the wedding? I would love to see you two being friends again. But I understand if it hurts too much.”
Watch the man she loved marry another woman. Never going to happen. “I’m not coming to the wedding, Mom. That isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Then perhaps you can find another way to mend this rift between you two, so you can at least be in the same house together at some point.”
“I’m not punishing him.”
“I didn’t say you were. I hate seeing what’s happened between you. I want my girl to come home when she wants to and not have to step lightly because Cody is here, too.”
“Not just Cody, Mom. Kristi. His soon-to-be wife .”
“Yes, they’ll be married, and you’ll have to live with it.”
Her mother didn’t mean to sound so harsh. She missed Brooke and wanted her to come home. Brooke’s absence and silence had pushed her too far, and Brooke was sorry for it.
She didn’t pile on with her troubles.
“I have to go, Mom. I’m meeting some friends at the café for a study group. I’ll call again soon.” She couldn’t tell her mom. Not right now. Not when things were strained like this. If she told her about the stalker, she’d insist Brooke come home. If she told her about the baby, she’d go straight to Cody. She’d expect Cody to do the honorable thing, and Brooke wanted more than honor. She wanted love. For her and the baby.