Chapter Twenty-One | Gage
Twenty-One
Gage
“Son of a bitch!” Julie growled, her tone a mix of anger and fear as the power went out, casting us into darkness.
I was at her side within a matter of seconds, my hand protectively wrapped around her waist while Patrick and her father talked quickly.
Flashlights on phones were turned on while I focused on Julie, her body rigid and trembling beneath my touch.
“Hey, are you okay?” I asked. “What happened?”
“Yeah,” she whispered, her body trembling beneath my touch. “I got a handful of text messages from an unknown number. I mean, it’s unknown, but it’s also very clearly Joel.”
“What did they say?”
“Which one? He sent several, each of them equally disturbing,” she said, her voice wary as she turned her phone toward me so I could read them.
I pressed my lips together to keep from saying something stupid since Patrick hadn’t told her the full extent of what was happening. Just then, Duke got up from beside the couch and began growling a low, deep growl.
“Go sit with Mom,” Patrick said, guiding his dad out of the way as he rushed past us, pulling the curtain back and checking the front porch even though it was pitch black outside. “I don’t fucking like this one bit. I can’t see shit outside.”
“The generator should have kicked on by now,” I muttered, realizing quickly that it hadn’t. “Fuck.”
I glanced at Julie, hating how terrified she looked.
“Let’s get you to the couch,” I said, guiding her there quickly, making sure not to trip over Duke as he continued growling at the front door while he stood next to Daisy, who stayed asleep on the couch. “Duke, go check.”
He immediately went to the front door and stood there, staring at it with an intensity that sent a chill through me.
While he was calm most of the time, Duke had been trained as a protection dog from a very early age by one of the best trainers I had ever met.
I didn’t realize until now how handy his training would be.
Once Julie was sitting on the couch with Daisy between her and her mother, I walked over to where Duke was standing in front of the door, his posture rigid and ready to attack.
“Should we open it and let him out?” Patrick asked, staring at my dog.
“We could, but I worry about us not being able to see much out there. I would rather keep him in here while the threat is contained outside. But I think this answers the question about when the lock was cut off the shed.”
“Yep. It would also explain the power tool noise Mom heard last night,” Patrick noted. “The wind must have blown away his tracks. That’s why we didn’t see anything this morning.”
I nodded, completely oblivious to anyone else in the room for a moment while my mind raced, putting the pieces together.
“Umm... Threat?” Julie questioned, turning to look at us. “What threat?”
“I think it’s time to tell her,” I said quietly to Patrick, taking a step back as he nodded.
“Tell me what?” Her tone was sharp as her eyes narrowed on her brother.
“We found some stuff at your apartment,” Patrick said with a heavy sigh.
“Stuff? What kind of stuff?”
“Adoption papers for one. Family photos that had Joel’s head glued over Mike’s. The worst is that he had...” Patrick tipped his head back and shook it, not wanting to say the words as his throat tightened with emotion.
“He had what?” Julie asked, looking between him and her parents. “Just tell me. Whatever it is, I can handle it.”
Lynn leaned forward and squeezed Julie’s hand before speaking.
“He left the keychain that you’d given Mike for Christmas on the kitchen table with the photos. On the back of it, he crossed out Mike’s name and carved in the words: You were mine first.”
Julie gasped loudly and covered her face with her hand as the tears streaked her cheeks.
“I thought it was lost—” she sobbed. “How did he get it?”
“We don’t know,” her mother assured her. “But the point is that he had it, and he’s made his interest in you very clear. We didn’t want to tell you and stress you out with everything else that’s been going on.”
“You should have told me,” Julie fumed, turning her anger to Patrick while Duke continued staring at the front door and letting out low growls.
There was no point in letting him continue if I wasn’t going to let him outside, so I went over, grabbed a few treats from the container, and slipped one to him after asking him to come. He went right back to Daisy’s side and sat beside her as he ate them.
“I didn’t want to upset you,” Patrick repeated with another heavy sigh.
“That’s not the point!” Julie said harshly, throwing her hands in the air. “You can’t keep information like that from me. This guy is dangerous. I deserve to know everything, so please stop keeping things from me and just tell me the truth.”
“You want to know the truth?” Patrick asked, leaning over the couch and staring at her.
She nodded but didn’t say anything. “The truth is that I have a friend who’s been tracing his cell phone, and guess what?
He’s here in town and has been for a few days.
So, yeah, Julie, excuse me for keeping things to myself while I rush to figure out how to keep you safe from this asshole.
No matter what we do, he’s constantly five steps ahead of us. ”
“He’s here?” she whispered, her eyes wide with fear again.
Patrick nodded.
“Well, his messages make more sense now,” Julie said sadly.
“What did they say?” Patrick asked.
“Long story short, that he found me and that he wanted to play a game where I hide and he tries to hunt me. Then he mentioned something about not wanting to mistake any of you for intruders because he didn’t want anything bad to happen to my family like it did to Mike.”
I clenched my fists at my side, hating how helpless I felt.
“What’s the plan? What do we do now?” I asked, looking at Patrick and hoping he had one.
“I think the best thing for now is to find a safe room and all of us stay in there until morning. It’s obvious that he cut the power as a whole, so we can’t rely on the generator.
I don’t like being unprepared, but I would feel better if we were all together.
We’ll call the police and see if they can send someone out to check things.
With the storm, who knows how long that will take.
” Patrick’s jaw clenched as he spoke, his fists balled at his sides.
“I’m calling the police now,” Dave, Julie’s father, said, holding his phone to his ear.
“I’ll let them know what’s going on and make sure they have it on record that there’s a possible intruder on the property.
Silver Falls Police Department doesn’t take kindly to this kind of stuff, so I’m sure they’ll send someone out as quickly as they can. ”
“We can go to the room we stayed in last night,” Lynn offered. “It only has one window, but a joining bathroom and three beds. You guys can take turns sleeping while someone watches the house.”
“That works for me,” I said, agreeing with her. “What do you need for Daisy? I want to make sure that we take everything we might need with us in there so we don’t have to come out for anything until the morning.”
“Tylenol and some Gatorade. Maybe some packs of crackers or other snack food if she wakes up hungry. I’ll take extra clothes in there in case she needs to change.
Mom, can you gather extra bedding? It’s going to be cold without the heater,” Julie said, her mind working as quickly as mine as she realized the gravity of our situation.
“I’m on it,” Lynn said, getting up and accepting the hand her husband offered before they went together to gather supplies.
“There’s only one easy way inside right now, so I’ll stay guarding this door while you guys gather everything you need.
We’ll hear if he tries to come through the back door since it sticks, or if he breaks any windows.
I can’t imagine he’ll attempt trying to come in through an upstairs window, but who knows with this guy.
I trust that he’s not already inside the house, or else the dog would be going crazy,” Patrick said to me and Julie.
“Though I do wish I had a weapon on me.”
“I’ll let Julie get what she needs while I go grab my grandmother’s shotgun,” I offered, noticing the way Patrick’s eyebrows lifted.
“Your grandmother had a shotgun?” he asked as a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
“She did. I bought it for her right after my grandfather passed away, and she insisted on staying up here by herself. I took her out shooting one day to make sure she was comfortable using it. Let’s just say that we didn’t have to practice too long, and I could hear my grandfather laughing from heaven when she took down every single tin can that I had set up for her without even trying. ”
“Go, Granny,” Julie said with a warm smile. “I want to be her when I grow up.”
I smiled back at her and let out the first relaxed breath I’d had all night.
She went and gathered the things she needed while I made myself useful and got the rest. It would be weird sharing a room with everyone tonight, but I loved that we were all on the same page with keeping Julie and Daisy safe.
While my grandmother wasn’t here to put a bullet in Joel’s head, I had no problem stepping in and doing it in her honor.