Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32
E MILY
“Please stop pacing. You’re making me nervous now. It’s gonna be fine.”
Charlie doesn’t listen, he just continues to walk back and forth across the living room area as we wait for Trina to arrive.
It’s ten days after my birthday party and it’s the first time we could nail Trina down to a time for us to talk.
“Don’t you think it’s suspicious that she didn’t want us to go to her condo? Maybe she wanted to be here, so if she murders me, no one will hear me scream.”
“Jesus, are you really that afraid of my sister? She’s been your best friend for ten years, Charlie. She’s not going to kill you. I’ve never seen you like this.” I climb off the couch and start walking around. “Shit. Now you’ve got me pacing.”
He walks over to me and pulls me into a hug. “Sorry. I’m not afraid of her. I’m afraid of her reaction. I just don’t want to lose either of you.”
“You’re not going to lose either of us.”
The doorbell rings and Charlie jumps. He backs away from me like we’re in third grade and he thinks I have cooties.
“You’re being ridiculous,” I whisper-yell. “Go sit down. And sit on your hands or something so she doesn’t see them shaking.” I can’t help but smirk at him before I turn and go to answer the door.
When I swing the heavy wooden door open, I’m stunned to see that Trina isn’t alone, but I try to play it off. Reaching in for a hug, I squeeze Trina tight and speak over her shoulder. “Hi, Ben. It’s good to see you. Come on in.”
I step back and make room for them to walk past me into the house and I follow behind. The shock at seeing Ben here registers on Charlie’s face when he looks up at me with wide eyes. I shrug behind their backs. I’m just as confused as he is. To his credit, he quickly recovers and transforms his facial expression to a more neutral one.
Charlie stands and shakes Ben’s hand. “Hi, Tri. Hello, Ben.”
“Hey, Fitz,” Ben says. Trina just gives him a half-hearted smile.
“It’s a really pleasant night out. What do you say we go out to the deck?”
Ben smiles. He’s got that Donley twin dimple that gives him and Jack killer smiles.
Trina mutters a quiet, “Sure.”
We all walk out to the deck and Trina and Ben take a seat at the table while Charlie and I go in to get beverages.
“What the heck is Ben here for? I mean, I like him, but I didn’t want him here when we tell Trina all the ways you’ve defiled her innocent little sister these last few weeks,” I tease.
Charlie spins to look at me. “Don’t you dare tell her we’ve had sex,” he whisper-yells at me. “I mean, unless she asks directly. I don’t want to lie to her if she asks. And why is she drinking wine? She rarely drinks wine unless she wants to forget?—”
“Hey, I’m just messing with you. Calm down. Let’s just see how it goes, okay? Maybe it will be good to have a buffer here. And, besides, isn’t the weirder thing how many times we’ve seen them together lately? Like, how many times in the decade you’ve known Trina has she shown up anywhere with Ben?”
“Never. Until she showed up at your house that night the realtor came over. It is weird, isn’t it?”
“Very weird.” I pick up the wine for me and Trina and Charlie grabs the beers for him and Ben. When we’re almost to the door leading outside, I pause and glance over my shoulder at him. “So, just remember how weird they’re being and try not to focus on the fact that she’s probably gonna castrate you.” I throw him my sweetest smile and head outside.
For a mid-August evening, it’s actually quite enjoyable outside. Hot, but not sweltering, and Charlie’s outdoor ceiling fan stirs up a comfortable breeze around us.
“So…” Charlie starts, looking across the table at Trina and Ben. “You’re probably wondering why Emily and I asked you to come over tonight. We were hoping to talk to you about?—”
“I need to talk to you first,” Trina blurts out. “It’s important,” she softens her tone. I don’t miss that she glances over at Ben, and he gives her a subtle nod that seems like he’s trying to be supportive and encouraging.
I’m utterly confused, though. This isn’t their usual dynamic.
“Okay. Go ahead,” Charlie tells her. I glance over at him and he’s rubbing his beard, blinking slowly at her. His concern is obvious, and my heart rate kicks up. Charlie knows Trina better than anyone else. Maybe even better than me because she hides things from me, wanting to protect me. If he’s concerned, it’s not a good sign.
Trina nods and takes a deep breath. “So, first I need to say there is no reason for you to worry.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the movement of her hands. She’s repeatedly pinching the skin between her thumb and index finger on her left hand with the thumb and index finger of her right hand. I haven’t seen Trina do that since she was sixteen years old, and I had appendicitis when our parents went out of town and left her in charge of me. Even as a twelve-year-old kid, I could see the worry written all over her face while we waited for the ER staff to try to get a hold of our parents. Only the worst kind of apprehension brings that out in her.
A million worst-case scenarios run through my mind, but the most frightening among them is that she’s sick with something serious. She has looked so tired lately. And I think she’s lost weight. Charlie leans forward, waiting for her to say more.
“Well… Um, there’s been some stuff happening. Like… Uh.” She’s clearly uncomfortable and looking everywhere but at Charlie and me.
“Trina and are I living together,” Ben blurts out.
Trina whips around to look at him and shakes her head. “Must you, Benjamin?”
He shrugs at her. “It’s true.”
“No, it’s not,” she argues. Her eyes narrow like lasers at him, her lips pursed in annoyance.
“Uh, yes, it is,” he counters.
Charlie and I sneak a quick glance at each other and the confusion I’m feeling is reflected back to me on his face.
“No. It’s. Not.” She huffs and turns back to Charlie and me, but I don’t miss the slight smirk on Ben’s face. I can’t help but think maybe he was trying to rescue her, without her realizing he was doing it.
“What is true is that I have been staying with Ben for a few weeks because of a situation .”
“What kind of a situation?” I ask quietly. “Are you sick?” The last words come out as a whisper and fear creeps into my heart.
“No. Nothing like that. I promise. Remember how I told you about my secret admirer?” I nod. “He’s gotten more persistent.”
I feel my eyes grow wide.
“Jesus, Trina. You don’t have a secret admirer. You have a goddamn stalker. Can you please take this seriously?” Ben face is tight with irritation.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard Ben angry until right this moment.
Trina glares at him. “I am taking this seriously. I moved into your damn house. Though it’s probably infested with God knows what from the type of women you likely brought home on the regular before I came to stay. But there’s no need to upset my?—”
“Enough.” Charlie’s voice is loud and commanding. “Trina, Emily is an adult and we both love you. And we’ve noticed something is off. So, stop arguing with him for two minutes and tell us what the hell is going on.”
I swallow the lump in my throat while I wait for her to continue.
“Fine.” She shoots Ben one more dirty look and then focuses on me and Charlie. “It started a few months ago. When I got those flowers at work. They kept coming. Every week. I talked with Chief, and we started declining the deliveries but that seemed to escalate the situation. I’ll spare you all the details but, eventually, I started getting hang up calls, then text messages from random phone numbers and no matter how many times I blocked them, they’d just start in again a day or so later.”
“God, Trina. Why didn’t you tell us?” Charlie asks.
Trina tries to sound unbothered and casual, but there’s a faint quivering in her voice. “I thought it wasn’t a big deal until”—she pauses and takes a few breaths—“until he started sending photos of me around town. Of me walking into work, leaving the gym, at the bachelorette party. And a few weeks ago, when I was at work, it appears someone tried to get in my house around three a.m. The alarm system went off, but there was video showing the attempt.”
“This psycho knows where you live?” I whisper.
Trina nods.
“This is why we have the new security measures at the Fire Station.” Charlie states, as if it’s suddenly making sense.
“And you’re staying with Ben because he’s a detective? And it’s safer? You could stay here with me and Charlie.” I look over at Charlie and he nods.
“First of all, the worst place for me to be is probably on the outskirts of town where there are no neighbors close in case… well, just in case. And it is safer with Ben because he’s got his damn house locked down like Fort Knox. I’m surprised he doesn’t have motion sensing lasers he turns on at night.” Trina forces a smile, but it doesn’t meet her eyes.
“It’s not our intention to frighten you, Emily, but we thought you both should know. And Trina and I finally agree on something—we don’t think you should be out here alone on nights Fitz is at the station,” Ben says.
“And there’s been no threats to you or anything. I promise,” Trina hurries to add. “But, if this person found all this out about me, I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you because of it.”
“Don’t worry about me. God. I’m fine here by myself. But you have to catch this guy, Ben.”
“No, sunshine.”
I glare at Charlie. “No, what?”
“No, they’re right and we’re not gonna take a chance that this lunatic comes here when you’re alone. If he’s been watching Trina, he’s probably seen you and knows you’re important to her.”
“We’ll talk about this later.” I try to convey to Charlie with my tone that I don’t want to have this discussion right now.
“We will. Because you’re not staying here alone.”
I pin my eyes on him. “You’re not the boss of me, Charlie,” I practically hiss at him.
“Well, I’m the boss of this house so, there’s that,” he snarls back. “And I’m not leaving you out here like some sitting duck while I’m twenty minutes away at work.”
“Fine. I’ll resume my house hunting first thing tomorrow.” I glare at him, daring him to challenge me.
“God, you’re so fucking stubborn,” Charlie growls.
It’s like Charlie and I forget we have an audience, until Ben clears his throat. And then I look up to see Trina’s narrowed eyes volleying back and forth between me and Charlie, her brow wrinkled. I swear she looks suspicious.
Leave it to Ben to try to lighten the mood. “Geez, Trina. I bet nobody would have guessed we’d be the ones getting along tonight and these two would battle it out, huh?”
Trina ignores him.
“What did you two want to talk to me about?” she asks. She doesn’t take her eyes off of us.
I get a prickly feeling on my skin like the ones I got in high school when I’d done something she’d be upset with and then walked around convinced she knew all about it. Then, eventually, I’d be so paranoid I’d just confess it to her.
“Nothing. It can wait until another time.” I’m certainly not going to burden my sister with this when she has a damn stalker.
* * *
CHARLIE
Trina and Ben stay another twenty minutes or so and then go home.
Emily hasn’t said a word to me. I watch as she grabs her e-reader and disappears into the office, closing the door. Clearly, she’s angry with me, and I’m sure she’s upset about the situation. Still, I have a sense I need to give her a little alone time.
I grab a glass of water, walk back out to the deck, and plant myself on one of the rockers Emily loves. I do my best thinking when I’m alone and in the dark, so the surrounding pitch black of the night soothes me.
I can’t believe Trina has a stalker. How does that even happen in a town the size of Elladine? It would have to be someone new in town, or maybe someone who saw her at the gym we box at. Our gym is on the border of Elladine and Meadow Creek. Maybe someone from over there saw her and got obsessed.
I stop myself from this spiral. I have to trust that Ben and his team are on this and considering all possibilities. And I have to keep Emily safe.
I peer out into the yard, to the vast expanse of woods surrounding the house. She’s going to remain pissed, but I can’t let her stay here alone. It would be so easy for someone to go unnoticed out here while they try to gain access to the house.
My jaw is tight and my body tired. I clasp my hands together and stretch them over my head, a yawn escaping me. It’s time for bed, but first, I need to fix this with Emily.
A few minutes later, I’m back inside and I lift my hand and rap against the door of Emily’s office.
“Come in.”
When I open the door, I find her sitting on the reading nook platform, her body up against the window, her knees drawn to her chest, and her eyes focused on the darkness outside.
I walk over to her and stand next to the nook.
“Is it okay to sit?” I ask.
She’s still not looking at me.
“You’re the boss of this house, so you can do whatever you want.” Her tone is petulant as she throws my words from earlier back at me.
I climb in next to her, leaving several inches between us.
“I’m sorry I said that. I was frustrated and I didn’t mean it how it came out.”
She still won’t look at me, but I’m staring at her, willing her to turn her head. That’s how I notice the faint quivering of her jaw and see the first tear as it falls from her eye. When I lift my arm, she must catch the movement in her peripheral vision because she scoots into my side, and I wrap my arms around her.
“I’m scared,” she whispers. “Not for me but for her. What if this person hurts her?”
I don’t want to give her false assurances, so I say the only thing I can think of. “I’m sure Ben is working hard to find the person, and her staying with him is probably the safest place for her. I’m gonna talk with her and try to convince her to tell everyone at the station—all three shifts—so we can all be on alert. I know she works A shift, but there’s an overlap between all of us. I think I can convince her, though I might have to resort to manipulation.”
Emily finally looks up at me, her tear-stained face showing her confusion with her creased brow and squinted eyes.
“You’re my secret weapon and I’ll use her love for you if I have to. I might have to go heavy on how upset you’ll be if something happens to her. Everyone knows you’re Trina’s weakness. She’d do anything for you.”
“I know,” she whispers. “I’d do anything for her, too.”
I swallow the lump in my throat as Emily rests her head on my shoulder.
“So, do this—stay with her at Ben’s or with Shayna on nights I’m working—for her. Do it for me, Em. We need to know you’re safe.”
Several seconds pass in silence, until Emily mutters a resigned, “Fine.”
I kiss her on top of her head and lean my head back against the wall, relief washing over me.
I could never forgive myself if something happened to her because she was here alone.