Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
ARLO
Apparently it wasn’t just the police that had been alerted. In under ten minutes, my living room was bursting at the seams. Along with myself, Simon and two officers, there were all three of my bandmates, their security details, Ollie and our new manager, Betty.
Simon and Rhys had busied themselves making tea for everyone, but now we were all sat clutching steaming mugs, listening to Detective Catchpole.
“Unfortunately our hands are tied,” he was saying, an apologetic note in his voice. “Our forensics department hasn’t detected any identifying matter on the letters. Whoever this is, they’re smart. Far more intelligent than your average stalker.”
“Great,” I muttered. Was I supposed to be flattered by that?
Kai squeezed my knee, no doubt sensing my frustration. He and Silas had sandwiched me between them, like they were worried someone might be about to snatch me at any moment.
“How did he get around the security systems?” Betty demanded. Our new manager was a force of nature. In her fifties and all of five foot two, she was the ultimate mother hen when it came to the four of us.
And if anything happened to threaten our safety or happiness? Then our hen transformed into a rabid pit bull.
After two shite managers in a row, we finally seemed to have hit the jackpot.
“He managed to scale the fence somehow and evade the perimeter alarms,” Simon said, tapping away at his laptop. “But we have a camera over the front door. There’s no way he would’ve been able to access the letterbox without that picking him up.”
“How do you know it’s a man?” Silas asked curiously.
Everyone who’d read the letters looked at me before darting their gaze away. I sighed, answering his question. “He’s been very sexually explicit in his writing. Talks about his cock like it’s a person. Really fucking weird.”
Silas shuddered. “Gross. We won’t let him get to you though. Don’t worry.”
I wished I had his confidence.
We fell silent as we waited for Simon to finish checking the feed. After more tapping, he cursed quietly under his breath. “He knows where the cameras are.”
Turning the screen, we all watched as the figure dressed all in black kept his face deliberately turned away from the lens. The peak of a black cap poked out from his hoody, offering even more protection for his face.
“Fuck,” I muttered in frustration, slumping back on the sofa.
“We’ll install more cameras,” Dylan said, leaning over Simon’s shoulder. “Make sure all angles are covered.”
“He must’ve watched them being installed,” Ollie said, rubbing a hand over his chin.
Everyone turned to Ollie, but it was me who asked the question. “How do you know that?”
Ollie gestured at Simon to wind the clip back to the start. “Look how he turns his head away at the last second. And he jumps—here, and here. I’m guessing that’s where the sensors for the perimeter alarms are?”
Simon’s lips were pursed as he nodded in confirmation.
“He had to have watched the installation happen,” Ollie said. “It’s the only thing that explains how he knows where everything is.”
“Unfortunately, I agree with Ollie,” Rhys said, his arms folded over his chest. “The alarms that were installed are undetectable once in place. The only way you’d know their location is if the security company shared the information, or if he watched the installation happen.”
The two detectives exchanged a worried look, making me sit up. “What? Why are you looking at each other like that?”
Detective Jewiss cleared her throat. “If that’s true, then it’s logical to assume the person behind this is escalating their approach.”
“Surely that should be obvious given they made their way onto Arlo’s property this morning,” Luca said, a heavy dose of sarcasm filling his words. Like me, he didn’t have the healthiest view of the police force. Kind of hard to when you grew up on estates like ours.
The detective’s expression didn’t flicker. “Yes, but in cases such as these, letters are often as far as it goes. The lengths that the perpetrator is going to to ensure his access to Mr Beckett remains unhindered suggests he has another goal in mind.”
An ominous silence followed this declaration. When I couldn’t take it any longer, I gestured at the unopened letter on the table. “Someone open it and get it over with. Please.”
Detective Catchpole scratched at his head. “Unfortunately, we can’t open it here. It’s against our protocols, just in case it contains a harmful substance.”
All the security guards in the room rolled their eyes at the same time. Simon left the room, reappearing seconds later pulling on a pair of latex gloves.
“Sir, you should let us take this to the station,” Detective Jewiss said, stepping forward in alarm. “It could be dangerous.”
Simon shot an apologetic look at me as he spoke. “He’s made threats against Arlo’s life and well-being, but all of those refer to things he wants to do in person. Therefore it’s safe to assume the stalker won’t send anything that could hurt him without being able to witness it.”
I winced, burrowing back into the cushions. Fuck. I wished Jack was here.
Silas slipped his arm around my shoulders, tucking me securely against his side as Kai gripped my knee. The tension in me ebbed slightly.
I didn’t need Jack. I wasn’t alone. I could get through this.
Simon read the letter, the blood draining from his face as his eyes tracked over the page.
“Can I see?”
“No,” Simon said, softening the word with a small smile. “Nothing good can come from you reading this. It’s threatening enough to warrant additional precautions being taken.”
Part of me wondered if I should push to read it, but if Simon didn’t think it was a good idea, I was going to trust him.
“What precautions can you offer?” Betty said, facing the police officers with her hands on her hips and peering over the rim of her tortoiseshell glasses.
Catchpole sighed, running a hand through his thinning hair. “Honestly? Not a lot. We’re overstretched as it is.”
“So you’re saying you won’t do anything more until there’s an attempt on Arlo’s life?” Rhys’s jaw was clenched as he spoke.
The two detectives winced before Jewiss answered. “It’s an unfortunate state of affairs, but yes. Our hands are tied until something credible is done.”
“Un-fucking-believable,” Betty cursed. My bandmates and I just exchanged knowing looks. None of us were surprised by this response. The system was underfunded and fucking broken. “You can’t do anything?”
“We’ll add this street to our patrol route,” Catchpole offered.
“Station officers outside in a marked car at random intervals. Hopefully that’ll be enough to spook them.
We’ll also send this letter to forensics and search local CCTV for anyone who resembles the figure in your footage.
In the meantime, Mr Beckett, I’d recommend hunkering down in here with a guard or two. He’s bound to mess up sooner or later.”
I didn’t say anything until the police had left, but then I turned to everyone else. “I have Louis’s fundraiser next week.”
“You can miss it,” Kai said. “Louis won’t mind. He’ll understand.”
“Yeah, but I mind.” I got up and paced the room in frustration. Louis had developed a work scheme aimed at helping kids from impoverished areas learn new skills. It was something I’d been working on with Kai’s brother for months, ever since he’d floated the idea on the way to Luca’s party.
The party where Jack had left my life for good.
Don’t think about that now.
“The whole selling point of the gala is my attendance.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “If I don’t go, we won’t get the money we need.”
Irritatingly, Louis insisted we raise the money via traditional means rather than myself and the others donating what was needed. We’d given him the seed money to get started, but he was adamant that he wasn’t leaning on us for the rest.
Hence the fundraiser.
“We can all attend,” Luca said. “They won’t care who they’re seeing, just that they’re hobnobbing with a celebrity.”
That was true, but still, the whole thing didn’t sit well with me. “No, I’m going. I’m not letting this fucker force me into hiding. Besides, I’ll be in a crowded room—he’s not going to jump me there. I don’t care what extra precautions we put in place, but it’s happening.”
It took another thirty minutes of arguing, but everyone grudgingly got on board. I would attend, but so would the other band members. We’d also be hiring additional security to work the event. The question was which firm to use.
“We can’t use the firm we used for the alarms here,” Rhys was saying in his gravelly voice. “Not if there’s any question that the stalker was on their team or somehow got information from them.”
Privately, I thought Ollie’s theory was far more likely, but I was already pushing my luck by insisting on attending the event.
“Fine. Who do we use?” The guards all exchanged a look, and my stomach sank. “Not Phoenix. Anyone but them.”
“I know you and Jack have a history,” Simon said quietly. “But they are the most qualified company in the field. More importantly though, we know them. We can trust them.”
That was true. All the guards socialised with Jack’s friends. If they hadn’t been so loyal to us, I might have been afraid they would jump ship over to Phoenix.
But could I do it? Be in the same room as Jack without breaking down? See him and not cause a scene?
I wasn’t sure I could. It’d taken me so long to get to this place—seeing him protecting me again would drag me straight back to square one.
With all the stress this situation was causing, it’d send me running back to him.
And where would that leave me? Stuck in the same toxic fucking cycle as before.
“Fine.” I blew out a breath. “Hire them. But not Jack. He’s not to be present at the venue.”