Chapter 1 #3
But I wasn’t about to go live with them.
“No,” I said. “I’m not going.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No.”
“Don’t make me pull out my badge.”
“You signed me up to be babysat!”
Utter mortification washed over me as I imagined waltzing into the Walker family home to stay for a week.
“No!” I began again, “No thank you. Turn the car around right now. I’ll just marry Leroy. Okay? He obviously loves me. If we put the whole stalker thing aside, we at least know he has excellent taste.”
Will’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing. He also didn’t turn the car around.
I edged closer to him, in full-blown panic mode. “Will, I am NOT going to be a burden to anyone else, especially to the entire Walker family.”
“You won’t be.”
In a classic Will move, he turned on the radio and kept driving me farther away from Vermont’s capital and my current apartment.
I checked the sideview mirror.
“What car are you looking at?” Will asked, checking his own mirror.
“The white Honda.”
“They just pulled onto the road a few exits back.”
I sank back down against my seat and tried again, this time my tone softer. More reasonable.
“Listen. I appreciate you worrying so much about me, but I’m not doing this. I’m a grown woman with a job and…you can’t do this. It hasn’t even been that bad lately. I’ve hardly heard from—”
“There were three more letters in your mailbox this week.”
My heart stopped. “What?”
“One had a picture of you walking into your meeting in town last week. He wrote that he liked your green sweater but prefers your soft-pink one. Or your white striped silky pajamas. The ones with the gold buttons.”
For a long moment, his words just hovered in the air between us like a rain cloud, me not fully willing to take on the weight of what it all meant—that feeling of utter violation.
And he wasn’t done.
In a gentler tone, he added, “I intercepted two more emails last week. He’s getting more intense and saying more unhinged things.
He’s planning your wedding and says he’ll come for you when it’s time.
It’s scaring the hell out of me, so I can’t imagine what it’s doing to you.
This is our chance. My boss is giving me one week to find him.
This is now an official police operation, and we need you out of your house. ”
I stared out the window, the glow of town lights shrinking as Will drove us down the dimly lit interstate. I absently ran a finger up and down the seam of my pants.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. I didn’t recognize my voice.
It had a defeated, numbed slump to it. I suddenly felt exhausted, and it wasn’t because it was four-thirty in the morning.
I had created a hopeful little bubble around myself in the past week or so, not hearing from him, fantasizing that Leroy might finally be gone for good.
“Because I hate scaring you,” he said softly. After a beat, he added, “We need to draw him out, but I refuse to use you as bait. I need you somewhere safe.”
“And you think that’s with the Walkers?”
He let out a breathy laugh. “Yeah. I’ve got all the details worked out. Ann’s got a room ready for you. Please just trust me.”
I wanted to tell him he couldn’t do this. I wanted to demand he take me to a hotel. I wanted to beg him to hide me away with him, even though I knew I could never put Meg and the baby at risk.
But I was too chicken to say no.
That was the hard truth of the whole thing. I was so tired of being terrified of every little noise in the night. I was tired of wondering if the knock on my door was really the pizza guy. Tired of turning down girls’ nights with friends or dates with guys because I was a walking neon hazard sign.
And maybe there was a tiny, minuscule part of me that craved the idea of not being alone. Even just for a week. There was such comfort in being surrounded by people. Would I sleep better at night, knowing someone could hear me if I cried out?
And if the Walker family agreed to be my watchdogs, who was I to put a stop to it all?
“Fine. But you owe me,” I told Will, leaning my head against the headrest.
“How about we get your life back and call us even?” He nodded out the window. “Ann’s not expecting us until seven. I’m going to drive around and take some back roads just to be sure nobody’s following us. Why don’t you take a nap? I know you haven’t been sleeping great.”
Sinking into my seat, I closed my eyes. I didn’t sleep, though.
There was no way my brain would settle now.
Maybe this would all be fine. The town was a walking ad for the kind of inspiration I was in desperate need of.
I wasn’t planning to get out much, but maybe just living in a home with people again and a change of scenery would help me get inspired to write.
The looming six-week deadline was beginning to fester, and even with the dire situation that led me here, a tiny string of hope flickered in my chest.
So, in the quiet of the early morning, I let my brother drive me along Vermont’s windiest river bend to my old hometown of Autumn Ridge.