Afraid in the Dark (Stalker Series Book One)

by Rita Hestand

  "I can't see that happening, Dex. Our relationship was kind of rocky there at the end, and that was the reason I wanted to end it, clean and simple." She chuckled. "Besides, you kiss better than he ever did."

  "Check mark for me," He smiled. "What about that Jesse character."

  The way Dex snarled his nose told her he could be a bit jealous. She thought about it, but Jesse had never kissed her like Dex had.

  "I've got to admit, he did act strange that day he came with my folks. But he lives nearly seventy miles from here. He couldn't possibly be here all the time. I really don't think it's him because of that. And, he's still my friend no matter what. I don't think he'd even think about something like this."

  "Okay, scrub Jesse for the time being. Who else?"

  Melanie thought about it a minute. "Ed…."

  "Who is Ed?" Dex raised a brow.

  "The maintenance chief at the school."

  "Oh yeah, I remember you saying he was creepy and eyed you all the time. So, he could be a contender then. He works close enough he could be spying on you. He was interested. And one thing, a man that is rejected quickly could have a grudge against you. So, Ed is a real contender then."

  "Maybe," She mulled that over in her head.

  "Good we are making some progress. We've got one suspect? Anyone else you want to put on that list? Any jealous girlfriends?"

  "Jealous? Not of me." She responded. "My best friend moved to San Antonio, and she's got a boyfriend. Most of the others were friends, but not that close. There's my best friend Maureen back home, but she wouldn't be caught dead on a highway to the city. She can't drive very well. Besides, I love her."

  "You didn't mention me on that list." He smiled and raised a brow.

  She stared for a long time, "Do you want to hurt me?" she finally asked.

  He stared straight into her eyes, "The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But you could have stopped at the word want. Because that's sure entered my mind."

  A slow grin stretched over her face. "I believe that. Then I have no more suspects. But why would Ed want to scare me?"

  "I'm not so sure it is this Ed character. It's possible though, so we must include him. Being a maintenance man, and if he's following you, he might know how to make a what do they call those keys that will unlock almost any door…can't put a name to it, but they do make them, so he could have made a key. And he'd know how to saw a knob off too."

  "Oh, my God, I never thought of that! And he really does give me the creeps. In fact, I think it's him that has had me so tense the last few months."

  "Well, don't hang him yet, honey. We are just now getting started in narrowing this down."

  "I don't know. I think he likes leering at all the pretty girls that come to college, but I don't think he'd act on his impulses. I mean when Cal came to help me move, he backed off quick. I don't think he has the guts for this. There's another factor."

  "What?"

  "Since someone had to have a key to lock the bathroom, anyone in this building could be the one."

  "You think it's Earl, then?" Dex asked.

  "No, to tell the truth, I don't. He fixed the balcony and he was shocked that the bathroom doorknob was sawed off. If he'd have done it, he probably wouldn't even have mentioned it. No, I don't think Earl did it. He called the cops for me too. He seemed genuinely concerned."

  "I think you are right about that." Dex nodded. "But having a key is a factor we can work on."

  "So that brings us back to good ole Ed, doesn't it?" Dex stared at him.

  "Something I thought of to ask you. When you saw the black sweatshirt and pants through the bathroom hole, did you notice if it was a muscular man, or a tiny lady?"

  She considered his question, then turned her head in question. "That's a good question. That's the closest I've come to whoever it is. I can't be certain because the hole was only so big. The knob hole was low, so I couldn't determine if there were breasts or not."

  "Could you tell if they were big or a little person?"

  "The only thing I could tell was that it was a bulky sweatshirt and kind of straight pants." She told him.

  "Did you smell perfume or anything like that, cologne, maybe?"

  "No, it took me so by surprise I was lucky to see the color of the sweatshirt and pants." She explained.

  "Well then, from now on, if they keep this up, do your best to identify something about them, a smell, an inclination of any kind."

  "You think there is going to be more of this?" She asked.

  "Well, I don't know honey, but all they have managed to do yet is scare the heck out of you."

  "You think there is real danger?"

  "I think we need to be careful and keep our eyes open."

  She nodded slowly, "I guess you are right."

  "What disturbs me about the bathroom incident is that someone would have had to have a key, and how did they get it?"

  "I hadn't been thinking about that since it happened, but you are right. It would have to be someone who had some kind of access to these apartments, wouldn't it?"

  "Now that's a word we must consider, isn't it? Access. A lot of people have accesses that you might never think of. It could even be someone who lived here before. Maybe had your apartment even. I'd think so, and that presents a problem because we have no idea." He said flatly. "But maybe Earl can help us there. The fact is, it could be a stranger to you."

  "You know, I don't know anyone here but you and Earl. I haven't even met the manager."

  "That's very strange, a stranger moves in and right away there are problems. As though they know you, but you don't know them. It could be someone you've never even met."

  "Now that's scary Dex."

  "Try not to worry about it. We are gonna figure this out. I promise you."

  She sighed heavily. "You know when Jesse came here with my folks. I couldn't help but wonder why he bothered. He's changed a lot, and he's not as friendly as he used to be. I felt strange around him. It wasn't like him at all."

  "Then maybe he's a contender."

  "But how would he have a key? And could he come here so often?"

  "Does he have a car?"

  "Yes. Well, no, a pickup."

  "Then he could. Depends on what might be driving him to it. But somehow, I don't think he's a contender for this. Maybe something else, like getting you back is on his mind."

  "Me. But we never really got started. We dated, yes, but for only about six months. And when I left for college, he never came after me."

  "Did you want him to?" Dex asked, his face going icy.

  "I don't know, maybe, at the time."

  "Why'd you break it off with him?"

  "It seemed as though we were going through the motions of being interested in each other. He didn't want to hear about my nursing career, I didn't want to hear how he was looking forward to settling down there in Lone Oak. We had such different interests and he never came around to my dream of being a nurse. He wanted a woman who would make a home and family. I can understand that, it's how we were raised to think. But, I wanted to be a nurse more than anything."

  "Another thing to consider, maybe whoever is doing this, has help."

  "Another thing I hadn't considered."

  "Listen to your instincts on this. Sometimes we are given warnings about people. If we ignore them…it can be detrimental."

  "But he couldn't possibly be up here all the time, so I don't think Jesse's responsible. He's a lot of things, but I can't see him as a stalker. Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just paranoid."

  "The bathroom incident wasn't you. And if he has a helper, he could very well be the one." Dex corrected.

  "True. Someone is trying to shake me up. But why? Who wants to scare me? You think he thinks I'd go running home if I was scared enough? No, he isn't stupid. He has nothing to gain from all of this. No, I have a strong feeling it is something else. Someone else."

  "You never know babe. The sharper and more engaged your senses are whe
n something happens, the closer we'll come to solving this problem." Dex told her.

  "You're right. I've got to pay more attention to what is happening at the moment."

  "One thing, I sure don't want anything bad happening to you, and I am getting concerned. If someone wants to scare you, they are accomplishing that. But if they want to do you bodily harm, I'm going to get involved, myself." He told her, and kissed her on the nose.

  She grinned, "My hero."

  "You bet I am. I've found something worth fighting for and I'll be there, if you need me." He told her then kissed her on the lips to prove how much he meant it.

  Mel was drowning in his kiss, but she knew she had to pull away, and what hurt was that she didn't want to pull away. She wanted to say yes to Dex. She wanted to feel the things a woman felt when she was madly in love. Was she madly in love? Or madly in lust? Dex was intoxicating. It was hard, she didn't want to pull away. She wanted to give in, especially since he was so concerned for her.

  "I better go…" She whispered kissing him on the cheek.

  "Sure wish you'd stay…" He kissed the lobe of her ear.

  She pulled up and stared into his eyes. "I like you Dex, maybe even more than like you. But we haven't known each other very long and already we are getting pretty involved with each other. I want to save having sex for marriage Dex. But with you I could easily forget that. So, for now, kisses will have to sustain our relationship, unless you'd rather move on to someone else. I would understand if you did."

  He took her face in his hands, and kissed her nose again. "One thing I'm sure about right now is, I don't want anyone else."

  "If you change your mind, let me know. But…" she smiled, "Neither do I, Dex."

  "Good."

  Chapter Fifteen

  She wasn't in her apartment ten minutes and her phone rang. There was no contact name on the screen, so she figured it was a salesman of some kind.

  "Hello."

  There was a silence.

  "Hello." She repeated.

  Still nothing.

  She listened for a voice, a breath, something. Nothing.

  She hung up. Maybe someone got the wrong number and didn't want to say anything. She threw her phone on the bed and went to put her pjs on.

  It rang again.

  This time she could hear breathing, but no one spoke.

  "Who is this?" She asked suspiciously.

  Nothing.

  But someone was there, she could hear that heavy breathing.

  She hung up and threw her phone on the bed again.

  She stared at the phone like it was a snake about to strike. Now they were calling her?

  It was late or she would have run to Dex. But she realized she couldn't do that every time something happened. It had become an urge, every time something went awry, she wanted to go to him and feel that safe feeling he gave. It was impossible. This was her problem, and somehow, she had to face it. Alone.

  It could be a prank caller.

  Shrugging it off, she went to bed with a good book and ignored her phone.

  But Dex called a few minutes later and she sighed when she heard his voice. "I meant what I said, Mel, I really don't want anyone else."

  She smiled, feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside. "Thanks…. "

  "I'm glad we got that out of the way. Goodnight honey."

  "Night." She whispered, and hung up.

  Forgetting the prank caller, she laid her book down and went to sleep. She dreamed of Dex.

  The next morning, she made herself some coffee and pattered about the place as she didn't have to go into work until late.

  She made some dry toast and had a cup of coffee.

  Suddenly she heard a big boom. It came from upstairs, directly above her. It startled Mel but she shrugged it off as someone had just moved in up there.

  Whoever it was, they were loud as several times she heard that same boom. Like someone dropped a big box of books on the floor.

  She'd make a note to ask Earl who had moved in upstairs. Not that she was complaining, it was probably someone moving boxes or something. She needed to give them a couple of days to get moved in before she started complaining about it.

  Her car would be ready tomorrow, but today she'd have to ride her bike.

  Dex came by and offered her a ride, he was going in late tonight too. She breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Thanks, Dex."

  "I won't allow my girl to walk when I can take her." He grinned.

  "Your–girl?" She grinned.

  "Aren't you?" He asked, in a teasing voice.

  She looked around, smiled shyly and nodded. "I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead." she chuckled.

  "We're making progress." He smiled. He pulled her to him and gave her a kiss that sent hot signals through her body. She moaned.

  They left, knowing where those kisses were headed.

  He drove, but reached for her hand. And when he parked the car in his assigned spot at the hospital, he looked over at her.

  She leaned over and boldly kissed him on the lips.

  He lost breath he was so surprised.

  "Thanks for the ride," she whispered when she came up for air.

  "I like the way you pay your debts," He chuckled.

  She smiled and they walked to the elevators.

  Lots of people joined them so there was no more kissing. He winked when she got off on her floor.

  "Lunch?" He hollered.

  "Okay," she hollered back as she stepped off the elevator and started down the hallway.

  Neely was standing at the work station when she walked by and was smiling ear to ear.

  "Why the smile?" Mel asked.

  "I could hear him all the way down here, Lunch?"

  Mel smiled. "Yeah…."

  "Girl, you are a goner. I can see that in your eyes now. You and Dex. Couldn't happen to a nicer person." Neely chuckled. "Better watch out, someone might scratch your eyes out around here."

  Mel's smile faded, "W-what do you mean?"

  "I mean he's the best catch aside from a couple of doctors in the building. So, there will be a lot of pining girls wanting to get even with you for taking him so quickly." Neely laughed.

  "Y-you're not serious, are you?" Mel asked.

  Neely stared at her a moment. "No silly, just teasing you a bit. Didn't mean to scare you."

  Mel clutched her chest. "Sorry, I've had some things happening to me. Don't know why or who, but someone is trying to scare me, Neely."

  "You're kidding, right?"

  "No, I'm dead serious."

  "My God, Mel. I had no idea, or I'd have never said something like that to you. What's been happening?"

  "Tell you on break."

  "Definitely!" Neely told her and stared as Mel went to work.

  Mel shivered a moment in the supply room then determined to put it all behind her as she went to work on organizing the room better so that the nurses could find things easier. She had asked for suggestions and several of the nurses gave her a few ideas on how to make the supply room more operable for the nurses. Whoever attended this job last wasn't good at organizing she decided with a grimace. Things that needed to be readily available were stuck back in corners. She spent some time making the supply room a priority.

  But when she thought of Dex, she smiled. Despite her attempt at keeping him at bay, it seemed he was becoming more and more important to her. For one, he cared about her safety, for another, he wanted her. That boosted her ego a bit, as right now her ego was flat. She knew she as falling in love with him. She knew too that it was too soon, but she couldn't stop her heart, could she?

  She was happy that she'd landed this job so soon, and happy she'd found a nice apartment, and even happier that she'd found Dex. Perhaps she should put all this weird stuff to the back of her mind and not concentrate on it. But how did you forget about someone trying to scare you all the time.

  The incidents had graduated now. Now there were phone calls. Although, sh
e couldn't be sure. It really could be some kid, prank calling her.

  She wished she knew what the person was trying to do to her? Who could hate her that much?

  But a sudden call to ER had her mind escaping to a different place when she had to fill in for another nurse and the emergencies that came up totally cleared her mind for nothing but her work for the next two hours.

  When Neely came to find her, they took a break.

  "Now I want to know what is going on?" Neely told her in no uncertain terms.

  Melanie didn't want to sound melodramatic.

  "Look even I'm not sure what is going on. It's juts….I've been getting the creeps when I go home on my bike, and other times. And then the other day, someone came into my apartment and locked me in the bathroom while they searched my apartment, for something, with a key in the bathroom. Now I'm getting these silent phone calls. Someone is obviously trying to scare me. And I don't have a clue who it could be." Mel related as they both got a soft drink from the machine in the break room. "Or why they are doing it."

  "You are serious?"

  "Very."

  "And you don't know who it could be?"

  "Not yet."

  "Good grief Mel. Have you told Julia?"

  "Julia? No!" Mel looked surprised. "Why should I?"

  "She needs to know. We all did for that matter. If something happened to you, or if we could help. We would."

  Melanie didn't like the idea of too many people knowing what was going on. She wasn't at all sure who she could trust, except Dex and Neely. "The police know. For now, that's enough. I'm sorry Neely, you’re a good friend, but the others, I just don't know who to trust. I'd rather not spread this around, if you don't mind."

  "Alright, I'll respect your wishes hon. But if I can help, let me know, will ya?"

  "Sure."

  "You don't think it's anyone here in the hospital, do you?" Neely tasked her. "This could be serious."

  "I'm afraid it is serious Neely, and that's the very reason I don't want to tell anyone. I don't want to think it's anyone I know, but I just don't know right now."

  "Alright Mel, but you let me know if I can help, okay?"

  Mel shrugged. "Alright, I guess."