by Celeste Hall
Chapter Four
“Thank you ladies, I really needed a date night.”
“Dinner out with your girlfriends absolutely does not count as a date,” Heidi teased. “It isn’t a real date until you’re getting naked and naughty in the bedroom, which isn’t happening tonight. Unless you’re willing to break out the really expensive wine, and maybe put on some skanky underwear, you know the kind I like. The ones with the barely-there thread down your ass.”
Heidi spiked her eyebrows a few times in a very sexually suggestive manner, making Rachel and Morgan laugh. They were both quite familiar with the redhead’s impish sense of humor.
They pulled up in front of the old Victorian and Morgan started to get out. She was stopped when Heidi abruptly snaked out an arm and blocked her escape. For a moment she thought it was a continuation of the joke, but one look at the redhead’s suddenly pale face made her hesitate.
“What is it?” Morgan asked, before seeing what had captured her friend’s attention. There was a plain brown box resting on the mat in front of her door and it sent a spur of fear straight through her chest.
“Stay in the car,” Rachel commanded, turning off the vehicle so that she could get out herself.
“No,” Heidi frowned, “We’re all going to up together. There’s safety in numbers, as you well know.”
“Do you think he’s watching?” Morgan asked, searching the tall hedges around the yard. They had no idea if the person delivering the packages was male or female, but they all suspected that Craig was the mastermind behind them. There was a good chance he’d asked for the delivery boy to wait until the boxes were received so that he could report Morgan’s reaction.
“He might be,” Rachel agreed solemnly, pulling out her cellular and dialing for the police as she joined her companions in a funeral march across the lawn and up the steps to the porch.
Please, oh God, please let there be a return label on this one. Morgan thought as she walked up the stairs on legs that suddenly felt numb and rubbery. Please don’t let this be another dead animal.
Her heart sank as she saw that the box was marked only with her name, just like the first one.
“Don’t touch it,” Rachel instructed, although none of them wanted to be anywhere near the ominous delivery. “Let’s leave it here for the police and go inside to wait for them.”
Morgan unlocked the door and then quickly locked it again behind them. Leo was crouched on the windowsill nearby, glowering out at the package. As she entered, he immediately came to her side and offered a low meow.
“It might not be from the same person,” she suggested, but nobody was convinced.
The police arrived in short order and the girls were put through another miserable round of questions and answers involving a man they couldn’t seem to get out of their lives, even after sending him to jail.
At least this time it was someone else that opened up the box and found the bloody remains hidden inside. From the disgusted expressions on the police officers’ faces, the girls were grateful for that small kindness.
“You said this was the second package left in this manner?” One of the uniforms asked as he reclosed the box and pushed it away with the toe of his boot. His question did nothing to soothe Morgan’s nerves.
“Don’t you guys keep records of stuff like this?”
“We do,” he assured her, “But we don’t receive any of that information when we’re called out like this. What we’ll do is make another incident report and then add it to your file. In the meantime, if you see anyone strange hanging around the house, try to write down a description. You might also talk to your neighbors, although it looks like there’s quite a bit of yard between you and the next house on this street.”
“My grandmother liked her privacy,” Morgan admitted, for the first time in her life she regretted that the house was on such a large parcel of land. As a child, she’d always loved having so much room to play on. Now it just made her feel isolated and alone.
“You might want to consider installing a home alarm system. There are a lot of wealthy old home owners in this area and the houses are far apart with plenty of foliage blocking the views in between. You’re a prime target for theft and other criminal activities.”
The police officer was obviously trying to be helpful, but every word added to the fear building back up inside her heart.
“Adding outdoor lighting would help as well. Get some tall spotlights around the perimeter of the yard and motion detection lights set up on each corner of the house.”
“A big dog might help,” the other man pointed out. “There are lots of dogs at the shelter near here that would be happy to scare off trespassers in exchange for a good home.”
“I have a cat.” As she made the claim, Morgan glanced towards the window and found Leo watching them all intently from just on the other side of the glass. He was glaring at the officers with an air of restless contempt.
“A dog would be better,” the officer replied, watching his companion putting on gloves before he picked up the box and began to carry it towards his vehicle. “You girls make sure you lock up when you go back inside.”
Morgan could sense the frustration roiling off from Rachel and Heidi as the two policemen got back into their car and left.
“Rachel, can I borrow your car?” Heidi asked. “I’m staying here tonight, but I’ll need a few things.”
“No,” Morgan frowned, “It’s not fair for you to put your own lives on hold because of me. I’ll be fine here by myself.”
“Yeah, well I’m not sure if I will be fine leaving you here by yourself,” Heidi growled. “I thought this nightmare was finally over, but it looks like we’re just starting the next chapter. Does anyone know how to contract a jail shivving?”
“That’s not funny,” Rachel told her.
“I wasn’t joking.”
“I really appreciate both of you being here for me through all of this,” Morgan assured them. “But I think he’s just trying to scare me with the boxes. Besides, it will take him some time to plan his next move. I think I’m safe, at least for tonight.”
Rachel slowly nodded.
“I think you’re right. He’s organizing all of this from a jail cell, which means he can’t make another move until he’s had time to meet with whoever is working for him on the outside.”
“Okay, so what are we going to do about it?” Heidi demanded.
“I guess tomorrow I’m going to call an electrician and have him install exterior lighting,” Morgan answered calmly. “Do either of you know how to go about setting up an alarm system?”
“Matt will know somebody,” Rachel assured her. “I’ll make sure that someone is out here first thing in the morning, okay?”
“I still think it would be easier and cheaper to have him shivved,” Heidi growled. “It would also make me feel better.”
“No it wouldn’t,” Morgan offered a sympathetic smile. “And not just because you’d be living the rest of your life running from the authorities in Mexico, missing all of our movie nights, and the dinner dates that are not really dates because they don’t end in hot and sweaty sex.”
“Well, when you put it that way.” Heidi scrubbed a hand over her eyes, brushing away the tears of frustration that were attempting to leak out. “You know how much I love watching you eat a light salad and pretend that it’s as good as the steak that I’m devouring.”
“I hate you,” Morgan laughed.
“I hate you too.” Heidi hugged her tight. “Now get your ass inside and lock the doors, okay? I want you to call me before you go to bed tonight and let me know that you’re okay.”
“You just want to talk dirty to me in bed.”
“Hell yeah I do! I’ll make sure that you’re all worked up and in the mood for a wet dream. Then you can call me again in the morning and tell me all about it.”
“Any chance I could get on that call list as well?” Rachel asked. “Of course, I’d feel better
if you’d just let one of us stay the night tonight. Preferably me, since Heidi has become so blood thirsty. She’s likely to shiv your mailman by mistake.”
“Not unless he looks like Craig, or attempts to deliver any plain brown packages.”
“That is my point exactly.”
“I promise to do conference calls tonight and tomorrow, now will you two go home? I need to feed my cat.” Morgan glanced to where Leo was still watching them through the window.
“Oh, that reminds me, I have some leftover steak in the car for him,” Rachel admitted. “I was hoping to win some brownie points, but I’ll just leave it for you to give him later. Or save it for yourself, you’ve lost too much weight lately.”
Morgan accepted the small take out box and waved goodbye to her friends, trying to shake off the feeling that she was making a mistake by not having at least one of them stay the night.
She honestly believed that Craig wouldn’t try anything so soon after this second delivery of death, but she always slept better when she knew that she wasn’t alone in the house.
Leo meowed and leaped down out of the windowsill to greet her as she entered the house and locked the door again behind her.
“At least I have you,” she told him. “Would you like some steak?”