A tap on her window made her jump. She’d been so wrapped up in trying to figure out everything that she hadn’t realized Chase had pulled up beside her. Pressing the power window button, it slid open.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about stuff.”
“No problem. Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
“For sure.” Pulling out of the parking lot, she took care to not lose him. Her house was about fifteen minutes from Aces and at that time of night traffic was a lot lighter than usual. Occasionally, she’d check her rearview and make sure he was still behind her. The whole while thinking how surreal the situation was.
When they got to her house, she pulled into the driveway and he parked at the curb. Before she had a chance to grab her bag from the back, he was already at her side and picked it up for her.
“Thanks. I could have gotten it.”
“I know. But I wanted to. You’ve had a rough evening, it’s the least I could do.” It was late and very dark, only streetlights and the ones above her garage and front door cast any illumination. Too dark to see his expression. Was he sarcastic or serious? She remembered how he’d often covered up his true feelings under the curtain of sarcasm and had done it well.
The porch light shone pale yellow over her front door, but she was fiddling with her keys instead of looking where she was going. Before she could step forward to unlock the door, he grabbed her shoulder to stop her. It was startling but more than that, it sent a bolt of electricity skidding along her nerve endings. Her breath hitched in her throat. Holy honey bees. That she hadn’t expected. Not from just a touch, but her body had other ideas.
“What’s wrong?” She glanced up at him, but he was staring at her door. “Oh my God. Is that…”
“Yeah, it is. Let’s get you inside, and I’ll take care of it.”
The tingle of desire she’d felt at his touch morphed into horror. Two squirrels were nailed to her front door in the shape of a heart, their blood leaving trails over the wood to the stoop. How sick did someone have to be to do that? And he wanted her to go inside? Was he kidding?
Her first instinct was to get the heck out of there as quickly as she could. He must have sensed her hesitation because he turned her away from the door and with the tip of a finger directed her focus to him.
“I’m sorry. But I’m glad you weren’t alone to find this. We’re going to go inside, but you’re going to stay by the front door while I check the house. Okay?”
She started to object, but common sense told her it was a good idea. What if the guy had gotten inside? Chase took her keys and unlocked the door. She tried to avoid looking at the poor dead animals as she went inside, but it was like a train wreck, and she couldn’t ignore it.
While she waited for him to make sure everything was okay, she thought about all the times she’d imagined him in her home. None of them had been to check for a stalker. A lunatic who seemed to be growing more unhinged by the minute. It was weird that he’d escalate so quickly after the slow build up. She had to be missing something. She had to know him or had some interaction with him. People just don’t pick arbitrary individuals to stalk. She learned that back in her first year of college.
“It’s all clear. It’ll be okay, baby, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Not only had he checked every room and all the closets, but he'd also turned on every light in the place. It was lit up like a Christmas tree, but she still had the creepy crawlies and wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. At least, if someone had been hiding, Chase would have found them. “Thank you.”
“It’s what I’m here for. It’s a nice place too, it fits you. While you pack some stuff, I’ll go take care of your front door. Will you be okay?”
“Yeah. I guess so. What are you going to do with them?”
“Bury them in the yard unless that’s a problem.”
“It’s fine.” Those poor little things had died on her account, she sure wasn’t going to object to her yard being their final resting place. Maybe she should look into getting a big, loud, mean dog. The stalker would have to think twice then, wouldn’t he?
“And don’t forget the box of goodies.”
“Huh?”
“The box of stuff from the stalker. If I’m done before you’re ready I want to take a look.”
“Don’t you want to wait until we get to Matthew’s?”
“I’m just going to read a few of them. Don’t worry, I’ll let him take the lead on this.” As she headed toward her bedroom, she could have sworn he added, ‘for now.’
*~*~*~*
Chase found a hammer and shovel in her garage. That made it a lot easier to pry the carcasses off the door. The asshole had nailed them on good. What kind of psycho would first kill and then nail them to her door in the shape of a heart?
The horror on Faith’s face was like a kick in the gut. His one job was to protect her. He was a professional. But so far, he’d done a piss poor job. He was in such a hurry to get her inside he never thought to check the perimeter before she got out of the car. He needed to keep his head in the game. Whoever was doing this needed to be caught sooner than later. He’d escalated to killing birds and animals, Chase didn’t want to think about what would be next.
Once the animals were buried in the yard, and he’d washed the blood off the front door, he went inside to check on Faith. “It’s just me. Everything’s all cleaned up.”
“Okay, good. I’ll be out in a minute, I’m just about done. The box is on the dining room table." He’d seen it when he came in. It was a lot larger than he’d expected. Figuring it would be a shoebox, he was surprised to see she’d used a box from a case of printer paper. She hadn’t been kidding about him leaving her notes almost every day. Personally, he was amazed she’d kept them. But he was glad. There might be something on them they could use to track him down.
As he went through the box, he was in front of the dining room window. What prompted him to look up he had no idea, but he did, and just in time to see a car slowly drive by. There was no mistake that whoever was driving was checking out Faith’s house. The car was moving too slow, and it was too late for there to be any other reason. “Be right back,” he yelled as he took off out the front door. If he couldn’t catch the car maybe he could at least get a license plate number.
The driver must have seen him run out the door, because he hit the gas as soon as Chase reached the driveway. “Damn it.” At least he had a description of the asshole’s car—a late model black mustang. And the way it took off it had to be turbo-charged. He was pissed that he’d only seen the first three letters of the California license plate. But three were better than nothing. Maybe combined with the description of the car they’d be able to track it down.
Faith was waiting near the front door when he went back inside. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. But I think your stalker was doing a drive by.”
“No way.” The color drained out of her cheeks, but he grabbed her before she collapsed. She’d had a hell of a night so far, and that was on top of dealing with all of this alone for six months. There was nothing he could do about the past, but he’d do whatever it took to protect her now.
“Baby, it’ll be okay, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight hoping she’d feel safe.
“How can you say that? You don’t even live here anymore. You can’t keep me safe.” Her voice hitched as she fought to hold back tears. Her pain was tearing him up inside, and setting off all his protective instincts.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Don’t be silly. You have a business to run.” She pulled out of his arms. The color slowly flowed into her cheeks. He was surprised she’d recovered so quickly. She was one tough cookie.
“It can run just fine without me there. You’re more important.”
“How can you say that. You haven’t
seen me for almost three years. All we shared was one kiss.”
“Faith, this isn’t the time or how I wanted to have this conversation. But I’m in love with you, I was in love with you then, and I never stopped loving you. If my head hadn’t been so far up my ass I couldn’t see daylight I would have realized it before I let you disappear from my life.”
“You’re right, this isn’t the right time. I can’t deal with it right now. I’m ready to go to Caroline’s.” He should have kept his big mouth shut, it was too much too soon, especially after the shock she’d just had. What the hell was wrong with him? He was thirty-six years old, not some horny eighteen-year-old. Wolf was going to have his ass in a sling before too long.
“You’re right, and I’m sorry. I seem to lose all sense around you. We’ll talk about it later.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s all good. Okay. I’ll grab the box and you… Holy crap. Are you moving out?”
She followed his gaze to her two large suitcases. “Umm, no. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not sure I’ll feel comfortable living here after tonight.”
He couldn’t blame her. But it was such an about face from earlier it surprised him. And there he was laying his feelings on her too. You’re an idiot, Brennan. “I understand. Okay, well, I’ll take your bags. Can you carry the box?”
“Of course. But I can…” His look must have conveyed his point, and she didn’t bother finishing her protest.
“We’ll take your car.”
“What about yours?”
“I’ll get someone to drive me over to pick it up later or tomorrow. I don’t think you should be alone or driving right now. And since I won’t win any discussion about leaving your car here, we’ll just do it this way.” He grinned, and she gave him the hint of a smile in return. It was a start, and he’d take what he could get.
Chapter Five
The porch light was on, just like the ad for the motel chain. Wolf must have been watching for them because as soon as Chase pulled into their driveway, the front door opened. Faith had to admit it was comforting to know they’d waited up for her. It was late, but luckily it was a Friday night, and none of them had to get up for work the next day. Although, the SEALs could get called for a mission, but there was no planning for that.
“What took you so long? You’re lucky I didn’t show up, especially when you didn’t answer your phone.,” Wolf said when he opened her car door. He didn’t even look surprised that Chase was driving her car.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry. It was in my purse, and I didn’t hear it ring.”
“That’s what Caroline said, and it’s the only reason I didn’t drive over there.”
“There were a few complications. But I want to get Faith inside, and then we can discuss it,” Chase said as he opened the trunk to get out her suitcases. Ugh, complications, yeah they could say it that way, but it would be months and months before she’d be able to close her eyes and not see the dead squirrels on her front door.
“Gotcha. Caroline made me stop at the store on our way home, so we have snacks too.” Snacks? Faith wasn’t sure she could swallow water, let alone food. But the low rumble in her stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten since lunch, and that was way too many hours ago.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Of course, I did. If Caroline wants something you know I’m going to do it.” He followed that with a wink and for a second Faith was envious of their relationship. They’d been through the ringer in the beginning, but no one would doubt that they’d lay down their lives for each other in a heartbeat. Love like that didn’t come around every day.
“C’mon, slow poke,” Chase teased as he came up behind her with the box of evidence. Great, while she’d been daydreaming, Wolf had grabbed her suitcases, and she was holding them up.
“Everything okay?” Caroline asked as they came through the door. Faith wasn’t sure who the question was directed toward, but she answered anyway.
“Yes, no, not really.”
“What happened?”
“Let’s sit down, and we can talk about it,” Chase interrupted.
“In the kitchen, so we can look at the items in that box,” Wolf added. “I’ll bring these downstairs. Be right up,” he said referring to Faith’s suitcases. Seeing her oversized bags in his hands made her wonder if she’d overreacted. Then she thought about the squirrels.
Caroline poured coffee for Chase and gave her a bottle of water when she asked. Then he dumped the contents of the box on the table. It hadn’t been full, but there was a lot of stuff in there. More than she realized after seeing it all in one place.
“All of that is from the stalker?” Caroline asked as she pulled out a chair to sit down.
“Yeah.” Faith wanted to kick her own butt for being so stupid to let this go on for so long. Maybe those innocent squirrels would still be alive if she’d done something. Ugh, the bird too. She’d been responsible for all that death when her whole focus was preserving life. She’d sure made a mess of things.
“Matthew, do you want coffee or something else?”
“Coffee, thanks.” He looked as surprised as the others when he saw the sheer number of notes she’d gathered.
After they had sat down at the table, Wolf and Chase pulled a few of the envelopes from the pile.
“You dated all of these?”
“Yeah. Was it stupid?”
“No, baby, it was brilliant. It will make it really easy to see the pattern of escalation.”
The use of the endearment threw her for a moment, then she realized he’d been doing since her house. When she met Chase’s eyes, he shrugged an apology. It wasn’t a big deal, right? It would be way too easy to give in and let him take care of this whole mess. Until it was time for him to go home, then she’d be in worse shape than ever. Yes, she’d be stalker free, but she wasn’t sure her heart would recover from losing Chase twice in one lifetime.
“Well, at least I did something right.”
“You do a lot of things right, you’re just too stubborn for your own good.”
“He sure knows you, huh?” Caroline commented with a grin.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Faith said, and they all laughed. It was good. She’d needed something to ease the tension in her shoulders. They’d been strung tighter than a guitar string.
“How about you tell us what happened at Faith’s?” As soon as the words sank in, her tension was back tenfold. The image of the squirrels was brought back tofront and center in her mind.
“The bastard killed a couple of squirrels and nailed them to her front door in the shape of a heart.”
“What?” Caroline looked as horrified as Faith still felt.
Wolf let out a low whistle. “No wonder Faith packed so much stuff. Two huge bags for a few days seemed excessive even for a woman.”
Caroline elbowed him in the side. “Hey watch it. We can’t all be SEALs and carry our life on our back.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not moving in, I promise. But I can’t go back there right now. Maybe ever. I don’t know how I’ll ever walk through that door without reliving it.”
“Don’t worry, you’re welcome here for as long as you want. Right, Matthew?”
“Thank you, I appreciate it more than you know.”
“You’re family, remember? When is that going to sink in?” Faith wished she knew. Family wasn’t something she was familiar with. Having grown up bouncing between foster group homes and living with her father when he wasn’t in jail.
“That reminds me. When I came in from burial duty, I caught a look at her stalker. At least I think it was, he was driving by too slowly for it to be anything else. I grabbed a partial, but he saw me and floored it before I could get the whole plate. I’ll call my guys in the morning and see what they can figure out.”
“Give it to me now, I’ll send it to Tex. Maybe he’s awake.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “It’s after two a.m., and he’s
married now. I don’t think you need to bug them.”
“He lives for this stuff. What are you talking about?” Wolf answered. This was the first Faith heard about the license plate, and as much as she didn’t want to bother anyone in the middle of the night, if they could figure out who owned the car it might be the first step in ending the nightmare.
“How about you email him the information instead of sending a text. If he’s awake fine, if he’s not, the email won’t wake him.”
“l’ll email the same info to my guys. We’ll see who gets back to us first. Of course, there’s the chance it’s a stolen car, and we’ll still be at square one,” Chase said.
“Damn.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get him. I promised, didn’t I?” Chase said, and that’s when she realized she’d said it out loud.
“I know. I was just hoping for a break.”
The guys took turns reading some of the notes out loud while Faith and Caroline organized the pile into chronological order. It took just over an hour to get through all of the notes. That’s when Faith realized he hadn’t left a note with her “present” at the house.
“You know, he’s left a note even if it was with something else like the dead flowers, or even the bird earlier. But we didn’t find a note at the house.”
“Or we missed it. Shit. I need to go back and see if I can find one.”
“I’ll go with you. We shouldn’t be long.”
“Great, it’ll give me a chance to pick up the rental I left at Faith’s too.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come?”
“No need, we’re just looking for a note. And I want to take a look around too,” Wolf answered. Chase nodded in agreement. She really didn’t want to go either, but she felt responsible.
“We’ll have girl time while they’re gone. I think wine is called for, don’t you?” Caroline said.
*~*~*~*
They’d barely made it out of the driveway before Wolf started the interrogation. Chase had expected it and wasn’t surprised at all. Faith was a close friend, and he’d inserted himself into the middle of everything.
Protecting Faith Page 4