Reese swore under his breath. “I hate lawyers sometimes.”
“Me too.”
“So, what is Curtis’s last name?”
“Tomlinson.”
“And he still lives in Fairview?”
“As far as I know,” Bri answered, looking out toward the town square. “I had really hoped that I would be safe here.”
Reese covered her hand with his. “You are. I will find him. I promise you.”
9
Reese hung up the phone and let out a litany of swear words.
"What's wrong with you?" Danvers asked from his desk.
"That was Mrs. Hutchins's son. There was another prowler out there last night."
"There is some weird stuff going on here, Reese."
"I wish we could get a line on it and soon," Reese growled. "I really don't have time for this."
Danvers frowned at him, tilting his head. "You don't have time for police work?"
"That's not what I meant."
"So, what did you mean? Explain it to me.”
"I don't know. These petty break-ins and prowling calls are driving me nuts. We have more important cases that we need to be working on."
It wasn't just the break-ins and prowling calls that were bugging Reese. He was extremely worried about Bri. More than anything he wanted to protect her, but there was only so much he could do to keep her safe--short of locking her up in a closet somewhere. He was trying to investigate Curtis Tomlinson, but he kept getting called away for these other investigations and it was really frustrating him.
He had already put in an inquiry with the Fairview Police Department to see if there were any other complaints against Tomlinson. Of course, with his dad being a lawyer, it's possible that none of those would even show up on a basic inquiry. At some point in time, Reese would have to find the time to call and actually talk to somebody to see if the name popped up for anyone.
It had been four days since the strange car had been seen parked near Bri's apartment and Bri had confided in Reese that she feared that her stalker was her ex-boyfriend. Luckily, in that time, nothing else had happened either. Reese did not count on that continuing and was trying to do what he could to track him down.
He was having a hard time finding a free moment because, while Bri’s case was concerning, it was just one of the many issues that were plaguing the Sampson’s Quarry PD. At this point, the ongoing break-ins and the prowling calls had higher priority due to their volume and frequency. Reese was doing his best to do both, but he didn’t feel like he was gaining ground against either problem.
“Where are you going?” Danvers asked when Reese stood up.
“I’m heading over to the florist shop. Ms. Andris called earlier and I need to follow up. I am heading over there now.”
“All right, man. Keep me posted.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Reese said and headed out the door.
Reese was walking down Finley when a woman came out of a store right in front of him. He stepped to the side quickly to avoid running into her.
"Oh! Detective Reese, I'm so sorry."
"Haley, not your fault. My mind was elsewhere so my apologies." He realized it was a good opportunity to ask Haley about Bri. "I was wondering if I could talk with you for a few minutes."
Haley glanced back into the store before saying, "Sure, what can I help you with?"
Reese opened his mouth and paused, not sure where to start. "It's about Bri. I am worried about her safety. As you know, there seems to be a rash of strange events surrounding her. Bri told me about her ex-boyfriend, Curtis Tomlinson. I was wondering if you could tell me a little about him."
"There you are," someone called out, and he turned to see Lucas coming out of the same store to join Haley. He looked up at Reese suddenly, as though he had just noticed him standing there. "Oh, hey, Reese. How's it going?"
Haley made a face at Lucas. "Detective Reese wants to know what we think of Curtis?"
"Tomlinson?" Lucas asked. Haley and Reese both nodded. "I only met him a few times but I couldn't stand the guy."
"Oh?" Reese responded, hoping that they would elaborate.
"I didn't like him either." Haley shook her head. "I tried to like him in the beginning. I really did, but I really could not deal with how he treated Bri. He was always correcting her and he was horribly condescending. That was in front of us; I could only imagine how bad he was when nobody was around."
Reese was trying to be professional, but the more he heard about Curtis Tomlinson the more he wanted to find him and pound him into the ground. "What did Bri say about it?"
"I never said anything to Bri. I didn't want to upset her or somehow make things worse. She was already starting to second-guess herself.”
“What do you mean?” Reese asked, guessing the answer but hoping Haley could explain.
“I think he was trying to gaslight her. She would tell him something and then later he would say she never mentioned it.” Haley squinted and looked up. “There was this one time I was over there and Bri told him that she would be late coming home that Friday night. She and I were going to go see a movie or meet up with friends, I can’t remember. So, Friday night she gets home and he’s waiting at her apartment furious because, according to him, she never told him that we were going out.”
“But you were there when she told him?”
“Yes." It was clear that the entire situation had irritated her. "I totally remember it. I thought it was strange at the time because she sounded more like she was asking his approval rather than just letting him know that she wouldn’t be there. That really wasn’t the only time he did it either. He did stuff like that over and over again.”
"Until Bri wasn't quite sure what she had or hadn't told him," Reese guessed.
"Exactly."
Lucas had been listening and suddenly said, “Why are you asking about him? Do you think he has anything to do with what’s been going on? The hang-up calls, the slashed tires, and the random cars following her?”
Normally, Reese would not talk about an ongoing investigation, but he felt they needed to know certain details in order to keep Bri safe. “I am doing my best to track down every lead. Bri has told me about the problems that she had with Curtis after their breakup. It would not be surprising for it to be him since he stalked her in Fairview.”
Haley gasped and Lucas stepped forward. “What do you mean, stalked her? He was following her in Fairview?”
Reese was surprised that Haley and Lucas had not known about Curtis’s behavior in Fairview, although he had gathered that Bri's brother had only recently moved back. “I assumed that you knew. As you probably know, he did not take the breakup well. He would not leave her alone, calling and following her, even stopping by her work.”
“She should have said something. We could’ve gotten a restraining order against him,” Lucas said looking pained.
“I’m kind of talking out of turn here, but she did try to get a restraining order against him.” Reese had at least been able to confirm that piece of information.
“I bet his father stepped in and put the kibosh on it,” Haley suggested.
Reese nodded. “That’s exactly what happened. And according to Bri, the entire proceeding was turned around that she had somehow been the cause of it all; that he was so heartbroken over their breakup that he acted out of character.”
“That's ridiculous!” Haley protested.
“That really doesn’t surprise me at all,” Lucas said. “You see that all the time. It’s a bunch of BS.”
“I hate that she didn’t tell us about this." Haley shook her head. "I feel like a terrible friend."
“Don't think that," Lucas told her. "You know how Bri can be. She is independent and impulsive. I’m sure she thought that she could handle it herself.”
“That is exactly what she thought,” Reese said. “That’s why she hasn’t said anything about the strange things that have happened since she moved here. She didn't
tell me about everything until after she realized that she might be putting people like you and Nancy in danger."
Haley shook her head. “She hasn’t mentioned any of it to us. Although I guessed some of it, at least the calls and that she moved away from Fairview to get away from him.”
“I don’t like this at all,” Lucas said.
“Neither do I.” Reese pulled out his notebook. “Is there any information about Tomlinson that you can give me? Like his address or where he is working?”
“I don’t know his address, although his dad lives in Welling Heights. It’s an exclusive neighborhood in Fairview. At one point, he was working as a manager of a restaurant near downtown. It’s called Deck Five.”
Reese wrote the name down and then looked up. “Why does that sound familiar to me?”
“I believe it was the last place that Alexa Hamilton was seen before her disappearance.”
“That’s right.” Reese looked up from his notebook. “Kind of a weird coincidence, isn’t it?”
“This whole thing is weird,” Lucas said. “What can we do to keep Bri safe?”
“She’s not making it easy for sure.” Reese shrugged. “My recommendation is the buddy system. I think she'll be safe as long as she isn't alone. Tomlinson has yet to be seen in Sampson’s Quarry. If he is the one behind all of this, then it seems that he doesn’t want anyone to see him.”
“She’s not going to like us hovering around her,” Haley pointed out.
“I know,” Reese said. “I have patrol cars that are crisscrossing her path to and from work so that we can minimize her accessibility without her really knowing that we are there.”
“Okay, we’ll try to make sure that we’re at the apartment when she is there.”
Reese looked at his watch. “I’m sorry, I have an appointment to get to. I’ll keep you posted on things, and please don’t hesitate to call me if you think of anything else.”
“We will,” Lucas said.
“Reese?” He turned back to Haley and she said, “Find him. Before he finds her.”
“I will, Haley. I promise.”
“What’s this?” Bri had just gotten home and she found Haley in the kitchen.
“Hey,” Haley said closing the oven. She was wearing pajama pants and a pink tank top, and her hair was in braids. “Go change. Dinner is almost ready.”
“Okay.” Bri looked around the apartment. “Where’s Lucas?”
“He is at the library. When we were in town we stopped at the post office and Byron said that there were some articles at the library talking about the tree farm. Lucas wanted to do some research on the property before he goes out there. Did you know that it has been here in Sampson’s Quarry since about 1875?”
“No, I had no idea.” Bri leaned against the counter, enjoying hearing Lucas and Haley talk about Sampson’s Quarry like they had been living there for a long time. “That’s fascinating.”
Haley waved an oven mitt at her in a shooing motion. “What are you still doing here? Go change.”
“All right, all right!” Bri chuckled as she crossed the living room to her bedroom. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she trusted that Haley had everything under control. Bri changed out of her skirt and blouse and into a pair of comfortable shorts and an oversized T-shirt.
She came out of the bedroom just as Haley was setting up a big platter on the coffee table. “Viola! My famous nachos.”
“Wow! I haven’t had these in so long.” Bri dropped down onto the couch. She pulled a cheese-laden chip from the platter and took a big bite. “This is so good.”
Haley laughed and then pointed at two bowls. “There's sour cream and guacamole too.”
“Yes!” Bri scooped up a little of each and added it to her plate. “What made you think of making these?”
“Well, I realized that we haven't actually gotten a chance to hang out and have a girls’ night. That was the whole point of me coming to visit you. I just wanted a chance to catch up with you.”
“I’ve been wanting us to have a girls' night too,” Bri confessed.
“Luckily, Lucas had something to do tonight.”
“I hope he doesn’t think he has to camp out at the library all night. I mean I really want to hang out with you, but I don’t want him to suffer for it.”
"I don't know. He was pretty excited about going to the library." Haley shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll show up at some point in time.”
Haley turned on the TV and found some reruns of their favorite Star Trek series. They were halfway through the first episode when Haley said, “So tell me why you really moved to Sampson’s Quarry.”
“What?” Bri had just taken a sip of her Coke and nearly spit it out over the table.
"Sorry," Haley said when Bri started coughing. “I know you said it was because Nancy offered you a job but I know it’s more than that. Something had to have happened to make you apply somewhere outside of Fairview.”
“No, I…” Bri could see on Haley’s face that she wasn’t buying any of that. With all of the things that had gone on since Haley and Lucas had arrived, it wasn’t likely that Haley would believe anything but the truth.
Bri set her plate down on the coffee table. “All right. I left Fairview because Curtis was making my life miserable. I broke up with him but he wouldn't leave me alone. He was calling me and coming to my work. Then he started following me too; it was completely horrible.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Haley asked. Bri couldn’t get over the hurt look on her best friend’s face.
“I don’t know. I guess it was because I was embarrassed. I felt so stupid for even being with him in the first place. I hoped that if I could just get rid of him, then I could act like it never happened at all.”
Haley nodded, still looking upset. “I get that. You should have trusted in me though. I would never think you were stupid.”
“I knew that you didn’t like Curtis but I didn’t really understand why. There was this one moment when he was yelling at me about something and it just hit me. It was like I suddenly stepped back, and I could see what he was doing, see him as he really was. I was second-guessing everything I was doing and that was just one more thing.”
Haley groaned in frustration. “I can’t tell you how much I want to beat the crap out of him right now.”
“I have felt like that for months.” Bri smiled. "I took self-defense classes the first three months that I was here."
“Good for you. You'll have to teach me.” Haley leaned over and picked up Bri’s plate off the table and handed it back to her. “Do you think he is behind the weird stuff here?”
Bri thought about saying no but knew that for Haley’s own safety she needed to be truthful. “Yes. I do think he is behind all of this. Reese has been working on trying to locate him, but so far he hasn’t had much luck. Hopefully, he can find something that will tie him to either the slashing of my tires or the brake line.”
“I hope so too.”
“Otherwise, without some solid evidence, his dad will simply get the charges dropped again.”
“Again?” Haley asked, staring at the television.
“I tried to get a restraining order against him but his father came in and caused a big scene. By the end of the hearing, I was characterized as evil and manipulative. Curtis came across like some heartbroken guy. It was ridiculous.”
“I’m so sorry. I really wish you would have confided in me.”
“I know, Haley. I really thought he would stop and there would be nothing to tell.” Bri leaned over and hugged her. “Don’t worry. I won’t let it happen again. From now on you will be in the loop.”
“Thank goodness,” Haley said with a laugh. “Now tell me all about Reese.”
Bri felt her face turn red. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on, don’t think I haven’t noticed you checking out the detective's backside.”
“Haley!” She tried to sound shocked but started to laugh. Bri h
ad really missed these moments since she had moved away. "All right. I admit it. I am more than a little interested in Detective Reese."
“I knew it!” Haley laughed. “By the way, I totally approve.”
“Thanks,” Bri said to Haley, hoping her friend understood it was for more than just approving of her feelings for Reese.
Haley leaned her head on Bri’s shoulder. “Anytime.”
10
“I can’t believe that you got here before me,” Bri called out to Lucas before slamming her car door shut. They were both parked off the road next to a white wooden- pole fence that ran along the road, split by the entrance of a dirt driveway. Large trees grew on the other side of the fence and a large, white farmhouse could be seen at the end of the driveway.
Lucas had been staring down the driveway but turned to her to say. “I have only been here a few minutes. Haley’s insurance company was much more cooperative than I had expected.”
“You were ready to yell?” Bri guessed.
Her brother laughed. “I really was. When the woman at the front desk said that we could pick up the rental car at any time I said ‘thank you’ very forcefully.”
“Thank goodness, I am not the only one who does that.” Bri glanced around. “Where’s Haley?”
“She stayed in Sampson’s Quarry. She has another meeting with Doug Crandall.”
“That’s good. Did he like her portfolio?” Bri asked as they began to walk up the driveway.
“I think so. Haley dropped it off about two days ago and Doug called her back this morning after you dropped us off in town.”
“It’s definitely a good sign that he called her back in again.”
“I think so too,” Lucas said, but she could tell he was distracted as he looked around at the property.
“The main house up at the end of the driveway has six bedrooms, a large family room, a separate kitchen, and three and a half bathrooms.”
“It’s a big house. I saw some old photos of it when I was doing my research at the library.”
Bri looked at her notes. “Right. From what I understand it needs a bit of work but it is structurally sound.”
Escape to Sampson's Quarry (A Sampson's Quarry Mystery - Book Two) Page 8