by Adler
I tune him out and focus on the pictures. I nearly faint, I’m staring at pictures of me and Harrison in a variety of places. Holy shit! Placed on each of the pillows is a picture of Harrison asleep and then the same of me on the other pillow. I’m standing there gaping at the pictures when I realize that Bradley is standing right next to me gazing at the pictures on the pillows too. I turn to him and he doesn’t say a word, but I can see the muscle in his chiseled jaw flinching. I know that look, he’s mad.
“The police said not to touch anything else until they get here. Since it’s a nonemergency it could be a while.”
I nod, but I can’t make eye contact with him.
He proceeds to the bathroom.
“Um, Dani, you may want to come in here.”
With a sickening pit in my stomach, I walk to the bathroom. The intruder has decorated my bathroom as well. I follow Brad’s gaze and see pictures of myself and Harrison having sex on his veranda in the rain. All of the sudden I feel lightheaded and my body starts to sway. The last thing I remember is my head hitting the hard floor.
Chapter Seventeen
When I come to, I’m no longer in my master suite, but laying on my sectional in my living room with a wet dishtowel on my forehead. Off in the distance somewhere in my condo, I can barely here Bradley’s voice and it sounds like he is arguing with someone.
I move to sit up and feel a wave of nausea come over me. I decide to lay back down for a moment while I strain to hear what he’s saying or to make out who he’s talking to. My head is pounding so much that I really can’t hear over the ringing in my ears.
I do hear footsteps approaching and I turn my head to see that Bradley isn’t on the phone anymore, but he looks like he could punch a hole in the wall.
I sit up.
He nods toward me, “How’s your head?”
“Pounding, but hopefully nothing an ice pack and a little Advil won’t solve. What’s going on with the police?”
“I don’t know, but it’s really only been a few minutes since I called.”
“Oh.” I gingerly touch the lump on my forehead. Kind of a strange place to get a lump when I’m pretty sure I fell backward.
I move to get up but I kind of sway and feel unsteady.
“Dani, maybe you should stay put for a few minutes. Here, let me get you some ice for your head. Where’s the Advil?”
“Help me up and I’ll get it. I have some in the bathroom.”
“Well, that defeats the whole purpose of my getting things for you.”
“I know, but I don’t actually know where in the bathroom and you could be in there for quite a while looking for it.”
“Okay fine, let me help you into the room.”
“Geeze, Brad, I’m not an invalid!”
“I know you’re not, Dani, just let me help you.”
I let out an exaggerated sigh and he helps me to my feet. Once I’m standing, and sort of leaning on him, it isn’t so bad.
We re-enter my room and I can’t help but to gasp and go through the shock all over again. I start to notice the subject matter of all the pictures is frightening. Someone has been taking pictures of me for the last YEAR! There’s even a picture of me walking on the beach right after my divorce. And one of me talking to Simone outside of the building her loft is in. Then there are a few shots of me and Harrison getting off the plane in New York. I notice that Bradley is very silent again, and I follow his gaze and there at my feet is a picture of Bradley and some woman in an embrace. Oh, and next to that is a picture of Bradley handing me the flowers the opening day at the building last Thursday.
I quickly head into the bathroom and use the kitchen towel still in my hand, I carefully open the upper cabinet door hoping not to smudge any possible prints. There’s my Advil. Thank goodness. Although I’m wishing that I had a stronger option at this point. I turn to exit the bathroom when yet another picture catches my eye; there’s a picture of Harrison and I having sex on the deck in the hot tub from two nights ago in Hood River. As if the other picture of us in compromising situations isn’t enough, this is awfully recent. It’s clear to me that we have a stalker and I’m not sure what to do. So far, no signs of an actual threat. I don’t know much about this stuff, but I know one thing for sure. Someone is trying to send me a message or all of us a message. But, why?
I decide I had better call Harrison. This isn’t going to go well as he is most likely on a plane headed to Montreal right now. I’m likely to get his voicemail. I pull up his number and hit send. I wander back out to the living room and when Bradley follows me in, he frowns upon seeing that I’m on the phone.
“Who are you calling? I’ve already phoned this in to the police.”
“Seriously Brad, I know, I was lying over there when you called.” I gesture to the sofa.
“Right, sorry.”
“I’m calling Harrison. He needs to know what’s going on considering he’s part of this.”
Bradley frowns and walks back toward the kitchen.
As I predicted, after the fourth ring, Harrison’s voicemail answers. Fuck! The sound of his voice makes me feel tingly. Too bad it’s a recording and not the real thing. I feel a pang in my stomach, I miss him and I really need him right now. There, I’ve admitted it to myself.
“Harrison, it’s me, Danielle. Listen, something’s happened and I need you to call me as soon as you can, no matter the time. It’s not an emergency but it’s very urgent. Talk soon. Bye.”
Just as I hit end, there is a buzz on the intercom. Must be the Police.
I push the intercom button and a man on the other end announces himself as a detective from the Portland Police Department here about a potential break-in. I hit the buzzer to grant him access to the building. About two minutes later, there’s a knock at the door. Bradley opens it to admit three men dressed in street clothes.
The husky guy who is probably in his mid-40’s steps forward and introduces himself as Detective Burke. He introduces his sidekick, this six foot tall male version of Carol Channing as Detective Reese, and the crime scene tech as Detective Cranston. He must be the rookie, as he doesn’t look a day over 25.
I invite them to come in and they all produce latex gloves and snap them on in an instant. I’m a little taken aback. I’m in such shock over the intrusion, that I don’t think I’ve fully absorbed the ramifications.
I introduce Bradley and then ask them if they want anything to drink. I can tell that the young gun wants something, but the look Detective Burke shoots him changes his mind, so they all decline.
“Miss Austen, let’s get right to it. We got a call that you had a break-in. Let’s hear it.”
“Well, I was gone for the weekend and I got home around 5:00 PM, but I didn’t come straight up to my condo, first I went to my office around the corner. So, I guess I got up here around 5:45 PM. I opened all three of the deadbolts.” They all look at the door as I point to the locks. “When I came in after I set my belongings down, I noticed that the balcony door was standing wide open. I checked to see if anyone was on the balcony, but nobody was there. I shut the door and came in and called Bradley right away because it donned on me that someone could still be in here. He lives around the corner so he was here in less than five minutes.”
“Okay. I waited in the hallway for him and when he got here, we went back in. He checked out the pantry here, and then he looked in the hall closet, there.” I point to the closet and the rookie opens it and looks in. Then I lead them to the bedroom. “This is the real reason we called though.” I hear a collective gasp.
Then Burke clears his throat. “Uh, Cranston, go back to the car and get the kit and camera. Looks like we have evidence to log in.”
Cranston nods and then turns to me, “Say, can I borrow a book to prop open the lobby door so I can just let myself back in?”
“Oh sure, here let me get you something.”
I lead him back out to the living room area and grab a dictionary off the bookshelf. “Here
, this ought to do it.”
He thanks me and then heads out the door.
I return to my room.
“Miss Austen,” Burke begins, but I interrupt him.
“Please, call me Danielle.”
“Do you have any idea why someone would break into your condo, plaster pictures of you and your, uh, boyfriend all over your bedroom and bathroom?”
“No, not a clue. I don’t have any enemies that I know of, my ex is standing here, and we’re on decent terms. Besides, you would never do this kind of thing would you, Brad?” I say as I turn to him.
“Of course not.” He nervously chuckles. “Besides, I seem to be part of the subject matter as well.” He starts to reach over to pick up a picture of himself when Detective. Burke grumbles at him.
“Son, that’s evidence, don’t touch.”
Brad straightens his back and nods.
The detective turns to Brad, gives him the look over and says, “Bradley, is it?” Brad starts to speak, but Burke interrupts, “Yeah, why don’t you see what you can do to help Cranston while I get some details from Danielle here.”
Brad nods again and turns to exit the room. Then he turns around and says “Detective, what do you think all of this means?” He gestures at the room filled with hundreds of pictures.
“I’m not exactly sure, but I plan to find out.”
With that, Brad leaves the room. I can hear him in the kitchen talking to Cranston.
Burkes turns to me. “I’m going to need the names of all the people in those pictures as well as locations of the pictures and if you can also establish a date of when you think the picture was taken, that would be helpful too.”
I gulp. It’s mortifying enough that pictures of Harrison and I doing intimate things to each other are here for everyone to see, but now they’re going to be taken into evidence, and subject to others seeing. I’ve never even taken my clothes off at a nude beach, much less had sex in a conspicuous place. The absolute worst part is that someone had entered Harrison’s penthouse last Friday morning between 5:00 AM and 8:00 AM, because I recall that Harrison had gotten up earlier than I had. It’s so creepy to think that someone is so twisted that they would invade someone when they are at their most vulnerable. Sleeping.
Once again, I must have drifted off into my thoughts for too long because Burke starts looking at me with expectant eyes. We set to work on the hundreds of pictures. He would pick up a picture with his gloved hands, put a sticker on the back and then write a number, then he would inventory it on a sheet he had on a clipboard. Then I would tell him who the people were, not hard to do as it was mainly Harrison and I with a couple of Brad and Simone. I had to get the name of the woman Brad was embracing in one of the pictures from Bradley in the other room. As it turns out, it was an old college friend. It wasn’t an intimate embrace, but it did look questionable at first glance. There were a lot of duplicate pictures so those helped to reduce the workload a little, but it still took a couple of hours to complete.
While Burke, and I work on that, Reese works with Cranston on taking pictures, looking for any evidence and taking lots of fingerprints around my condo. They have to take mine and Bradley’s for latent prints references. Once Burke and I finish with the pictures, he tells me that he has a few more questions for me. We sit down on the sofa sectional in the living room.
Brad fetches us each a glass of water while we wrap up the rest of the questions and the other detective and rookie finish the pictures and fingerprinting in the bedroom.
I look at Burke. I know that he knows who Harrison is. I decide to broach the subject.
“Detective Burke. I have a concern about the discretion that needs to be exercised in this case. I’m a very small interior decorator trying to build my business. I’m sort of seeing Harrison Towers.” Burke interrupts with a chuckle, “I’ll say.” I flash him a drop-dead scowl.
“Look Danielle, I think I know where you’re going with this. We are very familiar with Mr. Towers, he is a large benefactor of the policeman’s fund and in good standing with City Hall. I can assure you that we will handle this with tact and keep it confidential.”
“I appreciate that and I know for certain Harrison will appreciate that as well.”
“I’ll admit, I’m puzzled by this case. You’ve had no threatening letters, phone calls, emails or anything of the sort. Do you suppose that this was directed at you or Mr. Towers?”
“Honestly, I have no idea at this point. I’m still stunned and I’m really having a hard time processing this.” I look at the clock on the fireplace mantle and am not surprised that it’s after 10:00 PM. Hopefully, I will hear from Harrison sometime soon.
I look over at Bradley and he too looks bushed. I’m hoping we will be done here soon, as it seems we both could use a break.
As Burke stands up, the other two come out of the bedroom. They’ve finished their before and after shots of the bedroom. They announce that they’re done.
Burke turns to me as we all walk to the front hall by the kitchen. He pulls a business card out of his shirt pocket, hands it to me, and then hands one to Bradley. “If you can think of anything else that may help, please do not hesitate to contact me.” We both nod. “Also, if you think of anyone else who may have access to your condo I need to know.”
“I can assure you that I will.”
“Another thing, since there was no forced entry that means that someone either has key access or they figured out how to scale this brick building and help themselves to your balcony, which I seriously doubt unless they’re related to Spiderman, you know!” He chuckles, and I just look at him. How can he joke about this? “Anyway, I suggest you find somewhere else to sleep tonight. We just don’t have very much to go on, so better play it safe. Oh, and I just thought of something, besides you and your ex here,” he nods his head toward Bradley, “Who else has been in this condo in the last week?”
“Well, nobody. Oh wait, Harrison Tower’s personal valet Philippe and my cleaning lady, she comes on Mondays.”
“Okay, since it’s late, why don’t you email me with their contact information tomorrow?”
“Sounds good. Thank you for coming, Detectives.”
Cranston laughs, “It’s our pleasure.” Burke shoots him the stink eye.
Reese elbows him in the ribs and rolls his eyes.
Burke shakes Bradley’s hand, and then mine and then he leaves. I lock the bolts, then sink to the floor, and stare straight ahead. Standing over me, Bradley gives me a sympathetic smile.
“You’re staying at my place tonight. Let’s get your things and get going. I’m beat!” I start to protest, but really, I don’t feel like checking into a hotel at this late hour. I couldn’t very well help myself to Harrison’s again. The last time I stayed there, alone, he hadn’t taken up occupancy yet, so it felt like a demo home, not someone’s personal space. Now I know firsthand how it feels to have your personal space invaded. Speaking of which, I had completely forgotten the whole reason I stayed at Harrison’s last week was because I had been spooked in the parking garage. When I email Burke tomorrow with Philippe and my cleaning lady’s info, I’ll have to mention that too.
I stand up with Bradley’s outreached hand as a way to steady myself. The room starts to spin and the bump on my head resumes its throbbing. I feel my stomach grumble and it occurs to me that I haven’t eaten since brunch with Harrison. Wow, was that today? It seems like it was an eternity ago, not this morning.
I gather up fresh clothes and essentials into my overnight bag. I’m starting to feel like a vagabond. I haven’t slept in my own bed since last Tuesday. I’m really missing my luscious bedding and Tempurpedic. Of course, it would be even tastier if I had Harrison sharing it with me. I’ve so enjoyed waking up in his arms the last three mornings in the divine 1200 thread count bedding.
I rejoin Bradley in the entry hall. I indicate the books and my laptop are things that he can carry, and with that, I lock the bolts and we leave.
; I’m shocked to find out that he literally lives four blocks away from my condo.
“Why didn’t you tell me you lived so close? I mean, you told me last week that you had moved to the Pearl, but you didn’t tell me we practically live in the same building.”
“I tried, but they didn’t have anything available.” He gives me a cheesy smile.
“Haha, very funny. I do wish you’d told me though.”
“Dani, I tried. You refused to take my calls and you thwarted my other attempts at contact. How else was I supposed to tell you, smoke signals?”
“Okay, I get it.”
We arrive at his loft and I plop onto his sofa. He offers me a glass of wine that I gratefully accept. He pulls out some leftover pizza that we both greedily devour.
“Dani, I think it’s time to hit the sack. Did you see that it’s almost midnight? I have to hit the road to Spokane around 8:00 so I’ll need to get up and running around 7:00, can you handle that?”
“Oh totally, I have a 9:00 in Lake Oswego, so I’ll need to get rolling as well. I’m not as prepared as I’d wanted to be since I didn’t get to do any work, so maybe if I get up when you do I can do a little prepping.”
“Okay then. I’ll set my phone alarm and get us both up. You can take my bed, I’ll take the sofa.”
“You don’t have to do that. You’ve done more than enough, I’m happy to take the sofa.”
“I won’t hear it, Dani. Now go, get to bed and try to turn that pretty little head of yours off and get some sleep.”
“Thanks, Brad. You’ve really come to my aid.” I give him a kiss on his cheek, grab my bag and head into the bedroom.
Once in bed, I plug in my phone charger. It’s 11:48 PM. I reach up and turn the light off.