Her first response was to laugh. The photo editing wasn’t badly done, but it was obvious the image had been altered. Then she read the accompanying text: Zoey Hardesty is a slut and a whore, and moonlights as a hooker.
Every post was an angry response from Zoey’s friends.
Her phone rang with Eva’s ringtone. “You looked, didn’t you?”
“How could I not? But wow, me as a pole dancer. Not in my wildest dreams have I ever had boobs that big.”
“I’m so sorry. Brad called the mayor to find out who administers the page and said they better take the post down. He said he’ll file a complaint with the site.”
“Okay.” Zoey refused to be embarrassed, but her initial urge to laugh was chased away by burgeoning anger. She pressed a couple of buttons. “I took a screenshot. This is really weird. Obviously, someone has anger issues. I don’t expect everyone to like me, but there’s a lot of mean in this post. It feels like high school bullying. I can’t think of anyone I’ve ticked off who would take it to this level.”
“I just got a text from Brad. Refresh your screen.”
Zoey did, and the image disappeared. She let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding.
A loud rapping sounded from her front door followed by Lucy scrambling to her feet.
“The post is gone. I have to go. There’s someone at the door.” She pushed herself up from the bed.
“Don’t answer it!”
“Why not?” Eva’s panicked response had Zoey hesitating.
She’d never felt nervous in her home before, even after her porch had been vandalized, but now caution had her hanging back. She walked into her darkened living room, phone in hand, then paused, staring at the door. She was glad she’d pulled the curtains shut, something she didn’t always remember to do.
“Zoey, you still there?”
“I’m here.”
“Don’t open the door. It could be the crazy person who put up that post. Call Levi.”
“I don’t have his number.”
A voice called out from the other side of the door, one she recognized. “Zoey, open up. It’s me.”
“It’s Levi. I’m fine, Eva, but thanks for being there for me.”
“That’s what BFFs do. Promise me you’ll be careful.”
Zoey reached for the knob on the front door. “I’ll be careful. Gotta go.”
She pulled open the door. Levi stood on the other side, two-day beard, mussed hair, blue eyes blazing. Damn hot and sexy.
Despite the cool nighttime temperature, he wore only dark sweatpants and a white t-shirt that clung to his pecs, none of which detracted from the face of one pissed-off male.
“Can I come in?”
She stepped back, pushing Lucy out of the way, then shut the door after Levi.
“You saw the post?” His cop face was intimidating: sharp, focused eyes, lowered brows, and lips turned down at the corners.
“I did. Eva texted me. It’s been taken down.”
“Anything like that ever happen before?”
Zoey shook her head. “I keep a low profile on social media. Whoever posted it must be from Hangman’s Loss.” She shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious in the tank top and short shorts she wore to sleep. “I’ve been here nearly two years, and I can’t think of anyone I’ve made angry enough for this.”
“It could be someone from town, but it could also be someone from your past who knows you’re living here now.” He speared fingers through his hair, the first break in his cop demeanor. “Look, I’m on duty at seven tomorrow morning. I have to be at the station for morning roll call, but after that I want you to come in so I can ask you some questions formally. I’ll be recording the conversation. I’m adding this post to my investigation of the hit-and-run and the porch vandalism.”
She shook her head. “I have to go to work. I’ll be in the field all day.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
“I get a Forest Service truck and drive out to Virginia Lakes, and from there hike to a couple of different talus slopes and continue my study of the pika.”
“You do this solo?”
“Usually, but not all the time. Some days I have another wildlife biologist with me. But I always take Lucy. Since the forecast said it’ll get into the eighties, I’m planning on an early start to get ahead of the heat.”
“What time will you be back?”
“No later than two or three.”
“Come to the station when you get off.”
When she nodded, Levi reached for the door, then paused. “Do you have my phone number?”
She shook her head, then unlocked her phone’s screen and opened her contact list. She typed in his name and gave him her phone so he could add his number. He tapped, then swiped and tapped again before handing it back.
“I put in my personal number and my department cell number. I carry both phones with me. I also sent your number to my phone.” His gaze sharpened. “I’ve already talked to Brad. The cottage is going to be wired with an alarm system. He’ll be in touch to work out when it will be installed.”
“That’s going to be expensive. I wish you had talked to me first.”
“You’re a tenant. You should expect your landlord to take reasonable precautions to keep you safe.”
“Right. Okay. I guess that makes sense.”
“I want you safe, Zoey. We’ll figure out what’s going on, but anything that looks off, trust your instincts and call nine-one-one, then call me. Don’t talk yourself into thinking it’s nothing.”
She nodded. He stared. She sighed. He left.
After she closed the door, dread formed an uneasy knot in her stomach. The nasty post was unsettling, no doubt. But talking to Levi made her wonder if he was right in thinking there could be a connection between that and the other things that had happened to her.
She turned the deadbolt then went to the kitchen and made sure that door was also securely locked.
When she finally settled back into bed, she found herself listening for any sound from outside. Knowing that Levi was in his cabin only a short distance away helped ease some of her anxiety. Plus, Lucy was an excellent alarm system and deterrent.
Still, it took a long time for Zoey to settle enough to fall asleep.
***
With a yellow legal pad in front of him, Levi propped up an iPad, tapped the screen, then adjusted the angle.
“Camera app is open, but I’m not recording yet.”
“Is it really necessary to record this? I feel like I’m a suspect being interrogated.”
“You’re not a suspect in anything. Recording this interview is the best way to make sure I have an accurate record of everything you say, and it can help me formulate follow-up questions later.”
“Right.” She tapped her fingers on the table.
They were both in uniform: Levi’s a dark navy blue, hers the dark green pants and khaki of the Forest Service. She was glad she didn’t have to wear a bulletproof vest under her shirt.
“Do you want something to drink? Coffee, soda, water?”
“No, I’m good. Let’s get this done.”
“Okay, I’m hitting record now.”
Zoey shifted and tried not to stare at the iPad.
“Tell me about the woman who goes by the name Karma. Her real name is Wanda Patterson by the way.”
“Ha.” Zoey gathered her thoughts. “I already told you all I know about her. I think she focused on me to pick on because I was new in town and didn’t know anyone else in the class. Classic bullying crap.”
“And you never saw her outside of the yoga class? Grocery store, bank, post office?”
She shook her head. “She behaves like a high school mean girl, and the LookBook post certainly had a mean girl element, but a hit-and-run is a huge step up from that.”
“Agreed.”
Levi pressed her, asking several more questions about Wanda Patterson, aka Karma, but in the end, there was nothing
more that Zoey could add.
“Is she a suspect?”
“Not at this time. I spoke to her this morning. She’s a piece of work. Denied the bullying, said you were too thin-skinned if you went to the police about anything she said. Didn’t have any explanation for her behavior.”
“I think most bullies don’t understand their motivations.”
“I believe it. About the post, the settings for the city page allows anyone to post, which is incredibly stupid and will be changed.”
“That’s one of those things that people figure are no big deal until they are.”
“We’re working on tracing who put it up. It appears to be someone who made up a profile within the last week.” Levi tapped his pen on the table. “Let’s try a different angle. Think back to high school. Did anything happen while you lived here that made you feel like you were being targeted?”
“You think this goes back to high school?”
“I’m looking at all the possibilities. Anyone come to mind?”
She tried to keep her expression neutral. “No. Kids pretty much left me alone.”
He narrowed his gaze. “What about guys. Anyone come on to you that you rejected?”
“Geez, no.”
“Any bad breakups?”
“No.”
“How about breakups period?”
“I didn’t have boyfriends when I was in high school. I went out with a few guys, but nothing came of it.”
“I’ll need their names.”
“Really?” She raised her hand before he could respond. “Never mind. There was a guy I went to the movies with a couple of times.” Her brow furrowed. “Honestly, I don’t remember his name. Jason something, or maybe it was Josh. Oh.” She smiled. “I did go out with Diego.”
“Wait. You went out with Diego?”
“Yeah. He didn’t seem to mind the funky hair or the eyebrow piercing.”
“Diego Jones? You went out with Diego Jones?” Levi’s shocked expression was almost comical.
“Yep, Diego Jones. You remember him, don’t you? He’s married to your cousin Eva. I don’t know why you’re so surprised. We were in the same year, and he was cute. Still is. We went to prom together junior year.” Part of the reason she and Diego had never developed anything deeper was Zoey had been hung up on Levi, even though he’d left for college. She certainly wasn’t sharing that little tidbit.
“So you did have a boyfriend.”
“No, we never got to that point. We shared a few kisses, then decided we liked each other better as friends. That’s all there was between us.”
“Huh.” Levi was staring at the notepad where he’d made a few notes. “Okay.” He appeared to have to make an effort to mentally gather himself. “Was there anyone who paid you particular attention? Teachers, coaches, neighbors?”
Zoey hesitated, then shook her head.
“No one?”
“Nope.”
Expression thoughtful, Levi leaned back in his seat, gaze steady on hers. “The only way this will work is if you tell me everything, even if it makes you uncomfortable.”
She closed her eyes for a brief moment. Trust Levi to pick up on that split second of hesitation. “It’s not relevant.”
“At this point, everything is relevant.”
Counseling had helped her deal with her past, but that didn’t mean she wanted to unlock those memories where she’d stashed them away.
“Would you prefer someone else asking the questions? I could get Monica if you want a woman.”
She shook her head. “You’re the only person I’ll talk to.”
“You can trust me, but you can also trust anyone in this department.”
“Cops always say you can trust them. But that’s not always true.”
He tapped the iPad screen. “I stopped the recording. Let’s get this out there. I’m not only a cop, Zoey. We’re friends, and I’ll be honest, I’d like to be more than friends. Either way, I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”
His admission gave her a jolt and had warmth stealing up her cheeks. “Um, okay.”
“You want to tell me what you’re holding back?”
She chewed her lip, then took a steadying breath. “I don’t want this part recorded.”
He nodded, then pushed back from the table. “I’ll be right back.”
He left the room, returning a moment later with two chilled water bottles, and set one on the table in front of her.
“Thanks.” She twisted the lid off and took a sip, glad for the brief reprieve before carefully screwing the lid back on. Levi sat back down across the table from her. “I’ll tell you, and I figure once I do, you’ll want to investigate.” She shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to live with that.”
“Tell me, then we’ll decide.”
She took another steadying breath and began, choosing her words carefully. “Remember when I told you that I left the Loss halfway through my senior year?” He nodded, and she went on. “There was more to it than Mom getting a job in Fresno.”
Zoey hated feeling vulnerable, and that’s how talking about this made her feel. She forced herself to press on. “Mom’s boyfriend had been living with us for several months. His name was Paul. At first he seemed cool. He’d take us out for pizza, or we’d go out on the lake in his boat. He taught Charlie how to fish. He knew computers, and he and Charlie would build them together. I think Mom liked that Charlie had a male role model who seemed to really care about him.” She sipped from the bottle again and let the cool water ease the tightness in her throat before continuing.
“Paul mostly ignored me, which was fine. I guess I’d never really warmed up to him, and I’d caught him watching me a couple of times in a way that made me uneasy. Anyway, we were alone one night. It was before Christmas break. I was baking cookies for a class party and he’d been sitting at the dining table doing something on his computer, which was unusual because he didn’t normally sit there. Most of the time he closed himself in the bedroom he shared with my mom and sat on the bed with his laptop.”
Zoey realized she’d been peeling the label of the water bottle as she’d been talking. She pushed the bottle away and glanced across the table to find Levi’s gaze steady on her, compassion evident, as if he guessed what was coming.
“We were each doing our thing, then it was like he’d come to a decision. He shut the lid on the laptop, got up from the table, and said he wanted a blowjob.”
The tightening of his jaw belied the impassive expression on Levi’s face.
“I remember I’d just taken a tray of cookies out of the oven. I stood there like an idiot, staring at him. The tray was starting to burn my hands through the oven mitts, but I couldn’t seem to move.” She reached for the water bottle and drank before carefully screwing the lid on once again. “He walked into the kitchen and told me to put the tray down and get on my knees.”
“Christ. What did you do?”
“I hurled the tray at him and bolted for the back door. He caught me by the hair. He went nuts. He was screaming that I’d pay for what I’d done. He hadn’t been expecting it and the tray hit him in the face. It must’ve burned. He had chocolate chip cookies stuck all over him. To this day, the smell of baking chocolate chip cookies makes me sick to my stomach. I can’t eat them.”
“I can imagine.” Levi leaned forward, forearms resting on the table. “I was drinking a Coke in the den when Mom came in to tell me Dad had died. I haven’t had a Coke since.” He waited, and she thought his personal comment was his way of giving her a little break. “What happened then?”
“Paul hauled me back into the kitchen by my hair. The knife block was there on the counter where it always was. I didn’t think about it. I reached out and grabbed a knife and stabbed him in the hand. He screamed and let go. That’s when Mom and Charlie walked in the house.”
She squeezed her eyes shut at the memory. Another deep breath and she opened them again. “He tried to spin it, say that I’d gone crazy and
attacked him. I’m standing there with a knife in my hand, and there’s blood and chocolate chip cookies all over the floor. I must have nicked a small artery when I sliced him across his knuckles because there were even spots of blood on the ceiling. He kept yelling at me, told my mom that I’d snapped and went at him with a knife.”
Her heart beat faster in her chest, and despite the air conditioning, sweat rolled down her neck. Even after all these years, talking about it made her sick to her stomach.
“What’d your mom do?”
“Turned to me calm as you please and asked what had happened. I told her. He denied it, but Mom was having none of it. I thought she was going to grab a knife herself and finish him off.”
“Did she call the cops?”
“Yeah, she did. He stormed out of the house, saying he was done with us, that we were all a bunch of freaks.”
“Did you press charges?”
“Tried to. But it was his word against mine. The cops didn’t believe me.”
“Fuck that. Did they at least look into his past to see if there were other allegations against him?”
“No. Remember what I said about the blue line? You see, he was a cop too.”
“With the Hangman PD?”
“No. We lived outside the city limits so the sheriff’s department had jurisdiction and they responded to the call. He worked for them.”
“What’s his name?”
She didn’t know why even now she wanted to hold back. “Paul Clauson. His name is Paul Clauson.”
Levi wrote the name on the pad in front of him, underlining it several times. It struck Zoey that he was left-handed. That had never registered before. “So Clauson was never charged.”
“No. That night, Mom took all his stuff and dumped it on the street in front of our house. She was so angry with herself that she’d trusted him, and had allowed him into our home, let him near her children.”
“Did he come back? Bother you any?”
“He harassed us some. He’d drive by the house in his sheriff’s cruiser, going slow, or show up at school events. He pulled Mom over one night when she was driving home from work and scared her to death. Nothing happened, but it could have. That’s when she decided we had to leave town.”
Break Away Page 11