by Evelyn Glass
“I mean…I saw someone, he was climbing back down the pipe that’s outside my bedroom window when I got there,” she explained. “And I thought I was going crazy, but when I went outside the next morning, I found footprints leading up to where I’d seen him.”
“Fuck me, Luce,” I muttered. Had I had something to do with this? Had they figured out her connection to me, and were now trying to freak her out to get me off the scent? I felt like a character in some overwrought crime drama, and it was a lot less fun than it had seemed when I had watched them with my mom over dinner.
“You want me to come stay with you?” I asked. “I can get out of babysitting—”
“No, no, you need that job,” she dismissed me in a second, as ever, putting herself last. “I’ll be fine, I just wondered if you knew anything about it.”
“I don’t know anything,” I replied with a sigh. “And you know that I’m not just going to let this slide, right? I can’t. Come on, Luce, if I called you up with the same thing…”
“I know, I know,” she dismissed me. “But I’m not asking for help.”
“Then why did you call?” I pointed out, and she went quiet for a second.
“Okay, maybe I need a little bit of help,” she admitted. “It just really freaked me out and I don’t know what to do…”
“Let me call Jazz,” I told her firmly. “I know it seems scary now, but I promise we’ll get something sorted. Anything, until you feel safe, right?”
“Right,” she replied, and I could hear the relief in her voice. “Thanks, Moan.”
“Anytime,” I replied, and pulled myself out of my bath. For some reason, the thought of talking to Jazz naked felt a little bit inappropriate—even though he would never have a clue, it felt as though I’d be pushing my luck a little. Hearing his voice when I was like this…it felt like the start of some cheesy porno. I wrapped a towel around myself and pressed myself up against one of the heaters, trying to warm myself up, and dialed Jazz’s number.
“Hey,” he answered a few seconds later. I could hear the sound of cartoons in the background, and the clatter of pots and pans not far from the phone. He must have been cooking her dinner, taking advantage of one of the few evenings they actually got to spend together. I hated to break it up, but I wasn’t going to put my best friend in danger for the sake of being polite.
“Hey Jazz, sorry to disturb you guys, but something’s happened,” I began, and felt a sudden lump in my throat—before, it felt at least like we’d been in control of what was going on. But now…I wasn’t so sure. I mean, this was the first time that someone outside of our little group had been involved. Lucy hadn’t done anything to deserve this, hadn’t gone chasing after this guy—but here she was, caught up in the middle of this anyway. I swallowed heavily and continued.
“My friend Lucy, she said that there was a guy looking in her window last night,” I explained. “She thought she was just being paranoid, but then she went outside and there were footprints.”
“Is she okay?” he asked, moving away from the sound of the cartoons.
“She is for now, but I want to help her and I guess since you’re in the business of looking after people, you’d have a better idea than I do.”
“Did she say footprints?” Jazz asked after a pause. “Did she get a picture of them?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll ask her to get a shot,” I promised him. “Do you think you can do something to help her?”
“I’ll send over one of my guys to sleep on her floor.”
I closed my eyes and massaged my temples. That didn’t even sound close to something she would agree to. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? It just seems…I don’t know. Invasive for her.”
“Well, I don’t really have anything else I can offer right now,” Jazz shot back, and I could hear that he was on the defensive. “Could you call her and ask if that’s okay?”
“Will do.”
Before I knew it, I was back on the phone with Lucy—and she had some strong opinions about whether or not there was going to be a strange man sleeping over in her apartment.
“Mona, there is no way in hell—”
“Hey, Lucy, I’ve met most of them, and they seem like nice enough guys,” I protested. “I know it sounds crazy, but you should at least think about it.”
“I’m not replacing one guy invading my space with another!” she exclaimed. “I appreciate what you’re doing, but…no. That’s just not going to work for me.”
“Then what?” I demanded, tucking my legs up underneath me and wondering how my relaxing night in turned into this. “Because we can’t have you staying there after what happened!”
Lucy fell silent for a second, and I could tell she was thinking over her options. She knew I was right. She wasn’t safe there, and there was no way any of us would let her stay by herself.
“I was going to get a hotel anyway,” she replied slowly. “I’ll just do that instead. Then your guy can come stay here and I won’t have to bother with him.”
“Come stay with me!” I suggested at once. “You don’t need to be spending money on a hotel if—”
“Mona,” she cut across me, in a tone of voice that I recognized as one that meant she was not up for being fucked with. “You know as well as I do that this could have something to do with you. Putting the two of us together could be what this guy wants.”
I paused and closed my eyes. She was right.
“I know,” I sighed. “But you’ll keep in touch, won’t you?”
“I’m getting a hotel room, not a house in the suburbs,” she replied teasingly, and I finally cracked a smile.
“I know, I know,” I blustered. “Just don’t go forgetting about your old friend Mona, right?”
“I’ll try my best,” she promised. “So, what’s the name of this guy you’re going to set me up with?”
Chapter Eleven
Devil patted down his camp bed and perched on the edge, looking up at me. “So, how long do I have to stay here again?” he asked, and I shrugged in response.
“I have no clue. Could be a couple of nights, could be a couple of weeks. Until we catch this guy who’s been peeping in on Mona’s friend.”
When Mona had called me up to let me know what was happening with Lucy, there was only one person who sprang to mind to help out—and it was Devil. He was six-seven, broad-shouldered, and terrifyingly huge—until you got to know him, of course, which was always the case with these kinds of guys. When I had dropped round to visit Mona and Lucy and let them know that he’d been the one staying over for a while, I thought Lucy was going to have an aneurism. I knew she wasn’t exactly comfortable having one of my guys around, and of course I had to go ahead and pick the one with the name that would freak her out the most. But when she met him, she seemed to calm down, and happily packed her stuff up and headed out to a cheap hotel on the other side of town.
And that left Devil and I to figure out what had been going on around here. I mean, I was pretty sure it had something to do with the incident back at my place—it just seemed like too much of a coincidence not to be related. But how directly were they connected? Was it the same guy? Was it Ian?
Every time his name flashed through my brain, I felt a hot and cold shiver of fear pass over me. I knew what I had seen through that window, and I was almost certain that the figure I had spotted moving in the attic across the way was him. But it couldn’t be. He’d left years before. It was just a figment of my imagination, a trick of the light, a mirage brought on by the stress of everything that had been going on. Because it couldn’t actually be Ian. It just couldn’t be.
“So, I’ll keep a lookout and give you a call if I get my hands on anyone?” Devil commented, glancing up at me from his spot on the bed.
“Yep,” I nodded. “And no stealing her underwear while she’s away.”
“I think I deserve a little more credit than that,” he protested.
“I know, I know. Thanks for doing this.”
“No problem.” His jaw suddenly set solid, and I was reminded once again of why he’d been the one I picked for this position—his sister had had problems with a stalker a couple of years previously, and he hated the thought of another woman being tormented by an asshole who couldn’t leave her alone.
“So, I’ll be over tomorrow to see how things went, alright?” I went for the door, and Devil nodded, laying out on his camp bed. Lucy had offered him hers, but he insisted on bringing his own. Told her that the only bed he slept in was his and his wife’s. That seemed to make things a little easier for her.
“See you later, boss,” Devil called as I made my way out the door and back down to my car. I was looking forward to spending a night with Ella and Mona—but as it turned out, that wasn’t exactly going to go to plan.
Mona had stopped by mine to take care of Ella while I got things set up at Lucy’s, and I’d promised to cook dinner for the three of us. Things were roving dangerously close to date territory, but I just kept reminding myself that as long as my daughter was there, things would be staying decidedly unromantic.
“Hey,” I greeted them both as I came through the door. It was about nine when I got home, and I could already feel curls of exhaustion moving across my body. I was glad to be back, and prayed that nothing too dramatic would go down tonight so I could actually get a decent night’s sleep for once.
Mona and Ella were on the couch, watching some cartoon—they both peered around at the same moment, and Ella came barreling over towards me. I gave her a hug, planted a kiss on her temple, and then went to the kitchen to cook.
Dinner was enormous and warm and happy; I couldn’t remember the last time I’d sat down and eaten with anyone other than my daughter. Not that she wasn’t good company, but I had to admit, it was more than welcome to have an actual adult to spend time with. Ella went to bed soon afterwards, and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, leaving just Mona and I in the house. When I came downstairs, she was doing the dishes, and I strode over to her.
“Hey,” I remarked gently, and she twisted her head around to look at me.
“What?”
“You’re my guest, you shouldn’t be doing that,” I commented with a teasing grin. I reached around her to grab the washcloth off of her, but she pulled her hand away playfully. I slid my hand about her waist once again, trying to get to the towel, but she wasn’t having it, holding it high aloft her head with a giggle.
“Well, take it then!”
I reached up to grab it, and suddenly we were inches apart, our faces so close that I could see the way her eyelids fluttered as our gazes met. All the resolve I’d been building up threatened to drop away in a second, my entire body arching towards hers as though it craved her touch. I plucked the towel from her hands, and my eyes drifted down to her lips. Oh, shit. This was really happening, wasn’t it?
Before I could lean in to kiss her, the phone rang, making us both jump. I turned away from Mona to grab it, glad for the distraction, because there would have been no way I was able to hold myself back a second longer. I took the call and held the phone to my ear, doing my best to ignore the sound of her slightly heavy breathing and the reaction it was causing under my jeans.
“Boss?”
It was Devil—I stepped away, my focus instantly drawn.
“What is it?” I demanded.
“I’ve got someone,” he replied. “You need to get over here right now.”
I hung up the phone and grabbed for my jacket, and Mona stared at me, trying to get a read on the situation. “What’s going on?”
“Devil’s got someone,” I explained. “I’m going over there to see who it is.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“We can’t leave Ella here by herself,” I pointed out.
“Shit,” Mona hissed through gritted teeth. “Can we take her with us?”
The image of the two of them, alone together in this place when someone picked this moment to strike, flashed through my mind. I knew I was being paranoid, but I didn’t want them here alone.
“Go get her. Try not to wake her up if you can.”
We rode in silence, an exhausted Ella fast asleep in the backseat as we pulled up to the apartment. Mona carried her upstairs with her, and slipped her into Lucy’s bedroom before she could see anything. I strode through to the living room, and sucked in a sharp breath at the sight that confronted me.
Devil had his knee in the back of a guy who was lying unconscious on the floor—I reached down to check that he was still breathing, and was relieved to find that he was. Okay, well, that was a step forward, at least.
“What happened?” I demanded, and heard a small squeak of surprise from behind me—I turned, and found Mona staring at the scene in front of her. But she swallowed her shock and came to stand next to me, meeting Devil’s gaze and waiting for him to answer the question.
“I was just falling asleep when I heard some rustling outside. Caught this fucker climbing up the drainpipe, so I pulled him in through the window before he had a chance to get away.”
“And then?”
“Put him to sleep,” he replied, gesturing down at the unconscious man beneath him. “You recognize him, boss?”
“Nope.” I shook my head and glanced over at Mona. “You?”
“No.” She screwed up her mouth in annoyance. “Let me take a picture and text to Lucy, maybe she’ll—”
“No.” I held my hand up. “No pictures, no nothing. Not until I know what this guy’s deal is.”
As if on cue, the man beneath Devil began to wake up—it took a few seconds for him to fully return to consciousness, but as soon as he did, he began to struggle.
“Get the fuck off of me!” he hissed, but Devil didn’t budge.
“I don’t think so, buddy,” he responded in a measured yet somehow terrifying voice. “My friend here wants to ask you a few questions before you go anywhere, you get it?”
The man craned his head around to peer at me, and a look of white-hot panic flashed across his face.
“What do you want?” he demanded, struggling harder now. Maybe he thought we were some kind of vigilante justice group? Well, in this case, we were a little, but we weren’t going to do much more than question him and hand him over to the cops.
“I want you to tell me what you’re doing here,” I began, squatting down so that I could look him in the eye. He appeared to be in his early twenties, with longish dark hair that curled down around his ears and pale grey eyes.
“I wasn’t doing anything! I live in the building and I forgot my keys, that’s all it was—”
“Oh, so we can get hold of some of the neighbors, then?” I asked, getting to my feet. “Get them to confirm that?”
“No!” he exclaimed, panicked. “I mean—”
“You were here peeping, weren’t you?” I snarled. “Peering through her window like some fucking pervert.”
“No!” he protested again, but this time with less conviction. I could tell he was running out of ideas, that he hadn’t expected this and now he was terrified for his life and just wanted to get out of this situation with his skull intact. I got back down on my haunches and leaned right up towards his face, making sure he could see the anger in my eyes.
“Then tell us what you were doing here, friend,” I suggested calmly. He stared up at me for a moment and then, apparently defeated, closed his eyes.
“Fine,” he admitted. “I was looking through her window. But she wanted me to! She would dress up in these little robes and—”
“Mona, call the police,” I instructed over my shoulder, uninterested in hearing whatever disgusting justification he had for his actions. She pulled out her phone and dialed, stepping out of the room to make the call. I wasn’t done with this guy, not yet. I just wanted him to be at the end of his leash so I could get everything I wanted out of him.
“Who are you working with?” I hissed. “Who?”
“What?” Th
e man looked confused. “I’m not working with anyone.”
“Does the name Ian mean anything to you?” I watched him carefully, eyeing him for even a flicker of comprehension—but nothing. Not a hint.
“What, my brother-in-law?” he replied with a shake of the head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I paused for a moment longer, and glared him down for a second; I wanted it to be clear to this piece of shit that if he was lying to me there would be hell to pay. But he genuinely seemed nonplussed by what I was saying. I got to my feet and turned to Devil.
“Hold him here till the police arrive,” I ordered. “And let me know when you see him in the back of the van.”
“Will do, boss,” Devil replied almost cheerily, nodding in my direction. I went to scoop up Ella, and bumped into Mona in the hallway. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, and I caught her by the arms as we stumbled into one another.
