by Isabel Fox
“Uh, none, actually. These aren’t like the messages he sent Robby,” James replied. “Are you in your car yet?”
As I had just slid behind the wheel, I was able to answer in the affirmative.
“Okay, lock the doors.”
“Huh?”
“Please, Cassie. Just lock the doors. Come straight home. Don’t stop.”
“Okay, I will! But why? What’s going on?”
“He used my phone to take pictures, and then sent the pictures to my number as messages. I don’t know why, I guess to be sure I saw them? But they were pictures of you. He’s been following you all day, but he only sent them to me about an hour ago. I’ve been calling you ever since.”
“Just like with Jenna’s phone. How do you know they’re from today?” I wondered, already cruising through the parking lot.
“Are you wearing a black coat, grey dress, and boots?”
“Shit. Yes. I am,” I groaned. “What do I do?”
“Come home. I’ll drive you to the police station. I don’t want you going anywhere by yourself right now.”
I agreed and promised I’d be home as soon as possible. After hanging up, I stopped at a red light and put my head back against the seat, briefly closing my eyes. Would this ever end? Was I going to have to enter witness protection in order to stay safe? Did they even let you in witness protection if you hadn’t actually witnessed something?
I opened my eyes and watched a car in the lane next to me blatantly run the red light.
“Idiot,” I muttered. “I hope they caught that on the traffic camera.”
My words jogged my memory, and I realized that the security cameras I ordered should have been delivered. Maybe that would be the key to finally ending things. I certainly hope so, at any rate.
Feeling ever so slightly better, I sped home. In the driveway, I practically leaped out of the car and ran to the front porch. James had apparently been watching for me because he opened the door before I could reach for the knob.
“Thank God you’re here,” he said, enveloping me in a hug that lifted me off the ground.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I assured him, hugging him back. When we broke apart, I looked around the porch. “Did you already bring the package in?”
“Package?” James furrowed his brow.
“Yeah. With the security cameras,” I clarified. “They were supposed to be delivered by now.
James shook his head. “There wasn’t a package when I got here. There’s nothing inside, either.”
I followed him into the house, confused. Pulling out my phone, I found the tracking information for the package. The shipping company claimed it had been delivered at 10:34 am this morning, not long after we had all left for the day.
“It should be here. Check the back deck. Maybe the left it there for some reason,” I suggested, already heading that way myself. James followed, and together we looked on and around the deck with no luck.
“Oh no. You don’t think…” I trailed off, looking up at James.
“He intercepted the package before you could get it and install the cameras? It’s certainly a possibility. I mean, the shipping information could be lying. I guess that happens sometimes. But with everything else it seems like an awfully big coincidence.”
“No!” I groaned. “I was so sure that we’d install the cameras, catch this creep, and be done with this!”
“I know,” James said soothingly. His voice sounded weary, and I instantly felt a rush of guilt. In spite of James’s insistence that the pesky little detail of me having a stalker didn’t keep him from wanting to be with me, I worried how much longer this could go on before something had to give.
“Well, let’s get going,” James went on. “We’re going to have a conversation with the police about how they need to be doing something. This is ridiculous.”
“Hang on. I just need to pack a few things,” I sighed as I headed out of the kitchen.
“Pack? Pack what?” James was bewildered.
“Well, at this rate I’m starting to think I should just live at the police station. I’m there often enough to qualify for squatters rights at this point,” I replied. James just gave me a look and I sighed. “Okay, fine. Let’s get going.”
34
Amber and James had both been scheduled to work that evening but James had decided to call out. I had protested, telling him he didn’t need to change his schedule for me. He had refused, so after leaving the police station we swung by the grocery store where Amber worked to get something for dinner.
We filled Amber in on the situation as she followed us through the store. We tossed various dinner ingredients and snow day staples into a cart.
“So since the pictures were all taken on phones other than his, there’s obviously no way to trace them back to this guy,” I told her. “At this point, though, Officer Rodriguez agreed that this definitely qualified as harassment, in addition to theft and either trespassing or breaking and entering, depending on how he got into the house.”
“And that means...what?” Amber wanted to know. She picked up a box of crackers and examined the ingredients before returning it to the shelf.
“More police drive bys at the house, for one thing. Officer Rodriguez also suggested Cassie tell campus police about the problem. He said we should keep doing what we’re doing and document everything. I reordered the security cameras and had them sent to me at the legal aid office,” James said. “Hopefully that way he won’t be able to intercept them.”
“Huh…” was all Amber said.
“Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, working?” I asked after she tossed three different kinds of cereal into the cart.
“I am working. It’s part of our personal shopper service,” she retorted, and I chuckled weakly.
“I have another idea. I’m not sure if it’ll work out, but if it does, it could be a big help,” Amber said as we made our way to her register, which she had temporarily closed down.
“What kind of idea?” James asked as we began unloading the contents of the cart onto the conveyor belt.
“I’ll tell you later, if it works out,” she replied cryptically.
“Uh, okay,” I said, looking at James. He shrugged and moved to help Amber bag the groceries. I decided to let it go for now. Amber frequently had lots of ideas about all sorts of things, some good and some not so good. I could only hope that this particular idea was in the former category.
We bid Amber goodbye and headed out to the parking lot. It was growing dark and the temperature had taken another sharp dive. I ducked my head against the chilly wind as we headed for James’s SUV. My power walking put me slightly ahead of James, and I reached the car a moment before he did. I was just in time to see a figure in a dark, hooded jacket move quickly away from the front end of the SUV.
“What the…?” I said, moving towards where I had last seen the person. I paused by the hood of the SUV when I caught sight of brightly colored piece of paper tucked beneath the windshield wiper on the passenger’s side. I plucked it from underneath the wiper and started to unfold it.
“Cassie? What is it?” James asked, appearing behind me.
“I don’t know. I just saw someone right here. I couldn’t tell who it was, they had a jacket with the hood up. They took off as soon as I saw them.”
“Which way did they go?” James asked, already looking around.
“Off to the right, maybe? I didn’t really see. They just kind of disappeared.” I swung my head around, looking for the hooded figure again.
“Shit. Get in the car, lock the doors,” James instructed me. I did as he said without protest, and James headed off in the vague directional heading I’d indicated. I watched his progress down the row of parked cars as long as I could, but he soon slipped out of sight.
Glancing back down at the paper that had been under the windshield, I finished unfolding the hot pink flyer.
It was an advertisement from a local spa, announcing a discount on a co
uples massage. Someone had scribbled at the bottom in unfamiliar handwriting.
What do you say, Cassie? You and me.
Disgusted, I crumpled the paper up and dropped it to the floorboard of the car. I shuddered involuntarily. Taking a few deep breaths, I tried to calm myself. By the time James returned, having found nothing, my heart rate had mostly returned to normal.
“I didn’t see anyone,” he announced as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Are you okay?” Kicking the crumpled flyer under the seat, I decided to not mention it. More than anything, I just wanted a brief moment of normalcy, a single hour of boring, everyday life.
“Yeah,” I turned to James and gave him a smile. “It was probably nothing. Just someone passing by.” As James pulled out of the parking lot, though, I couldn’t help but scan the lot, looking for any sign of someone who might be looking back.
Later that evening I was dozing lightly on the couch while James started and stopped half a dozen different movies and TV shows on Netflix. We were both on edge and trying not to show it, but it was pretty obvious. Every time I managed to actually fall asleep, I would awake with a start only a few minutes later. James would watch the opening credits of some episode or another, make a face, and go back to browsing for ages before repeating the process all over again.
Jenna and Brooklyn had come by for awhile but hadn’t stayed long, perhaps picking up on my less than chipper mood. James and I had grazed on various groceries and leftovers, but neither of us had much appetite.
“That’s a good movie,” I replied drowsily, seeing the TV paused on the title screen of one of my favorite romantic comedies. “Meg Ryan’s my favorite.”
James chuckled and selected the movie, and I sleepily pushed myself into a sitting position.
“How about some coffee?” I suggested. James rolled his eyes.
“How on earth can you drink coffee at all hours of the day and night? This is why you don’t sleep, you know,” he said. In spite of his chastising, he got up and made his way into the kitchen. A few minutes later I heard the sound of the coffee pot gurgling.
“Thank you!” I called.
“You’re crazy!” James called back good naturedly.
Smiling to myself, I wrapped the afghan tighter around me and watched Meg Ryan’s antics as she gallivanted around Paris. I found myself wondering briefly why more movies didn’t have main characters with stalkers. Probably there were quite a few, I mused, but they were all in the horror category, which I tended to steer clear of.
I was in the middle of Googling celebrities with stalkers on my phone when there was sudden, loud knock at the door. I froze, my thumbs poised over the screen. James came in from the kitchen just as another knock sounded.
“Should we open it?” I asked, angry that I had forgotten to turn on the porch light.
“Go in the kitchen,” James said to me, already moving towards the door.
“No way,” I replied, jumping off the couch to stand next to him.
“Cassie, for the love of God, will you please get out of here?” James practically pleaded, keeping his voice low.
“Fine,” I huffed, retreating to the kitchen door. I kept it open so I could peer out into the living room as James prepared to open the door. His hand hovered at the knob for a long moment.
“Wait, here! Take this!” I exclaimed, rushing forward the grab the fireplace poker and pass it to him. At his annoyed look I hurried back to my lookout spot in the doorway to the kitchen. Still grasping the poker, James called through the closed door.
“Who is it?”
“Seth! Amber’s friend?” came the immediate reply. James and I exchanged confused looks as he unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. Seth stood on the porch, a large duffle bag slung over his shoulder.
“Brr!” he shivered. “Amber said ya’ll were expecting some snow, but this cold is insane!”
James and I both stared at him for a long moment before James came to his senses and stepped back.
“Sorry, come in. Uh, not to be rude, but what exactly are you doing here?” he asked.
“Did Amber not tell you? I’m going to be house sitting for you all for a few days. She told me about your cat getting taken, the stolen packages, all that stuff. And we both thought it might be helpful to have someone staying at the house while you all are out doing your thing.”
“Huh,” I mused. “That’s...a really smart idea, actually.”
“Don’t you have work, or something?” James asked, eyeing Seth suspiciously.
“I can work online, for the most part. My partner’s usually the one at the gallery. I do more travelling and work from home sometimes,” Seth explained as he dropped his duffle at the foot of the couch and flopped down on it.
“Oh, Meg Ryan? Sweet, this is one of my favorites!”
“Cassie, can you help me in the kitchen for a second?” James asked, grabbing me by the arm.
“Uh, excuse us, Seth,” I called over my shoulder. Once in the kitchen, I made my way over to the coffee pot, next to which James had left my mug half filled. I topped it off and turned around to face him.
“Question. Does Amber not know about the “Cassie hates surprises” thing, or does she just choose to ignore it?” James asked.
“She ignores it. Constantly. So what do you think?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“I don’t know. I mean, on the one hand it’s actually not a bad idea in theory,” James ran a hand through his dark hair. “Having someone stay at the house, that is. On the other hand, we barely know this guy. It seems a little strange for him to be so willing to help out like this, don’t you think?”
“I agree it’s a little strange, but you should know by now that your sister inspires a baffling sense of loyalty in men. Remember the guy she dated at the start of sophomore year? He played baseball, I think? But anyway, he did her laundry, cooked dinner, changed her oil, and mowed the yard, all without asking. Kept it up for like four months after they broke up, too.”
“If only we could channel her powers for good,” James shook his head. I smirked and gave him a playful swat on the shoulder.
“At any rate, I’m okay with it, I guess. I don’t really see how it could hurt.”
“Well…” James came and stood beside me, wrapping and arm around my shoulder. I slurped my coffee noisily and looked up at him.
“Hey, Amber’s a pretty good judge of character. She picked me for a roommate, after all. If she thinks Seth’s a good enough guy to ask him to do this, and he willingly agreed, I think it’s safe.”
“She does have pretty good taste in roommates, even if she fails spectacularly in the advance notice department,” James laughed lightly. “If you’re okay with it, I guess there’s no real reason to send him packing.”
“Okay. But maybe we shouldn’t stand in here whispering in the kitchen any longer. He might get the wrong idea about us,” I pointed out. We made our way back out to the living room and found Seth laughing heartily at the movie.
“Seth, can I get you some coffee?” I offered. “We just brewed a fresh pot.”
“Yeah! I’d love some coffee. I’m glad to find someone else who doesn’t think it’s weird to drink coffee late at night!” he exclaimed cheerfully. I tossed a pointed look over my shoulder and stuck my tongue out at James as I made my way back into the kitchen to grab another mug.
35
I woke up the next morning with my arm asleep, a crick in my neck, and James’s arm draped inexplicably across my head. I groaned and wiggled myself out from under his arm. When I felt how cold it was I immediately wished I hadn’t moved. I grabbed my fuzzy robe from the closet and pulled it on, glancing out the small sliver of window visible between the curtains as I tied the belt.
“It’s snowing!” I crowed, instantly feeling like a little kid. I hurried to the window and pushed the curtains back. Though it was only flurries falling from the sky, I felt a smile creep across my face. There was something about the snow that made my heart
feel just a little lighter.
“It’s what?” James mumbled sleepily. He had rolled over and his face was pressed into a pillow.
“It’s snowing! It’s also time to get up if you want to drive me to campus today,” I reminded him. Though the big snow wasn’t expected until later that evening and into the next morning, James had suggested he drive both Amber and I to campus so we wouldn’t have to worry about either of our cars, which were only front wheel drive, getting stuck in the snow should it arrive earlier than expected.
“Ten more minutes?” James asked, his voice weary.
“Fine. I’m going to make some coffee,” I replied, ruffling his hair as I walked by. James muttered something about high blood pressure but I chose to ignore it.
When I reached the kitchen, I heard soft voices and gentle clinking sounds on the other side. I pushed the door open and saw Amber and Seth standing side by side at the stove.
“Good morning,” I replied. “I see hell has frozen over.”
Amber and Seth both turned to look at me. Amber just rolled her eyes at me, but Seth looked confused.
“Amber is voluntarily awake about three hours earlier than normal,” I explained.
“What? You told me you wake up early all the time!” Seth turned to Amber.
“I do wake up early all the time! I just usually go back to sleep almost immediately upon seeing what time it is,” Amber replied. She returned her focus to what looked to be a pancake sizzling in the skillet.
“And she’s making breakfast,” I went on. “Breakfast for Amber generally involves Pop Tarts. Or cereal by the handful. And breakfast usually occurs around noon.”
“Amber! You said-” Seth started, but Amber cut him off.
“Okay, okay. So I’m not actually a morning person and I don’t usually make breakfast. But what can I say? You are highly motivating.”
“Well, now I feel bad! I wouldn’t have made you get up so early if I’d known-” Seth started to protest. Amber cut him off by shoving an entire pancake in his face, with only some of it going in his mouth.
