No Coincidence

by Tiffany Patterson

  I frowned, my shoulders slumping in fear. “So wait, Detective Brookes, are you saying I have two stalkers?”

  Brookes shook his head. “No, that’s not what it looks like. But the man, Oliver Westbrook—”

  “The one who attacked me in the alley.”

  “Yes. Apparently, we’ve gotten word from a former cellmate of his that he was paid money to rob you. To frighten you and to try to take your purse.”

  “By who?” Connor and I questioned at the same time.

  “We don’t know—”

  “Fuck, Brookes! You called us down here saying you had news and this is the bullshit you give us?”

  I have to commend Detective Brookes. While most would’ve looked frightened as hell in the presence of Connor’s mounting anger, Brookes kept his cool; merely nodding as if in agreement with Connor.

  “You don’t think I’m pissed also? My hands have been tied trying to get the goddamn video footage from your building’s property manager. These things take time is all I’ve been hearing.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve got a few other avenues I can get this information from.”

  “I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that.”

  “You do that,” Connor retorted.

  “So, wait, how did you find out the guy who attacked me was hired to do it? From a cellmate?”

  “Yeah,” Detective Brookes answered. “Westbrook is currently locked up at our main facility and he’s not saying anything. He was already on parole so this arrest will likely end up in him having to finish out the remaining three years of his five-year sentence.” Brookes shook his head, rolling his eyes. “Jackass gets out of prison after two years due to good behavior and ends up going right back in after just a few months of being out. Anyway, while he was in holding here, after he got out of the hospital …” Brookes paused, pinning Connor with a glare.

  Connor glared at him right back, arms folded across his chest as he stood looking down at the detective.

  “He must’ve had a guilty conscience or something.”

  “Pain has a way of doing that,” Connor grunted.

  “So it does. Anyway, he’d told one of the other guys in lockup that he was just looking to score some drugs that night and he came across a guy who offered to pay him in drugs to attack you.”

  I shook my head because it didn’t make sense to me. “Why would anyone do that?”

  Detective Brookes, for the first time, looked stumped. “Beats the hell out of me. My guess, however, is that he was setting Westbrook up. Westbrook says this guy came up to him on the street, not too far from your building, and had him follow you to that alley. I’m thinking this guy wanted Westbrook to attack you so he could save you and look like a hero, but that’s just speculation on my part.”

  I turned to Connor because there was too much to take in that defied logic.

  “What’s this guy’s name who gave you this information?”

  “You know I can’t give you that.”

  Connor scowled, moving closer as he leaned down on his fists on the table. “What the fuck is his name?”

  “O’Brien, you know the—”

  “If you talk to me about the law, I swear to God I’m gonna beat your ass.”

  I gasped. “Connor, you can’t threaten a cop like that. I’m sorry, Detective,” I told Brookes, feeling both mortified and nervous he’d take offense to Connor’s words and try to have him arrested.

  Again Brookes took it in stride as he waved my apology off and stood. “Look, O’Brien, I get it. You want blood. You want this bastard caught and so do I. But I have to follow the law because that’s my job. Ms. McDonald, we’re doing everything we can to ensure whoever is behind this attack and the break-in will be caught.”

  “It’s not enough,” Connor firmly expressed.

  I stood, placing my hand on his shoulder, feeling the tension coursing through his body. “I’m sure Detective Brookes is doing everything he can,” I stated, hoping beyond hope that was the truth.

  Connor tutted, shaking his head firmly. “More can be done.” He pushed away from the table, standing upright, taking my hand into his. “We’ll see ya soon, Brookes.”

  Without another word he escorted us both out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I was barely able to keep up with his long strides as we made our way down the hallway to the main lobby of the police station, and out to the lot where he’d parked.

  “What was that? Brookes might’ve had more information to tell us,” I asked as we got into the car.

  “He doesn’t know shit because his hands are fucking tied. But I know someone who doesn’t give as much of a shit about circumventing the law.”

  Lifting an eyebrow, I gave Connor a curious look. “We’re not doing anything illegal, are we?”

  Connor peered over at me out of the corner of his eye before lifting my hand to his lips. “You’re not doing anything illegal.”

  I started to ask what he meant by his statement but I caught myself. I’d rather not know, to be honest. It wasn’t until about twenty-five minutes later when we ended up back at Townsend Industries that I started to understand what Connor’s remarks meant.

  This time, instead of taking the elevator up to Joshua’s office, we took the elevator down. My hand tightened around Connor’s as he held mine firmly in his grasp. The elevator door opened to what looked like a basement, and standing there to greet us was Brutus. Apparently, Connor had sent him a text message earlier in the day before we even made it to the police station.

  “We got the video,” was all Brutus said before exchanging a look with Connor and then me.

  I lifted my eyebrows. I didn’t need to question what video he was referring to. It was the same one Detective Brookes apparently had trouble getting from the property manager of my building.

  “Follow me.” With a wave of his head, Brutus pivoted on his heels and proceeded down a long hall toward a large set of metal double doors. Pushing a key into the knob, he unlocked the door, revealing a huge, nearly empty basement-looking room. I shuddered as I stepped into the room. I wasn’t afraid as I felt Connor’s hand move to my waist, but the eerie feeling that came over me was too familiar.

  I looked around the concrete room, noticed the wooden chair and rectangular table, and cold feeling of the room. It felt even colder in this room than the room we’d been in at the police station. Without asking, and without anyone having said as much, I knew there weren’t very many people who came down to this particular room willingly.

  “It’s okay,” Connor whispered in my ear.

  “Sorry about the accommodations … ” Brutus apologized, his eyes scanning the room, “but this is the only location I can take these kinds of meetings during business hours.” He nodded at Connor, who responded by dipping his head.

  “What’ve you got?”

  Without another word, Brutus opened the tablet he’d brought with him, quickly punched in a code, and pulled up a grainy image. Setting it down on the table so that we all could see it better, he stated, “This is the video footage from the day your condo was broken into.”

  My eyes traveled from Connor to the tablet. I stepped closer, staring intently at the screen, my heart rate beginning to increase.

  “That’s me,” I whispered. I watched as I exited my condo, bag in hand, and locked the door behind me. I knew I’d locked my apartment up, even though the police asked me numerous times that day if I was sure I had.

  “Maybe this was just a crime of opportunity,” one of the officers had said, but I knew that wasn’t the case.

  We continued to watch the video as various angles of my hallway came in and out of the main shot.

  “Can’t you clean it up?” Connor questioned, obviously aggravated that the video wasn’t that clear.

  “This is cleaned up. You should’ve seen it when I first got it.”

  Connor’s response was a grunt.

  “Who’s that?” I questioned suddenly, pointing to the screen as a
figure approached my door.

  “This is what I texted Connor this morning that you both need to see.”

  I frowned and my forehead wrinkled as I concentrated intently on the screen in front of me. I watched what I assumed to be a male figure, wearing a dark hoodie and dark fatigue pants first knock on my door. When he raised his hand again, I saw that he wore a dark pair of gloves, which was likely why the police were never able to get any fingerprints from the break-in.

  I held my breath, when, after knocking again and getting no response, the guy looked up and down the hallway, then removed a black case from one of his side pockets, opened it, and pulled out a key to unlock my door.

  I gasped. “He has a key to my home!” Frantically, I raised my gaze to meet Connor’s stormy hazel eyes. “He could’ve gotten in even when I was home.”

  All along I’d assumed he’d used some sort of tool to break-in but it was a regular key.

  “H-How could he have a key to my condo?”

  “Good question,” Brutus replied. “I know he hid his face but is there anything that looks familiar about this guy?”

  “Rewind the video back,” Connor ordered.

  Brutus did so and we watched from the time the guy walked up to my apartment door, going out of his way to not allow the cameras to capture his face.

  “He knew where the cameras were placed,” Connor noticed.

  “And he had a key.”

  Both men exchanged a look.

  But I stared at the screen. “Can you rewind it back again?”

  Brutus nodded and did as I asked.

  “Pause it.”

  He stopped the video once the guy got a few feet from my door.

  “His walk,” I noted.

  “Yeah, it’s a weird gait,” Brutus stated.

  I nodded, noticing how the guy walked with a slightly slumped-over stride. At first, I thought it was because he was trying to conceal himself from the camera, but the rounded upper back and the way his feet stuck out to the sides as he walked seemed familiar.

  “I’ve seen that walk before.” I squinted and leaned forward, trying to see more as if the video would somehow change and the guy would just turn the heck around, showing his entire face.

  “Where?” Connor questioned.

  I shook my head, shrugging. “I can’t remember. There’s something familiar about that walk. I know I’ve seen it before. Maybe in passing.” I stopped, my blood suddenly going cold. “What if this guy’s passed me on the street or been following me and I didn’t even know it?” I blurted out, feeling terrified.

  “Chances are you’ve encountered him in one way or another. Those meetings were obviously more important to him than they were to you.”

  I folded my arms over my chest, running my hands up and down my arms, feeling cold even though the room we were in was heated.

  “Send this video to my phone,” Connor demanded. “What about the DNA?”

  Brutus shook his head. “Not back yet. Unfortunately, for that we have to wait on the Williamsport Police Department. Their crime lab has all the samples.”

  “They’re taking too fucking long.”

  “I’ll give my guy at the lab a nudge to see if we can get the sample bumped up the list for testing and analyzing.”

  Connor nodded but didn’t seem satisfied in the slightest.

  “I received another email,” I blurted out, suddenly remembering the message I’d gotten earlier.

  “Through your blog?”

  I shook my head. “This one was sent to the email Destiny and I share for the podcast. Neither of us have checked it in a while since the show’s been on hiatus.”

  “Can you open it up?” Brutus questioned.

  I pulled out my phone and brought up the email that I’d sent to my personal account, handing it to Connor. His scowl grew fiercer with each word he read.

  “This fucker’s going to die,” he growled, passing the phone to Brutus.

  Even Brutus, who much like Detective Brookes didn’t seem to get rattled very easily, reacted. A shadow passed over his face and his lips tightened at the message. I hadn’t even read the entire email, stopping after the first few sentences because it made me sick to my stomach.

  “Hang on, let me make a call to my guy at the lab,” Brutus insisted as he passed the phone back to me.

  I glanced over my shoulder as he exited through one of the metal doors.

  “Is this the only email you’ve received as of the last few weeks?”

  I nodded at Connor’s question. “The messages to my blog have stopped. For now, at least. Nothing in my DMs. I haven’t received anything outside of the typical messages on Twitter or Facebook. Some are strange but nothing like this.” I held up my phone, indicating the latest email.

  “We’re going to go through them tonight to make sure none of them are from this fucker.”

  My eyes bulged. “We can’t,” I insisted.

  Connor’s brows dipped. “Why the fuck not?”

  “Because I receive all types of emails and direct messages from my female followers. Some of them would be horrified if they found out I let anyone else read them. They send me a lot of personal things, seeking advice, sharing stories because they feel lonely.”

  “Would they be just as horrified to find out the woman they’re seeking advice and fashion tips from is being stalked by a psychopath? Would they be as reticent to show those emails if it meant keeping you safe from harm?”

  I pushed out a breath, because I knew I wasn’t going to win this debate. I’d already been keeping this secret from Destiny which had Connor pissed. I knew he wasn’t over that. He wouldn’t stand for me keeping messages from him if it meant that they could lead to whoever was behind this.

  “I just want this to be over,” I sighed, letting my head fall back as I looked up at the ugly cement ceiling.

  I felt a shadow fall over me, and Connor’s large hands wrapped around my arms, stroking them up and down. Without deciding to, I lifted my head, leaning it against his chest.

  “It’ll be over soon, a stór.”

  A different kind of chill ran through me, the same one that always did whenever he used that special pet name with me. I didn’t fully know what it meant but I knew it comforted me every time it came from his lips.

  “We should have the DNA sample results within the week,” Brutus announced as he entered the room again.

  Connor glanced over his shoulder as my head lifted.

  “The sooner the better.”

  “I’ll see if I can pull some strings down there,” a new but familiar voice added.

  Lifting up on my tiptoes, I was just barely able to see Joshua enter the room behind Brutus, over Connor’s shoulder.

  “Resha.” He nodded.

  “Josh.”

  “I’m meeting Kay for a late lunch or early dinner, whatever the hell this is. I’ll walk you two out.”

  Connor stepped back, taking my hand in his and we followed behind Joshua toward the elevator that’d brought us down to the basement of this building apparently.

  “How’s Victoria?” I questioned Josh as we entered the elevator.

  His smile was wide. “Perfect in every way. Trying to get Kay to pop out another one within the next year,” he chuckled.

  “That seems to run in the family. Destiny’s complaining Tyler’s already talking about more kids.” I laughed, shaking my head although a pang tugged at my heartstrings. My gaze immediately moved up to reach Connor’s who was already staring down at me. His expression was unreadable, but it was as if unspoken words passed between us.

  I dipped my head because I didn’t want to believe what I’d just felt. It all felt too good to be true, and … well, I refused to allow myself to believe in fairytales anymore. Every day, I kept telling myself that whatever was building between Connor and I would fizzle out as soon as whoever was behind this stalking was found, and I had to move back into my place. I’d been living with him for a little over a month now and i
t still felt like at any moment the rug was going to be pulled out from underneath me.

  “Resha? Connor?”

  I looked up, startled by the feminine voice that greeted us as the elevator doors parted.

  “Hey, Kayla.” I waved, feeling slightly awkward to see her standing there.

  She must’ve felt the same because her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

  “Kayla,” Connor greeted, my hand in his.

  I didn’t miss how her eyes fell to our clasped hands, surprise registering on her face.

  “Kay, I was just walking Connor and Resha out. You were supposed to meet me in the lobby. It’s cold out here,” Joshua insisted, taking his wife into his arms, looking as if he was going to warm her up, despite the fact that she was already wearing a coat.

  “I’m fine. Wanted to get a little walk in after sitting most of the day, so when Brutus called down to the lobby to say you were going to get the car to meet me out front, I decided to walk around. No biggie.” She shrugged but Joshua didn’t look appeased at all.

  “I’ll catch you later, Townsend,” Connor stated, pulling me away from the couple.

  “Bye, Kayla. Good seeing you,” I added from afar as Connor all but carried me in the direction of the car.

  “Impatient much?” I questioned after Connor held the door open for me to get in before circling the front and getting behind the wheel himself.

  “Hell yeah. I didn’t need to see Josh get into it with his wife because she didn’t listen. Good thing you listen,” he mumbled that last part as he began backing out of the parking spot.

  “What do you mean I listen? Like I follow orders as if you’re my damn daddy or something?” I questioned, folding my arms over my chest.

  “Here we go,” he groaned. “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.”

  “Well it sounded like that. And I will have you know that I—”

  “Look, it’s my job to keep you safe just as it’s Joshua’s job to keep his wife safe. Him thinking Kayla was in one place when she actually was in another is prime time for shit to go awry. I’m just saying, your safety is paramount.”

  I started to retort but nothing came out when I parted my lips. The fact that Connor had compared his and my relationship to Joshua and Kayla’s marriage left me stunned. I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to shove down the bubbling hope that insisted on rising in my chest.