“Need to get you checked over by a doctor.”
“I’m okay. I just haven’t slept that great and that note I found last night rattled me. I don’t know when he left the second one. Maybe this morning.”
She pointed out the pi
ece of paper which she’d turned over so she didn’t have to see the words. He flipped it over. Then he went still. His anger filled the room once more. Filling it. Sucking out all the oxygen.
“If you need to hit something, maybe you should use the same wall.”
“What?” He stared at her.
“Contain the damage to one area.”
He grabbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I did that, baby. I shouldn’t have. And I’m not going to punch anything else. Well, not until we find this guy. That fucking shithead. I’m going to kill him.”
“I should try and stop you but I’ve had the same thought,” she whispered.
“You didn’t do too badly with that baseball bat, babe. But we need to work on your technique. How come you even have that?”
“I’ve owned it for years. We never lived in good areas. Usually the doors were shit protection. I’ve always kept it under my bed just in case I needed it.”
He swore again under his breath. “I hate that. Hate that you weren’t protected. Then and now.”
“None of this is your fault. This is on him,” she repeated his words back to him. They were both quiet for a moment. “What are we going to do?”
He stared down at the notes for a moment and she watched his hands clench into fists then unclench. “Let’s think about what we know about him. He’s watching the place. The flowers started after I left. Might mean he knows about me. Knows I wasn’t around. So he’s watching from close by.” He turned thoughtful. “But probably at night when he’s got less chance of being detected. Means he may not know I’m back.”
“Right. But how does that help us?”
“I need to go hunting.”
“H-hunting?” she stuttered out.
He crouched in front of her. “I will find him. Gonna be easier if he doesn’t know I’m back or that you’re freaked by his note. I need to shift my truck and I need you to pull back the curtains.”
“You want him to watch me?”
He cupped her face with one hand. “Baby, I will not let him hurt you. I’m going to call in back-up. They will be with you the entire time. I promise. But honey, we got to go fast if we don’t want him to find out what’s going on and we want to be in place before nightfall.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Good girl. Going to run out and move my truck. I’ll make a call while I’m doing it. I’m going to make it look like I’m storming out. Just in case he’s around. Then I’ll sneak back in. You think you can be in here alone for a few minutes? Promise, less than ten I’ll be back.”
She thought about that. Just ten minutes and he’d be back. He was covering his bases in case this person was out there watching right now. A lot could happen in ten minutes, though. Could she handle it? Handle drawing back the curtains so if he was out there he could see in? See her?
“Look at me.” He cupped her face. “I pretend to storm out. I get in my truck. I take off. I park it around the block and I come straight back.”
“He’ll see you come back.”
“He won’t see me. Before I leave, you go lock yourself in the bathroom with your phone and bat. You don’t come out until I knock on the door and you hear me talk, all right?”
“The curtains?” she whispered.
“We do that when I get back. Can you do that, baby?”
“I can do that.”
“My brave girl. I won’t let anything happen to you.”