Page 9 of Malice

What if she ignored it and later found that it contained something she should have heard? She wished she knew someone in Gillette she trusted enough to have listen to it for her. Someone who would tell her if it was something she should worry about or just more of Phillip’s bullshit.

An image of Corey’s face flashed in her mind, but she quickly dismissed calling him. Sure, he’d been nice and had rescued her. And he’d told her to call him if she needed anything, but she didn’t want him to think she was needy or a child. Why? She didn’t want to look at that right now, at least not too closely.

Besides, he’d told her he was more than thirty minutes away, and while this wasn’t an emergency, she didn’t know how to send a voicemail message to someone else, so he’d have to come into town to listen to it. Or she could go to him. Still no. That was too much.

Or was it? She glanced at the window that told her it was completely dark now. No, for it to be that dark, it was later than she’d realized. This time of year, that dark meant after nine, and while that wasn’t too late, it would be even later before she could make it to the ranch, not to mention back to her apartment.

She shook her head and deleted the message without listening to it before she could think about it too much, then shoved her phone into her pocket and grabbed her food from the microwave and took it to the bar to eat.

She really should have eaten earlier, and had planned to but then, she hadn’t planned to get so absorbed in her sketch either. Not that she minded, she loved her art to the point that it didn’t feel like work, which was why she spent so much of her time off working on it. Which, now that she thought about it, was also likely why she had so few close friends, at least here in Gillette.

She could call Anna, but she was even farther away from her than Corey and she didn’t want to worry her best friend. Not when all she could do from two hours away was worry. And because it was so late, Anna had to work the next morning and since she still lived on the ranch she’d grown up on, that meant early mornings.

Bonnie pushed thoughts of both Anna and Corey from her mind as she took the last bite and stood. She dealt with the dishes from her dinner and headed into the bedroom. If she planned to get up on time for her own workday, she needed to get some sleep.

Bonniestruggledtogetup the next morning, not because she’d been unable to sleep, but because as she’d been getting ready for bed an idea for the mural had come to her and she’d taken the time to sketch it out. It had been rough, just enough so she wouldn’t lose the concept, but it had taken longer than she’d planned and had been well after midnight before she’d finally turned out the light.

Now, she forced herself to get up and moving, despite her screaming body and a brain that felt like someone had poured cold tar into the gears she imagined in her head that kept everything moving.

The first cup of coffee helped. It seemed to warm the tar, though her thoughts were still slow, and she felt like she had to force herself to do each step of her morning routine, from dressing, doing her hair and make-up to getting her shoes on and heading for the door. On second thought, a second cup of coffee was in order. She turned around before opening her door and fixed another cup, making sure she had her keys and a spare sketch pad in her bag for during her lunch hour while she waited for the coffee to brew.

When it was ready, she went out to the car, hurrying because she felt like the delay for coffee had made her late, despite knowing she had plenty of time. She always did. It was her habit to arrive at least ten minutes early, and even with the delay for coffee she still would be.

She hurried down the stairs, thinking about her day, it was the middle of the week, it shouldn’t be too busy, at least she didn’t think they had any big groups coming in and couldn’t think of anything that would be a big deal at work today.

When she reached her parking space she stopped in her tracks. Her car sat where she’d left it, but not in the same condition. Now the windshield was shattered, and it looked like someone had used some kind of tool to etch words into the paint.

She stood frozen and staring for a moment as her mind stuttered then seemed to kick into high gear. What did she need to do?

A quick glance around told her there didn’t appear to be anyone around. That was a relief. Or was it?

The first thing she needed to do was report this. With shaking fingers, she pulled her phone out and dialed 911.

After reporting the incident and assuring the dispatcher she would be okay until someone showed up, she hung up from them and dialed her boss, letting him know what had happened and that she didn’t know what was going to happen next or if she would be able to make it in today. Bonnie was grateful for her wonderful boss, not for the first time, as he told her not to worry about work today, take the day and take care of what she needed to. Let him know about tomorrow.

When she got off the phone with her boss, the police hadn’t yet shown up, she took a shaky breath and tried to decide what to do next.

Corey. He’d said call the cops then call him. She didn’t know what he could do, but she’d do that. She dialed the number he’d programmed into her phone a couple nights before and listened while it rang.

“This is Malice,” a voice said in answer.

“I’m sorry. I’m looking for Corey. I must have the wrong number.” She was ready to hang up when the voice spoke again.

“Bonnie? Wait, is that you? What’s wrong?”

“Corey, is it you?”

“It’s me. What’s wrong?”

“I think Phillip knows where I live.”

“Are you safe? Is he there?”

“I’m safe. I’m standing outside my apartment building staring at my car. Someone smashed the windshield and scratched things like whore and slut into the paint.”

“Sonofabitch. Are you sure you’re safe? Did you call the police?” There was movement on the other end of the line, but she couldn’t tell what was going on.

“I’m standing in plain sight. And yes, I called the police. I’m waiting for them to show up.”

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