Page 90 of Good Guy Gabe

“Yeah, bitch got a close-up. Was taunting Jerry. I genuinely didn’t know a woman could have so much hatred for a raccoon minding its own business. I’m sending you the video, but do me a solid and go give the lens a scrub, would you? Jerry keeps smearing mayonnaise on it.”

I watch, stunned silent, as Gabe crouches under the deck in front of Jerry’s cubby and scrubs the little circle next to the door. This whole time, I thought it was a silly bit of decoration, a pretend doorbell.

It’s a camera.

“Dammit, Gabe, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Love you, ma’am!”

I shake my head and make a mental note to start plotting to deliberately do stuff behind his back.

More stuff than what I have planned tonight.

This is just our lives, I guess.

He messes around on his phone as he walks back to us, his gaze stuck on his screen. The way he holds it indicates that he’s watching the video Jeff said he was sending him. “If this makes you feel at all better, the feed is going straight to Jeff, and he’s promised not to watch them unless we ask for a specific clip. It’s for your safety. I figured you’d eventually remember to get a camera installed, and in the meantime, this would be for emergencies.”

Officer Vega nods like this isn’t a dick move, and I have to remind myself that Gabe’s a big bear sort of guy who really is just trying to look out for me. Also, I’ve been hoping he likes surprise parties, but now I’m kind of hoping he doesn’t.

“Whatcha looking at me like that for?” Gabe asks.

I shrug.

He shifts uncomfortably, like he thinks he’s sleeping in the raccoon house tonight. “Look here, wanna see how cute Jerry was taking home half a ham sand—ohhh, shit.”

Officer Vega and I both flank him to see what he’s seeing, and we all watch together as the vandal approaches the house with an apple core, one of Jerry’s favorite treats. So although it’s devastating, it’s not entirely surprising that it’s Rachel with the apple core.

I keep watching, hoping that this is just terrible timing and she was bringing Jerry a late-night snack and leaving, barely missing the vandal, but then she says, “You want this trash, you little shit?”

Jeff was right. That’s the nicest thing she says to him before he makes a grab for it and she snatches it away and tells him she’s going to leave it on a trap for him. I watch in horror as she sprays the lawn and sets up the ring of traps, placing the apple core on the one closest to him.

“I don’t understand,” I say voicelessly as she disappears from the screen.

“Do you know this lady?” Officer Vega asks.

“Rachel Graves. She’s one of my students.”

“And vice president of my fan club,” Gabe adds grimly.

My eyes are still riveted to the screen, but thankfully, Gabeisprotective to a fault, and once the possum ambles into the frame, he presses the phone against his chest.

“They’re the single biggest preventers of Lyme Disease,” I tell him. “That poor guy didn’t deserve—oh hey, are you okay?” I ask when I notice Gabe’s cheeks are red, his knuckles white.

He puts his arms around me, pinning me against him, covering me as much as he can. “This is my fault. It never had anything to do with you. That’s why she only bothered you when she knew we were together. Dammit!”

Vega hands me a card and starts taking pictures of the spray paint. “I’ll need that video sent to me. I need the source though. The dates of the other incidents, if you know them. Any evidence. Did you take photos?”

I guess we should have waited to clear those traps until photos could be taken, but Gabe did the right thing choosing the safety of any animal that might happen through the yard. When I first saw the traps, I thought how lucky it was they chose to do this on a Sunday when Rose and Iris were at a convention so they wouldn’t see it. Now it all makes sense.

“I did,” Gabe tells him. “The one I was here for. I bet other people did too. We’ll reach out to everyone who was around those days, give you anything we can.”

“Rachel actually helped me clean her mess up,” I grumble. “Twice.”

Vega perks up at that. “Has she always come by the next day?”

“Most of the time. It didn’t click until now, but yeah.”

“You two, sit tight for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

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