Page 75 of James

“You’ve been very thorough, Ms. Turner,” Det. Cagney gushed. “Thank you so much for your time today. We’re still holding John Smith and your statement should help with keeping him locked up. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop Donatelli and his people from harassing you. I think you need to prepare yourself for more of it. Donatelli doesn’t give up easily, but we’ll doeverything we can to help. I recommend being around other people as much as possible. Stay away from your home. Do you know how long your neighbors will be gone?”

“At least another two weeks, I think,” Laura said. “I’ll do my best to stay safe. Is there any chance they’ll go after my family?”

“Probably not, but take precautions. Don’t drive the same routes all the time. I noticed yesterday you’re a runner. Do not run alone, and even in company, don’t run at night. Break your routines wherever possible.”

“Are you trying to scare me detective?” Laura asked.

“Yes, Ms. Turner, I am. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even if it means scaring you. As I said before, all the previous witnesses against Smith withdrew their charges. All were harassed until they gave up. One actually moved away to escape.”

“I don’t give up that easily,” Laura said. “We’ll do as you say and cope. If Smith doesn’t turn on Donatelli, how long will this go on?”

“If he doesn’t give up Donatelli then we will have to go to trial, which could take months, but I’m going to show part of the videotape to Smith and his lawyer and see what happens. We’re also investigating the Garibaldi Import Export Group to see where that leads. If we have to go to trial, it could be quite a while, so you need to be prepared for that.”

“Is Laura physically at risk?” James asked.

“I don’t know,” the detective responded. “It’s possible. They haven’t harmed a witness that we know of, but there’s a first time for everything. We’ve never gotten this close to them before. If it looks like things are going in that direction, we can put Ms. Turner in a safe house.”

“No way,” Laura said. “I’m not giving up my life like that.”

“We’ll do our best to keep that from happening,” Det. Cagney promised.

When James dropped Laura off at work, he cautioned her about the threats. “If you leave the building, make sure you’re with someone. Call me at the end of the day and I’ll come and get you. I’ll come all the way up, so you won’t be waiting in the lobby alone.”

“Yes, James, I’ll wait at my office,” Laura chanted, rolling her eyes, and trudged on into the office.

It felt good to be back at work, surrounded by mundanity. She settled in, finger flying over the keyboard, her gaze fixed on the computer screen, but her mind kept wandering to the threats, and of course, to James. She frowned and deleted three lines of code. At this rate, she would end up with nothing to show for today’s work. Before she had managed to concentrate on her project, Kevin, Michael and Gloria, her regular lunch buddies, were standing in front of her station.

“Lunchtime, Laura,” Gloria said. “Time to get your mind onto something other than web design.”

“No thanks. I’d rather stay here. Could bring me back a salad, please?” She reached for her purse and pulled out money to give Gloria.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come out for a while?” Michael asked.

“Not today. I really need to get into this project. I’ve already lost half the day.”

“Damn, I was hoping to find out what’s been going onwith you lately.” Kevin was the office gossip and liked to keep up with the news among the staff.

“Yeah, that’s a really good reason to go out, Kevin.” Laura snorted.

“I’ll bring your salad, Laura. Good luck with the project and everything else,” Gloria said.

They left and Laura’s eyes stayed glued to the screen as she forced herself to forget anything but Angular, Typescript and SCSS. When Gloria dropped her salad and change off, she barely noticed. Mechanically, she forked some salad into her mouth, not tasting anything, and kept coding. The world around her faded and narrowed until nothing more existed than the clicking of her keyboard and the symbols appearing on the screen in front of her.

At 6:00, her phone rang, popping the bubble of concentration she had created.

“Hey, honey, I’ve been expecting a call for the last hour,” James greeted her.

“I’m sorry, Sir. I got so into my work, I lost track of time,” Laura replied guiltily. “Are you finished for the day?”

“Yeah, but I can do some more paperwork if you’re not ready to go,” he offered.

“Sure, I understand. I’ll start wrapping up. When you get here, the guard will have to let you up. The building technically closes at 5:00 pm.”

“You mean you’re alone there now?” James asked, alarmed.

“No, no, there are at least ten other people here, plus cleaners, plus security. We work all hours, but the building restricts access after 5:00 pm and before 7:00 am.”

The phone rang again as she was getting herself packed up for the day. This time, it was the security guard asking about letting James up to her floor. She told the guard she was expecting him.

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