Page 45 of Aftermath
“You barely know him,” I muttered.
“I don’t need to. I’ve known you three years, and never once have you received a threat at your door like this,” she pushed. “Then suddenly, he comes to town, and now you’re wrapped up in whatever he’s doing, and threats are being slid under your door. Does that not worry you?”
“I’ll be more careful,” I assured her.
“You shouldn’t have to. You should be able to enjoy your life without looking over your shoulder all the time. You did enough of that with Jake,” she said.
Pain radiated across my chest. I saw it in her eyes, Mallory knew exactly what she was doing, bringing him into the conversation. It was a sore spot for me, but not one I was going to let keep me from this case.
Not when this was the newest piece of evidence. Not when the killer may have resurfaced. All I could think of was the other victims who were not as lucky as I was. I was given another chance. I had to use it to do good for them.
“Mal, please, just email me it,” I sighed, too tired to argue more with her.
She rolled her eyes.“You never listen to me,” she grumbled. “Promise me you will consider staying far away from him and the trouble he brought.”
“I can’t-”
“Len, just promise,” she pleaded. “I don’t want to see you hurt, by him or some creepy stalker.”
“Fine, I promise,” I said, knowing she wouldn’t let it go.
She quickly downloaded the video and pulled up her email. I heard a ping from my email app on my phone within seconds.
“Sent,” she sighed.She closed the laptop and started for the apartment door.“I’ll see you soon,” she promised, leaving me with a pit of guilt in my stomach.
* * *
I tossed and turned in my bed, unable to shake the feeling. The note and the two words on it haunted my thoughts.
My cats slept on either side of my legs, and I carefully slid myself to sit up in bed. I turned on the small lamp on my bedside table and opened the drawer, pulling out the paper.
I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. What if it could help in some way? What if I was wrong about it all, overreacting?
My mind went back and forth.
I took a sip from the water glass I filled and left sitting on the nightstand before trying to will myself to sleep, turning back and forth under my sheets.
It was a useless task. It wasn’t like I actually thought sleep was possible; I wasn’t that delusional. I just thought maybe, my body would force my mind to at least rest, to take a break from everything that happened during the day.
Not even that seemed possible now.
My phone was sitting on the nightstand, and I rolled over and grabbed it, opening it to my emails. I found the one Mallory sent and played the clip over and over again. There had to be something, anything, I could use.
I kept watching until my eyes stung. I rubbed at them lazily, trying to clear the hazy vision. The answer had to be there.
On my tenth watch through, my eyes started to hurt, and I felt a headache inching its way in. I was about to close out the video when a small pop of red caught my eye.
I’d seen it in every play through. I thought it was just a zipper or design on the stalker’s black jacket, but this time, I saw it, the way it dangled and moved, like it was hanging out of the pocket, not attached to it.
It was so subtle.I rewound the video to make sure I hadn’t imagine it.
Again, I watched the small red speck dangle. There was no denying it: a keychain hung, barely visible, out of his pocket.
I shot out of the bed, finding slippers and a bathrobe and tying it around myself. This couldn’t wait; my mind would never let me rest until I let him know. I’d raced out of there less than a day before, and it was eating at me.
Alonzo and Birdie shifted to settle in the center of my bed without me in the way to stop them.
“I’ll be back,” I assured them before leaving the room and finding the keys to the car I kept parked nearby for rare occasions.
