Page 10 of Real Shadows
Trevor came back outside with my beer and, after handing it over to me, he sat next to Fallon. Trevor was sitting directly across from Karla, and I was sitting directly across from Fallon. I wasn’t sure how the girls felt about the seating arrangement, but that was the least of our problems. This shit was uncomfortable as hell.
Karla finally spoke, trying to ease the awkwardness. “So…uhm, I only told Xander the basics,” she started. “I…uhm, felt it would be better if you answered his questions directly instead of third party.”
Fallon gave Karla a small nod before turning that powerful gaze my way. “What questions did you have?” she asked, point-blank.
“You’re positive you’re being stalked?” Fallon’s entire back snapped straight, and I knew I had hit a nerve.
A big one.
She recognized her immediate response to my question, and I watched as she took a deep breath and said, “I apologize. I’m a little sensitive when it comes to that question.” I didn’t comment, but she went on to elaborate. “I’ve dealt with a lot of…unhelpful police officers in the past and that question puts me on the defensive.”
I had thought it was a fair question, but I could see how indelicate the delivery might have been. I should have just listened to her story before raising doubts about it. “I’m sor-”
“No,” she said, shaking her head and interrupting my apology. “With what is being asked of you, you have the right to ask that question.” Fallon shrugged a shoulder. “Any question, really.”
I leaned back in my chair and took a drink of my beer. After swallowing, I repeated the question. “So, are you sure you’re being stalked?”
“I’ve never lived with anyone before,” she replied. “And after the first two years, or so, of…this, I stopped inviting friends to my home. No one ever came over and very few people knew where I lived, no matter where I was living. And every time I would come home to find something in my apartment moved or messed with.” She let out a humorless chuckled. “And I don’t believe in ghosts, Mr. Raynes.”
We had just given each other permission to use our first names, but she called me Mr. Raynes, anyway. That meant she knew I was going to say no, or she wasn’t going to trust me beyond this arrangement.
My irritation level spiked again.
I wasn’t so clueless as not to know that we saw through each other the second we shook hands. She knew I wasn’t going to believe her and do this, and I knew she wasn’t expecting me to.
“Karla’s explained about how your cameras never seem to work, and she mentioned that you’re not exactly comfortable with a gun,” I replied.
Fallon nodded in agreement. “I think he might be into computers, or something, because my feeds are always corrupted. And she’s right about a gun. I have nothing against them. I just don’t think I’m…calm enough to be responsible with one.”
“And the police have never found fingerprints or…anything like that?”
“Contrary to popular belief, the police don’t go to great lengths for victimless crime,” she answered with a little bite in her voice. She obviously felt let down by our men in blue. “I’ve never been attacked, and nothing has ever been stolen, Mr. Raynes.” That ‘Mr. Raynes’ crap was really starting to annoy me for some reason. “After all these years, it’s still just my word that something is amiss.”
“And you think living off the grid, with nothing in your name, will finally get you free of this person?”
“Nothing else has worked so far,” she replied. “And, right now, I don’t have a better idea. I’ve moved too many times to count, and he or she still finds me. Do you have a better idea?”
I didn’t. But then, this was all new to me. I’ve never had a stalker or have stalked someone. I didn’t know the first thing about taking precautions for something like this. But I did find it strange that someone obsessed with her enough to stalk her for years has never attacked her.
I stared at this stunning woman in front of me and I knew I wasn’t going to help her.
I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t all in her beautiful, crazy head.
Chapter 7
Fallon~
He wasn’t going to help me.
I knew it the second I shook his hand.
He looked at me like he already knew I was more trouble than I was worth. There was no logical reason for him to invite drama into his life, and I didn’t blame him. I just resented this little song and dance he was insisting upon when he knew he wasn’t going to help me.
I doubt he ever was.
“I’ll admit, I’ve never had to deal with something like this, so, no, I don’t really have any…informed ideas on the subject,” he answered.
I began to digest his words but quickly stopped. His words didn’t matter at this point. Besides, it was probably a good thing that he wasn’t going to help me.
