Page 81 of Putting Out
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“Okay, I get maybe you two miss me when I’m on the road. But this is a little ridiculous.”
Reilly opened her eyes and startled at the blurry image above her. Quickly, Luke’s face came into focus and she eased back into the bed.
“Don’t be mad,” she said.
Luke frowned. “Why shouldn’t I be mad and why is Kenny asleep on the floor?”
“I’m up. I’m up,” Kenny grumbled as he sat up, cracking his back in the same motion. “Something happened last night. We didn’t call because there was nothing you could do. But you’ll need to see this.”
She rolled out of bed and followed her brother down the hall back to her room with Luke behind them.
He said nothing as he walked into the room and saw the ball mark on the wall. It seemed starker in the morning light.
“When?” Luke barked.
“I woke up and he was spray painting it. He realized I was awake and dropped the can of black paint and took off. By the time I got Kenny, he was gone.”
“The alarm?”
“It wasn’t set. It was an accident,” she explained. “It doesn’t matter. He didn’t hurt me.”
Luke whirled around to face her, his expression fierce like she rarely saw.
“He broke in. He was in this room with you alone while you slept.”
“To paint a picture. Not to hurt me. Look, no one is more creeped out by this than me. But pointing fingers isn’t going to help.”
“You didn’t call the police?”
“I let her get away with that,” Kenny offered. “She’s right. If we call the police this will become a huge media circus. We won’t be able to keep her location under wraps and she sure as hell is not going to be able to concentrate on her game. More important, I think that’s what this guy wants. The letters, the fish, this. It’s all about getting her attention. Why should we feed into that?”
“I’m calling my friend again. He’s coming down here. Now.”
Luke charged out of the room and Reilly and Kenny looked at each other.
“We did the right thing,” she said.
“I knew he would be pissed.”
Downstairs Pierce was making his apologies to a stern-looking Luke, and Odie was hiding behind the paper. Reilly came upon the scene freshly showered and rather proud her hands were steady.
The key was perspective. Yes, this man was a threat. Yes, he was dangerous, but sometimes the mark of a person’s character was how they handled danger. Reilly admitted to being a scaredy-cat at first, but she was giving herself bonus points for handling the aftermath well.
One thing, however, was going to become a necessity.
“The ball mark freaks me out. Pierce would you mind if we swapped rooms?”
“No problem. Look, you have to know I never would have told Odie…”
“Forget it.” She smiled. “If you had asked me I would have done the same. At least tell me you had a good date.”
He smiled “Doug is a good guy. And he’s hot. So bonus.”
“Nice.”
“Reilly,” Luke interjected as she reached for the coffee mug Pierce was offering. “Can we talk privately for a second?”
