Page 6 of Never Give Up

I open eyes I hadn’t realized were closed and stare blankly at Jake.

“I’m not crazy.”

“No. You’re not crazy.” Jake’s mic squawks loudly on his shoulder.

“Unit 13, be advised Unit 12 is en route as well.” Daniel’s static-filled voice breaks through.

My heart, which has barely stopped racing, kicks up a notch because I know those unit numbers better than my own face.

As the other cruiser turns into the drive less than a minute later, I can’t hide the mask of pain I know takes over my fearful expression.

“Brian.” Jake greets the only man Idon’twant to see.

“Anything?” He looks right through me as though I’m not standing there in front of him, giving Jake his full attention.

“No. Whoever it was is gone, but not before they trashed Maya’s room.” Jake turns to me with a raised eyebrow. “Unless you decided it was a good night to pretend a bomb went off and destroy half your wardrobe.”

I shake my head. “No. I just cleaned the house before I went to work, and everything was spotless.”

Brian stares at me, no longer staring through me like I’m a suspect.

Our gazes catch and hold, and I wrap my arms around myself in an attempt to keep him from seeing just how scared I really am.

If he did see, he’d try to comfort me, and I can’t handle him being nice to me. Not right after he rejected me.

“I’m going to need you to go through all of your stuff and tell me if anything is missing.” Jake interrupts the staring match between me and Brian. “Have you noticed anything weird going on lately? Is there anyone you have problems with who might have a reason to do this?” He leads the way into the house, and I find myself shuffling inside while Brian follows me.

Panic flutters at the edges of my mind, forcing me to keep a tight rein on my desire to scream at the top of my lungs.

“Oh, I don’t know, Jake.” I bite the words out sarcastically, before forcing myself to rein it in. “I have an ex-husband who fought the divorce and swore he’d make me regret leaving him when I realized that we didn’t love each other.” I tick off offenses on my hand like it’s a game. “I have his entire family who hates my guts and wouldn’t mind if I disappeared off the face of the earth just because they think I broke his poor little heart.” I make myself stop and take a deep breath. “I deal with people every single day who hate me just because I work with the police.” Another deep breath. “But no, I don’t think any of them would break into my house and make me think I was about to be chopped up into little pieces like the worst sort of scary movie.”

That last little bit gets caught in my throat, and I choke on the terror coursing through my body.

“Is there anyone else you can stay with for a few days?” Brian looks at me with the concern I’ve been trying to avoid. “It’s probably a good idea for you to go to a friend’s.”

“Or not,” I snap waspishly. “I’m not going to leave my house. I’m not going to let—”

“Stop talking.” Brian cuts me off and shakes his head at my annoyed huff. “I know you don’t want to leave. That you want to prove you’re okay, but we need to talk about your safety. So even though it goes against every fiber of your being, please listen to us while we tell you what to do. If you’re not going to leave, then please, at the very least, you should buy a game camera that’s motion activated. Have it facing your doors. You’ve heard us tell this to people time and time again. Keep your doors and windows locked. Don’t leave anything on the first floor open or unlocked at all.”

“I know.” My voice is barely a whisper. “If they come back, I can catch them on camera. Even if there’s nothing that can be done right now.”

Jake clears his throat. “Brian, you need to see this.” He pulls a piece of paper out of nowhere, and I’m surprised to see that he has blue vinyl gloves on. The kind they use when collecting evidence.

Something dark crosses over Brian’s face.

“You’re mine,” Brian reads from the perfectly creased letter.

My heart drops into my stomach, but I refuse to let them see my panic. Refuse to let Brian see I’m afraid. I don’t want to face his pity. Instead, I sit down, but only after my legs feel like they’ll give out from under me if I don’t.

“Jake, I just want to go to bed.” Resting my head in my hands, I sigh deeply. “Can this wait until tomorrow or something?”

“Maya, you should stay with someone else,” Brian answers for the other deputy. “Go somewhere at least for the next few days.” He sits down next to me and starts to put his arm around me before he catches himself and moves away. “You know it’s the same thing we tell anyone who could be the subject of a stalking investigation.”

I don’t even have the strength or will to argue with him at this point, so I just sit there and let him tell me about all the things I should do because I have a stalker. He tells me about the fact that stalkers don’t normally act this way until they’ve reached their endgame. He tells me I need to be careful, and while I know he is only trying to help me, I don’t really want to hear it. So I get up and walk to the door.

“I think you need to go now. I’m tired, and I want to go to bed. I have to be at work at four this afternoon.” I’m starting to fall asleep, and I don’t have the courage to tell him that I don’t have anyone to stay with.

Even Poppy, my best friend. I won’t bring any trouble to her doorstep.

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