“I’m coming over at some point.”
“Not today.”
“Fine. I’ll give you until tomorrow morning.”
“Maybe longer. I’ll let you know.”
“You’re too stubborn for your own good, Em.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. Be so very careful. I’ll tell the others you’re safe, and don’t be surprised if your Dad doesn’t come creeping around to be sure you’re safe.”
“Don’t. I have my gun and I don’t want to shoot anybody I love.”
“You do have a gun with you?”
“Yes, it’s in my backpack with my laptop.”
“Alright. I feel a little better knowing that. But stay in touch.”
“I will. Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, baby.”
Chapter 9
Emmalyn ended the call with her mother, then snuggled back into the blankets on Hellen’s sofa. She picked up the channel selector and started channel surfing, looking for anything at all that would hold her attention. She smiled when she ran across the Disney Channel, which was showing a favored movie from her childhood — Bolt. She started singing along with the opening song and did her focused best to tune out all else. She didn’t feel unsafe, in fact, she felt safer than she had in a while. In no time at all, she had no doubt that her mother would have told everyone that she was safe and just angry at Barron and they’d all back off.
In the meantime, she had Bolt, and a roast and potatoes, and frozen pizza to hold her over.
~~~
A lone figure stepped out from between the two storage shelves he’d hidden himself between when the object of his attention had unexpectedly flipped on the lights in the garage. He’d been hiding here for a while, having quickly realized while watching the first member of his new collection, that whoever lived in the house was never home. Which meant it was a perfect place for him to hide among her own people. If whoever owned the house came back, he’d either kill them, or add them to his collection along with Emmalyn. In the meantime, he slipped out at night and watched Emmalyn, learning her habits. Watched her family, learning theirs, then came right back to the garage,easily staying out of sight during the day and remaining quite comfortable.
He only ventured into the house to grab a quick shower after lying in the mud for any extended period of time, and to find the occasional bit of food to keep himself going. But for the most part, he opted for the garage. He took blankets out of the boxes stored there to sleep on during the day, and put them back in their boxes when he left. It was pure luck that he’d not taken his blankets out of the storage boxes yet when Emmalyn herself had carelessly opened the door leading from the house into the garage. He’d returned a short while earlier from watching her boyfriend’s house. Oh, yes, he knew she’d spent the night with another male. He’d followed them when they left her parents’ home, and waited until just before dawn to see if Emmalyn would venture home alone. When she didn’t, he’d decided to go back to his safe spot until darkness fell again. And he planned on repeating the pattern until she slipped up and he found her alone in a situation perfect for the taking. And he’d do just that, take her.
Silently he moved across the cold cement floor and pressed his ear to the door. He heard a television, and Emmalyn’s voice. He couldn’t quite make out what she was saying, but it didn’t matter. He knew she was there, and he knew she didn’t know he was there. It was a perfect situation. Except for one thing… he had to find a way to get her out of the neighborhood.
He paused, his head tilting just a little as he thought about it. Maybe not. Maybe he could just play with her while he was here, leaving her body for her people to find. That might be even better than adding her to his new collection. It would certainly serve justice for all his lost females, and they deserved some kind of justice after all, didn’t they?
~~~
“What did she say? What’s going on?” Bam demanded.
“Basically, she and Barron had a falling out. She heard him saying some things that I think were out of context because she only heard a partial conversation. She left and is hiding at Hellen's. Brandt and Barron don’t know where she is, but they really need to know.”
“Why?”
“Okay, so, don’t overreact, but we think she’s being stalked. But she’s not sure the guy actually knows where she is. He’s threatened her, though. And her boss took it seriously enough to send her home to lay low for a while.”
“Lay low? I’ll show every fucking body laying low when I find this sonofabitch!”
“You can’t!” Everly insisted, laying her hands on his arms when he tried to move past her. Her touch worked, he paused long enough to look down at her hands on him, which gave her a chance to speak. “If this guy is really here and you let him know we know he’s here, he can get away before Brandt and the boys can catch him and eliminate him. If he gets away, this nightmare doesn’t end.”
Bam’s entire body was twitching with the need to kill the man who threatened his daughter. “I need to hunt him down.”
“No, you can’t. Because you’ll go into the woods blustering and bellowing, and he’ll know you’re looking for him.”
