She couldn’t resist poking at the bear, "Whenwere we good together? Was that when you were belittling me? Whenyou were assaulting me? When you were trying to ruin my reputationand my future?"
Rather than getting riled, he smiled back ather, "But Madelyn, I have so many lovely pictures of you. I look atthem every day. We belong together. If you disagree, I would behappy to share them with the chief of police."
Maddy smirked back, knowing the threatwouldn't take him as far as it had last time he'd sent out dirtyphotos of her. "Go ahead and try. Any evidence you can submitagainst yourself will only worsen your business attempts in town. Isure would appreciate if you provided the chief with evidence tosupport my request for a restraining order to start, and certainlyif I decide to press charges for blackmail, defamation ofcharacter, or maybe assault,” as she looked down at her arm, therewere finger-shaped bruises forming. “Drop those photos offanytime."
Hoping she'd won this round, she pulled awayand attempted to walk casually toward the station. As she hadhoped, Dylan didn't make any attempt to stop her.
The station was quiet, as most of the crewwas still out in the streets. She’d been on duty nearly twelvehours now. They'd staggered their shifts to maximize coverage. Hershoes squeaked as she walked along the freshly waxed taupe linoleumfloor of the reception area. She waved to the receptionist,Darlene, as she walked past.
She normally passed right in through thekey-coded door, but today it took a few tries to enter the codecorrectly as her hand shook. She'd been on shift since before dawnand was already exhausted by the time she'd run into Dylan.
Trying to keep her voice steady, she shoutedto her counterpart that was just coming on shift as she strolledpast him, "Ian, I'm out for the day." She didn't hesitate to walkstraight into the chief's office. If anyone stopped her and noticedshe was on the line of falling apart, she was afraid she would losethe last threads of control she was desperately clutching.
"Maddy. Nice parade, wasn't it?" The chiefasked, hitting send on her email before she looked up. Her tonechanged when she saw Maddy's distressed expression, lips pressedtightly together and eyes watery.
Andrea was in her early fifties, fit, andwore her gray hair in a spunky short ponytail. She didn't put upwith any crap, which Maddy adored about her. In this case, she wasalso grateful Andrea was a downright good person and had raisedfour polite, caring grown kids of her own. Andrea's face softened,turning more into mom-mode than chief, "Are you ok? Whathappened?"
"Andrea, can we talk? I have a bit of asituation." Maddy closed the chief's door and took a seat in one ofthe worn leather chairs in front of the desk. She hated to revealso much of herself, but knew she needed to be completely honest.She knew Andrea had her back, but she also knew Andrea would needthe whole story.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed her emotionsto the back burner. She described her history with Dylan since highschool, the photos, the assault, and his threats to make the photospublic again, the interaction just moments ago. His rather suspectplans for Seaview. "I'd like to keep my personal life as private aspossible, but I know what he's capable of and wanted to keep you inthe loop."
"Oh Maddy, I'm so sorry you went through allof that. He could never compromise your employment here. I agree,if he does send in any inappropriate photos, he is more likely toincriminate himself than you. I suspect those would be only to getyour attention. A demonstration of power. Why don't you call yourbrother and arrange for the legal protection you need? It soundslike you went through all the appropriate legal channels before, soyou should have a good case against him.”
She leaned on her elbows, looking Maddy inthe eye, “I know you want to keep this private, but the team needsto know so they can keep an eye on him. We’re already investigatinghim after speaking with Chase Anderson about the break-in and thebuy-out offer they’d received. Don't go near him alone; don’t goanywhere alone. I'm going to shuffle the schedule around a bit.You'll be with a partner full time; I know Ian won't mind."
Maddy considered arguing that she could takecare of herself and didn’t need a partner. But she wasn’tstupid.
Andrea paused, as if contemplating sharingthis with Maddy, “I have a bad feeling about him. I’ve seen himaround town. He’s charming and friendly, but there’s something… offabout him. Like none of us are good enough to share the same airthat he breathes.”
"I know what you mean. He was arrogant whenhe was younger, and I watched that transform into something more.Something darker, just before I left. Thanks for being sosupportive, really. I'll be careful. I just want to put this behindme once and for all."
Maddy left the office feeling much better.She knew she could defend herself, but she wasn't taking anychances. His grip on her arm had been intense. That look in hiseyes. There was something very disturbing in his expression, ahollowness that she had seen only a few times.
Like when he'd bashed her head against hercar the day she'd left him.
She called Payson while she finished her workfor the day. "Hey Payson. Want to walk home with me? We can getready at my place and head for the beach party together. I coulduse some company on the walk."
Maddy loved living so close to work, right onthe beach in town, but walking the near mile alone, already freakedout, was not appealing. She might as well start the buddy system,even though she was still armed and in uniform.
Payson was more than happy to join her andmet her at the station an hour later. She mercifully didn't ask anyquestions as they headed out together. "Natalie's watching the shopuntil closing in an hour. You were right about hiring her on morehours per week. She agreed to 20 hours most weeks but is willing towork full-time hours when I am willing to take a vacation, or onweekends during the peak of tourist season, like today."
The pair walked down the busy street, nottalking much until they hit the beach. Payson slipped off her heelsand walked barefoot as usual. They must have looked quite the pair,Maddy in her black police uniform and Payson in her bare feet andbreezy floral sun dress. Not wanting to talk about Dylan until shegot home, Maddy asked about Payson's trip to Boston to see Cara,her sister.
"You were right; I'm glad I went. She got herfirst D. My goodness, it was like the world had ended. She was soafraid she'd never get a decent job with such a terrible grade onher record. It was philosophy for crying out loud. Cara's ascientist and apparently did not get on well with herhead-in-the-clouds professor." Payson rolled her eyes as shelovingly talked about her younger sister. "Where that girl camefrom, I'll never know. I got more than my share of D's inschool."
“With her panic, I assumed she'd gottenarrested or something.”
“Not Cara. I love her to death, but oh myshe's dramatic. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it someday. Maybe alittle life experience will put things in perspective.”
They continued to chat as they walked. Maddywas grateful for her friend's lightheartedness on the walk home.Payson kept things light, knowing Maddy wasn’t ready to talk aboutthings yet, but sensed something was up. They walked up the stepsfrom the beach to the house, but rather than entering through theslider on the deck like they normally would, Maddy led them aroundto the front door.
Payson was surprised to see Maddy unlock thedeadbolt and head in to disarm the new alarm system. "That's new.What's up?" Re-setting the alarm for home-mode, she filled Paysonin on the run-in with Dylan, her agreement with Andrea to not goanywhere alone. She slipped off her shoes but couldn't manage tosit still quite yet. "I'm so sorry Maddy. You seem pretty shaken.I'm glad you called so you didn't walk home alone."
"I appreciated the company. Andrea is totallyon top of things. She's alerting the team and assigned Ian to be myfull-time partner until things calm down. I don’t mind; we workwell together. I'd like Dylan to try something when I'm on theclock. Make a nice, easy arrest,” Maddy paced the living room,plotting.
"Your history and his threat weren’t enoughto do something today? He left bruises on your arm, Maddy." Paysonlooked up from her place on the couch, her face in a plotting scowlas well. Payson's eyes followed Maddy's path back and forth acrossthe room.
"Some of these bruises are from an arrestnight before last. But, yeah, some are new. It was an ugly legalbattle before, and he didn't learn a damn thing. Today, he had thiscrazy look in his eye. I don't think the slap on the wrist he'dlikely get right now would be enough to even phase him. I want himto go away for a long, long time. So, I need to play my cardsright."
