JAKE HAD SPOKEN to Nate, the guard from Chicago, several times that day. The first was early in the morning, to see if there had been any activity near Madi. The second was to tell him she was suspicious of him, and the third was to make sure she got back to her dorm safely. If Madi figured out he had a guard on her, she would question him to the point where he ended up telling her the truth. Not to mention the fact that she would be pissed he hadn’t told her. If he hadn’t known that the guy in the hoodie was working for him, he would have freaked out at the idea that she felt someone was watching her. In hindsight, he probably should have faked concern. She was too smart for her own good. Her amazing instincts were one of the things he loved about her.
Three more weeks and he could explain everything. He just wished he had more answers himself. He’d pored over multiple files on Peter Markum, but there didn’t appear to be an obvious reason why he hated him as much as he did. Dave was in the process of securing a restraining order against Peter to keep him away from Jake’s family. His family had all signed the necessary paperwork. He couldn’t file one for Madi without her signature. If he thought for one second that Peter knew where Madi was, it would have made the whole situation a lot different. He would have told her and insisted on her signing one. But he had people watching Peter and had a guard on Madi, so he knew she was safe.
Jake centered himself and went back to reading the letters that could have possibly come from the guard. They were all pretty basic. Some “I hate you,” some “I wish you were dead.” Nothing out of the ordinary in his line of work. But there was one letter that struck a chord with him. It was longer than the others, although still brief, but it resonated deep within him.
“You walk among thelivingwithout a care. Some day, your sins will come back to haunt you. I will be there to take pleasure as your world comescrashingdown.”
Why were the words ‘living’ and ‘crashing’ bolded? What sins did this freak think Jake had committed? Why did this bother him as much as it did?
After his concert and a shower, he poured through the files again. He sat on his bed and read the file on Peter’s prior assault, four years earlier. He’d gotten drunk in a bar and started a fight with a man. He’d beaten him to a pulp and was arrested. The report said Peter had been sitting at the bar when a young woman walked up to order a beer. According to the woman, he asked her if she knew she looked like a dead woman. It freaked her out and she told her boyfriend. The boyfriend confronted him and called him a pathetic loser who deserved to be alone for the rest of his life. Apparently Peter lost it and wailed on him. The security guards in the bar had to pull him off. Peter claimed the other man had picked the fight, and he spent a night in jail for assault before being released on bail.
The next arrest was for forgery a year later. He stole a prescription pad from a doctor and attempted to fill an Rx for pain medicine under Jake’s name. It’s a common name, so no one related it to him. He spent a year in jail for his second offense before going on probation.
The third offense was for attempted robbery. He’d walked into a convenience store and pulled a gun on the clerk. According to the clerk, he said Peter walked around and stared at him for twenty minutes before pulling out his gun and waving it at him. He asked him if people ever told him he looked like Jake Morgan. When the clerk said no, he called him a liar and told him he deserved to die for simply looking like him. The clerk hit the panic button, and Peter left without taking anything or demanding money. He was picked up an hour later, sitting on the curb outside his apartment, holding himself and rocking back and forth. He didn’t have a permit for the gun. He underwent psychiatric care for six months before he was diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The report didn’t say what caused his PTSD. His doctor testified that he felt Peter was a new man after treatment, and that his previous mental state had caused him to have problems separating what was real and what was fantasy. Peter did community service and was placed on probation. There were no further issues with him for the last two years until he attacked Madi.
It took everything Jake had not to put his fist through the wall. Obviously he wasnotcured of his issues. He’d been consumed with Jake for years, but why? Jake made a note to see if they could find out what his PTSD was for and if he had told anyone why he hated Jake as much as he did. Depression or not, he was sick. What was with the obsession he seemed to have with him? Jake stared at his picture. He’d never seen him before that day on the bus. Had he been a fan? Did he feel rejected by him in some way? Jake was determined to get to the bottom of it all, but he really needed to decide how he would explain this to Madi.
Madi… Jake looked at the clock. It was 12:02 a.m.Shit!How could he have missed his call to Madi? He picked up the phone and dialed her number. It rang three times before she groggily answered.
“Hi,” she mumbled.
“Hi, sleepy. I’m sorry I’m calling so late. Did I wake you?”
“Um hmm. You stood me up. I fell asleep on a bed of tears,” she said sarcastically.
“A bed of tears, huh? Are you very angry with me?”
“Not very.”
“A little?”
“Not at all. I know you’re a busy man.”
“I’m never too busy for you, babe. I just got caught up in some work.”
“What kind of work?”
“Nothing important. Tour details.” Another lie.
“Um hmm.”
Jake smiled at her sleepy response. “I’m going to let you go back to your dreams,” he said.
“I was dreaming of you.”
“You were?” he asked. “Was I naked?”
“I’m interested to know why you think that all my thoughts of you involve your naked body?”
Jake laughed. “Are you analyzing me?”
“Um hmm.”
“Go back to sleep, babe. In three weeks you’ll be sleeping in my arms.”
“I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Jake ended the call and turned back to the photo of Peter Markum. For a brief moment, he reminded him of someone, but the thought was lost as quickly as it came. Jake needed answers, and he wasn’t going to stop until he got every single one of them.
***
