That would get her, giving her something to do, something responsible, something which made her feel she was helping out her Mom. Kate’s mind would be turned from panic to duty by that.
“Okay,” she whispered, I let her go, nodded to Dane who looked worried (therefore, I knew Kate had shared the situation with him) and he followed Kate as she walked to the backyard.
I turned and watched only to see Keira standing in the yard, Feb’s squirming puppy in her arms, her eyes locked on our house. Feb and Cheryl were standing on either side of her.
“Feb,” I called, her eyes went from my house to me and I tipped my head to Keira.
Feb nodded, put her arm around Keira’s shoulders, moved Keira’s stiff body around and she led her to the back of the house, Cheryl, Kate and Dane following.
I watched until I lost sight of them then I ran to my house.
Joe, Colt and Sully were standing at my front door. Joe had a little white card between his fingers but he looked from it to me when I hit the yard and he watched me run until I stopped at their huddle.
“Talk us through this,” he ordered the minute I arrived, his head jerking to the flowers.
“It’s Saturday,” I explained stupidly.
“And?”
“He sends me flowers every Saturday.”
Joe’s mouth got tight and even in the bright sunshine of the day he shifted straight to sinister.
“You been gettin’ flowers?” Joe asked and I shook my head.
“This is the first here,” I answered.
His eyes went to Colt.
“Moratorium,” he growled and I blinked in confusion at his strange word.
“We’ll call the florists in town,” Sully said quickly and I got it then.
“That won’t work, I tried that,” I informed them, Joe’s eyes came to me and it took a lot for me not to shrink from him, he looked so pissed.
“We’ll be thorough,” Joe told me and I couldn’t do anything but nod because, the way he said that, I didn’t doubt for a second they would.
“What comes after this?” Colt asked and I looked at him.
“Gifts,” I answered, “then visits.”
“What kind of gifts?” Colt asked.
“It could be anything, it started small. Like he sent caviar which was weird. Then he sent fancy champagne and gift certificates to nice restaurants for me and the girls. Then he started to send jewelry.”
“Expensive?” Colt asked and I nodded.
“Visits come after the jewelry?” Joe asked and I nodded to him too. “What’d you do with the shit?”
“Gave it to Barry, Tim’s partner. He’s got it all still, at the Station.”
“How much time we got?” Joe went on.
“I don’t know, it went on for months and then he started to come ‘round.”
“Don’t suspect we got months,” Sully muttered and I suspected he was right, it had been months, me being away, I figured Daniel Hart would speed things up a bit.
“You talk to him?” Joe asked.
“He just showed, sat outside in his car. Then his man would come to the door, knock on it. Then he would. I didn’t go out in the beginning, didn’t answer the door. Barry talked to him at first and it didn’t work so then Barry talked to him officially and that didn’t work either. In the end, I talked to him a couple of times, thought he’d get it. That didn’t work either. Barry helped me get a restraining order so, after that, he’d sit in his car just outside of order range and just watch.”
“You don’t talk to him now,” Joe commanded. “Colt or me talk to him. We aren’t here, you stay in the house and call the police. We’re here, you stay in the house and call one of us then you call the police, got me?”
I nodded.
“He come when the girls were with you?” Joe asked.
“Yeah.”
I watched Joe’s face go hard as granite before he continued. “He come when the girls were home alone?”
I nodded and repeated, “Yeah, in the end, that’s when I decided to move.”
“Fuck,” Colt muttered.
“All right, buddy, listen to me,” Joe stated. “You stay in the fuckin’ house, you keep the alarm armed at all times, you keep the doors locked. Even when you’re home, alarm on, doors locked. You only work in your yard if you know Colt or me are here. You go to your car with your keys in your hand, ready to roll. You lock your doors in your car the minute your ass is in the seat and the door is closed, at home, comin’ from work, at the store. You tell Kate the same. You stay in the fuckin’ house if he shows. That’s your job, that’s all you do, you leave the rest to me, Colt and the cops. Got me?”
“Got you.”
“You get anything, flowers, gifts, calls, hang ups, you think someone’s followin’ you in your car, you think someone’s watchin’ you, you even get a bad fuckin’ feelin’, you report it to Colt or me. Yeah?”
I nodded again and whispered, “Yeah.”
Joe’s eyes moved over my face and he declared, “He’s gonna go away.”
I licked my lips and didn’t say anything.
“Buddy, he’s gonna go away.”
“He found me,” I was still whispering and I had started trembling.