“Oh!” The woman exclaimed, startled at seeing her. “You must be Emily. I’m Keeley,” she said walking up to her and giving her a quick hug before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the two hulking men. “Nathaniel, Tyler, this is Emily. I told you about her earlier.” She introduced them while pulling Emily into a meeting room and sitting her down. She was helpless to do anything so she just followed like a lost puppy.
Sitting down across from her, Nathaniel and Tyler scrutinized her. While she tried hard not to give in to the urge to squirm under their intense gazes, it was hard to hold their eyes, but she managed to, just barely. She let out a breath when Keeley sat down beside her and squeezed her hand on the table. “Alright, Miss Baxter, tell us what’s going on,” Tyler, she thought, said to her.
Looking down and clearing her throat of the balled up emotion and anxiety she was feeling, she looked up and explained to them some of her problems. “I have had a stalker since I was nineteen, and I don’t even know how I got one. I’m as boring as watching grass grow. I hadn’t met anyone new when I found out. Hell, it wasn’t until he took the liberty of defiling my house that I even knew about him.” Taking a breath, she continued while looking at a point between their shoulders so she didn’t have to see the pity in their eyes. “It’s been over two years now. He keeps finding me, and I’m tired of running. Tired of fighting. This is my last stand or I’m done. I don’t know what he wants from me, but I can’t take all the fear and stress anymore. It’s driving me insane not knowing when he’s going to eventually get his hands on me, I just can’t…” Stopping because her voice finally broke, Emily didn’t realize she had tears streaming down her face until Keeley handed her a Kleenex. With a whispered “thanks”, she wiped her eyes and waited for what would happen next.
“Have you gone to the police about this?” Nathaniel asked the obvious question.
Snorting at the ludicrousness of that question, she responded more sarcastically than intended. “Of course, I did. Lot of good that did me. They investigated, but not very hard, and in the end they thought I was making it up. Even though this sick freak had been in my home, ripped my bras and panties to shreds, and left pig’s blood all over my room and walls.” She told them leaving out the part where as she was passing out he came all over her face and chest. She was still humiliated about that, and it never failed to have bile rising in her throat and shame running through her body. Shaking the thought from her head, she concentrated on the here and now. “The police think it’s my fault. That I somehow brought this on myself. I don’t know what old school crap they’re teaching in the academy these days, but I assure you, I want nothing to do with whoever this creep is. I stopped reporting the incidents about eight months ago because almost immediately afterwards, he would find me again.”
“Probably because you gave your real name, and they would have entered that into their systems. What happened this time? What brought you in here today?” Tyler asked her.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the pictures he’d sent her with the flowers this morning. “These were on my steps this morning, along with a vase of blood red roses,” she said handing them over.
“Where’s the flowers?”
Blushing at her spout of anger earlier she mumbled out, “I might have trashed them and then burned the bag.” Looking up at their silence, they all had looks of shock on their faces. Huh, guess they didn’t expect ‘lil ol’ me to be scrappy, she thought sardonically.
“Well, ok, then, we’ll try and see if we can’t get prints from these photos. They’re all recent I assume?” At her nod Nathaniel continued on. “We’ll have a team meeting tomorrow to see who will be assigned to your case and try to get the police files from your previous reports. Can you make a list of police stations that you reported to?” When she nodded, they got up and shook her hand before leaving her alone with Keeley to start working on the list.
“It’ll be ok you know, my men are the best at what they do.” Keeley told her proudly. Simultaneously shocking her after they got that list made up.
“Men?” Emily squeaked out.
Smiling brightly, Keeley said to her, simply, “Yes, Nathaniel and Tyler are mine.”
Not knowing what to say to that, Emily nodded her head and smiled like she wasn’t still reeling from that admission. However, she returned the shocked feeling to Keeley after they finished working on her list of police stations. Yes, there were that many.
She thanked her for taking the time with her and walked out of the building feeling like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, like she was finally going to get help and have this entire ordeal over with soon.
Waiting for the bus a block away, the hairs on the back her neck stood up on end and goose bumps ran along her flesh. Knowing what it was didn’t make her feel any better.
She was being watched.
By him.
Chapter 2