“Thanks. I’ll call you as soon as I can.” Then Leo was gone.
Aud stared at the slowly darkening screen of his smart phone. He shook his head and sighed as he bent forward to set it on the coffee table. What kind of world do we live in when I’ve got a stalker, even if it is most likely Randal, and guys like Felix can get raped? Felix is a great guy. What kind of monster would force him?
He stood and walked into the kitchen to pour a glass of wine, hoping it would help him relax. As he came back toward the still-playing movie that flashed silently on his huge flat screen, he spotted his drawing tablet sitting on the table. He’d been so busy he hadn’t touched the sketch of Leo since their first date.
Picking up the tablet, he flipped through the minor things he’d worked on over the past year until he reached the sketch he was looking for. Leo smiled back at him from the white paper, a nearly perfect rendition in shades of gray graphite. There were little things missing, like the light laugh lines at the corners of his expressive eyes.
For a second Aud thought about sitting down and trying to finish the sketch. I know Leo wants to see it. It would be wonderful to have it done the next time we get together. He smiled, thinking of how Leo’s face would light up at the sight of the picture.
From the coffee table, his phone rang. Carefully closing the tablet, Aud laid it back on the table and hurried the few steps to the living room.
It was Heather. He swiped the phone to answer the call. “Hey, what’s up?”
There was silence for a moment. “What’s wrong?”
The question confused Aud. “What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong.”
“Bullshit. I’ve known you for several years. Your voice is off. Something’s wrong.”
“My voice?” He settled back into his chair. “I just got off the phone with Leo.”
“And is everything okay there?”
“With Leo, yes; with his friend Felix, no. But Leo’s going to help him through it.” It’s not my place to tell her about Felix getting raped. “So what’s up with you?”
“Oh, so you’re just a bit sad that you’re not going to see Leo tonight. Well, as long as everything’s fine on that front.”
She sounded like she was babbling. “Okay, Heather. Why did you call?” He tried to not sound overly irritated.
“Oh yeah. Have you checked your e-mail?”
“Yeah. There wasn’t a whole lot in there. I’ve already taken care of everything.”
There was a heavy pause. “Did you get a video?”
“A video? From who?” As he asked, he thought about the AVI from the unknown account.
“Don’t know. The account appears to be anonymous. There wasn’t much in the e-mail—”
“Just a simple single line?” Interrupting her, he tried to remember what it said.
“Yeah. It was directed to you.”
“So how did you get it?”
“It came through the gallery’s account. Remember we’ve got that one set up to not clear off the server just because we download the files. I went to clean things off from the past month, like I do all the time.”
“Right.” Aud slumped in his chair. “So what was in the video? I deleted it as opposed to risk opening the file.”
“I ran the file through a scrubber before opening it.” She sounded pleased with herself. “But you’re not going to be happy. I didn’t watch the whole thing, but it sure looked like someone stood outside your window and got a video of you and Leo having sex.”
Aud dropped his wine glass on the carpet. “What?”
“You heard me. That sure looks like Leo, and unless I miss my guess, you’re behind him, coming in and out of focus.”
A wave of nausea flooded Aud as he bent over to set his glass upright in an attempt to reduce the size of the spill he’d need to clean up. There was still a little left in the curve of the glass. “Oh. My. God.” His heart pounded so hard that he grew light-headed.
“That’s one way to put it,” Heather said. “I think you need to get this file to the cops. See if their people can figure out where this e-mail came from and find your stalker.”
“Yeah.” The room spun around him. Someone had been filming Leo and me having sex. What kind of pervert does something like that and then sends me a copy in an e-mail?
“I’ll forward a copy to your personal account. When I get off the phone, you need to call the police and find out if they want you to send them the file, or if they’ll come get it from you. I think it’s time for all of us to start taking this stalker thing a lot more seriously. Aud, you’ve got someone watching you. If they’re willing to take video and send it to you, they might get dangerous.”
“I know,” he replied weakly.
“I still think it’s that Randal fool. Even if it’s not, he’s a place to start. Make sure the cops have him on the top of the list of most likely suspects.”
“I will.” Aud finally forced himself to stand and go into the kitchen for something to clean up the spilled wine.