“Anything else I should know before I call the detective?” Aud pulled out his phone. It made him feel a little better doing something while he was waiting to hear how Leo was.
Julie pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I don’t think so. If nothing else, he should be able to pull the official report. Since I gave them the video I shot of the whole thing, Felix and I are supposed to go by the police station and give official statements once Leo’s out of surgery. They were fairly understanding that we wanted to stay with him.” She ran her free hand through her hair. “Sorry, I’m babbling. Things like this stress me out.”
“It’s okay.” Aud and Felix said in tandem.
“Mr. Sorenson.” Detective Benet’s voice came from behind Aud. He turned and looked at the man standing a few feet from him with a uniformed officer behind him.
“Detective Benet, I was about to call you.” Aud slipped his phone back into his pocket. “I understand you have my stalker in custody.”
“That’s correct. We were going to wait to get statements, but I tried calling your gallery and the woman there said you were here. I decided to talk with you and the witnesses at the same time.” He gestured down the hall. “There’s a room just down here we can use.”
“So what’s going to happen to Randal?” Aud asked as they walked.
Benet shrugged. “That’s hard to say at this point. We’ve got to gather more information. His attack on Mr. Caldwell will be a separate case, since Mr. Caldwell is a separate victim, although the facts of that case will play into yours.” He stopped outside a family consultation room. “Why don’t I get the statements from Mr. Sanders and Ms. Barnaird first? Then I’ll have a better idea what we’re dealing with.” He gestured to a couple of empty chairs in the hallway. “I’ll need to do this one at a time. If the other two could wait out here?”
Aud sat in the first chair. “That’s fine. If we get word on Leo, can we interrupt?”
“That’ll be all right.” Benet opened the door.
For a second, Julie and Felix shared an intense look, then Felix followed the policemen into the room.
“I don’t think this is normal,” Julie said as she settled next to Aud.
“What? The police coming to you to get statements?” He thought about it for a moment. “You’re probably right. I wonder why. Maybe since the attack was in the Walmart parking lot down the street from one of the news stations, there was lots of coverage and some public pressure to find out what happened.”
“That’s possible. I think I saw at least one news crew there by the time they got Leo into the ambulance. They’d already stuffed Randal into the police car by then.” She sighed and put her head back. “Can I hope all this is about over, at least the unexpected parts of it?”
Aud patted her leg. “I know I’m ready to have things calm down a bit. It’d be wonderful to be able to go out on a date with Leo and not have some emergency or interruption happen.”
“I think he’d agree.” She straightened and looked at him. “You know, he really likes you.”
“I really like him too.” Aud was beginning to think long-term where Leo was concerned. It wasn’t something he was used to doing with the guys he dated. But none of them had yanked at his heartstrings the way Leo did.
“Good. ’Cause I wasn’t sure you were worth all the grief Leo’s been through, and now we find out that your stalker is the guy who raped Felix.” She bent her head and looked through her bangs at him. “I can’t say I haven’t wondered if life wouldn’t have been easier if you weren’t around right now.”
“I’ve known Randal for a while. Hell, I’ve been trying to avoid his advances ever since we had a trick in the steam room a couple of years ago. He’s been getting pushier lately. I don’t know what’s going on. I think he’s always been a bit rough and had a low opinion of anyone he thought was beneath him. When I stop and think about it, if he had a guy in the position, he might be capable of rape.”
“He was more than capable; he did it.” Julie’s voice was hard. “He actually threatened to do it again and invite you to help.”
Aud gulped. Taking someone by force wasn’t something he’d ever thought about. He liked his partners to be willing participants. He didn’t even like the guys who were into sex but then just lay there and let him do whatever he wanted to them. He shuddered. “There’s no way I could’ve helped him with something like that. Man, that’s just a horrible thought.” Aud shook his head as if he was trying to get the thought out of it.
“Good.” There was something in her voice that made Aud think she was trying to convince herself he was safe.