That he should have listened to her comments more clearly for days about feeling as if things were done in the house that she didn’t do. He was willing to bet someone had been in here and he missed it.
He’d had his head in the clouds and didn’t protect her the way he should have.
“Clay.”
He lifted his eyes to Ford’s. It was the tone of voice that told him the world was going to crash at his feet.
“What?”
“Karl Green has a past restraining order against him from twenty years ago. Stalking a neighbor.”
“Fuck!” He stood up and pushed the table halfway across the floor, almost sending his laptop crashing down before Ford caught it.
38
LEARNED YOUR LESSON
Meredith’s head was swimming. Aching on top of it. She wasn’t sure which was worse.
She smacked her lips together to get rid of the dry mouth and bitter taste.
Her eyes popped open as she looked around the room she was in.
She was on a bed, the color on the walls almost exactly the same as her room.
As her head moved slowly around, the artwork she saw hanging on the wall also matched up with hers.
Was this some kind of a joke?
She sat up fast and gagged, then put her hand in front of her mouth.
Meredith didn’t know where she was, but she was alone. That much she knew.
The bottle of water next to her was tempting, but she was piecing everything together.
Karl coming to her house with coffee. Them talking, something about her horrible taste in men and that he knew what she needed?
Was she imagining that part?
It was hard to gather her thoughts, but she remembered the camera now. He’d been watching her. Doing chores in the house when she wasn’t there.
She wasn’t losing her mind!
But she obviously lost her judgment to not have suspected any of this.
She put her feet on the floor and stood up slowly. She’d been drugged. That much was obvious.
Her legs were a little shaky but not horrible.
She made her way to the door, holding onto the wall just in case. It was locked. She expected as much.
She pulled on it as hard as she could, then pushed, pulled some more, her hand slipping off the knob and her stumbling back into the bedframe where she slid to the floor.
Her hands covered her face and she sobbed.
Why was this happening to her?
How could she have seen none of it before?
