She pouted. "Fine, but I'll hold you to that," she replied and stepped back so he could rinse off.
He turned the water off and they stepped out. He grabbed a towel to dry her off and she loved that he was taking such good care of her.
Back in the bedroom, she debated on what to wear. Looking at the time she realized she would have to go straight to work from the police station, which made the decision for her. She tugged on jeans and one of her long sleeve T-shirts that hugged her frame. She added some gel to her hair, choosing to keep it down because Yaeger liked it that way, put on her boots and jacket, and she was ready to go.
She was quiet on the short drive to the police station. She kept her hand in Yaeger's, their fingers entwined.
"Penny for your thoughts."
"I'm just thinking how grateful I am that you're here with me," she admitted.
"There's no place I'd rather be." He squeezed her hand before he parked the truck.
She knew better than to open the door herself, so she waited for him to come around and open it for her. "Thank you," she said as he helped her out.
He wrapped an arm around her as they headed inside and she leaned into him, taking strength from his presence. The approached the reception desk.
"Can I help you?" the officer behind the desk asked.
"Yes, I need to speak with an officer. I need to report a stalker."
"If you have a seat, someone will be with you shortly."
"Thank you." They sat and she tried not to fidget. Ten minutes later someone approached.
"Sorry for the wait, Miss…"
"Riggs. Frankie Riggs," she said, standing and offering her hand to the officer.
"I'm Lieutenant Cox and you are?" he asked, looking at Yaeger.
"Yaeger Delacroix. I'm here for moral support."
"If you'll follow me." He led them to a cubicle and motioned for them to sit. "Can I offer you a drink?"
"No thank you," they said almost in unison.
"Then let's get to it. Officer Callahan said you wanted to report a stalker?" he asked, taking out a pad of paper and a pen.
"Yes. It started about a month ago with flowers being delivered to my work. At first, I thought I had a secret admirer and I thought it was sweet. Then the notes started." She pulled out the few notes she had and showed them to him.
"I admit these get creepy, and he's clearly delusional if he's taking credit for the unfortunate deaths of the two men killed by animal attacks, but this isn't a lot to go on."
"He was outside my bedroom window watching us last night. We found footprints in the snow this morning," she told him.
“There’s something I need to say,” Yaeger cut in. They both looked at him. “I think the bastard pleasured himself while watching us. There were signs of melted snow where he stood.”
Frankie gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
He looked at her. “I didn’t want to upset you more than you already were, darlin’.”
"I can have a unit check on you periodically, but it's not illegal to send someone flowers and being a peeping Tom is a misdemeanor. I’ll get a sample of the snow where he stood and see if we can get any DNA from it to tell us who it was. Unfortunately, until he does something serious, there isn't much more I can do."
"Thank you anyway, Lieutenant. I knew this was going to be a waste of time," she said and felt like crying. But she wouldn't give her stalker that kind of control over her.
"We'll figure something out, darlin'," Yaeger said once they were back in the truck.
"You heard what he said. They won't do anything until something bad happens, and by then it'll be too late."
