That was awfully vague. And yet I got the feeling that maybe I didn't really want to know the details.
"Okay." I dropped the subject, for now. Or maybe forever. Sometimes ignorance was bliss.
"I know you didn't want to do this earlier, but I think it's time you get a restraining order on your sister."
I sighed at the thought. The last time Nolen brought it up I had been adamant that it wasn't needed. Now I was starting to think I had been wrong.
"You might be right."
Nolen didn't gloat. He didn't say “I told you so” like some others would have. He simply held me and let me work through the problem on my own.
"Let's contact Sheriff Andrews and get it taken care of," I finally admitted after a few seconds of keeping quiet.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of it for you."
I knew he would because that was just who he was as a person and the main reason I loved the man.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Nolen
I looked across the table at my friends. We were at the office, and because I refused to leave Vanessa alone even for a few minutes, she was forced to come in with me. Even with the restraining order in place, I didn't want to take the chance on Hannah or anyone else getting close to her.
"How the hell is it that we can't determine who this guy is?" I frustratingly asked my friends for what felt like the millionth time this week.
"You've run all known associates for Joel Daniels and Kyle Jones. Vanessa has looked at every mug shot available to no avail. You've run facial recognition on the camera footage but no hits as of yet. I'm not sure what else we can do to determine the identity of her blackmailer." Maverick tried to calm me down, but it was pointless. I was too riled up.
Even Vanessa did her best to soothe me by grabbing my hand and interlocking our fingers.
"I just don't understand how this isn't fitting together. Is it possible these are two separate incidents?"
I looked over at Vanessa to see what she thought.
"I don't think so. Hannah specifically said Joel was looking for the information, and he was the one to attack me. I thought that meant Joel and this other person were working together, but I'm not so sure anymore."
Neither was I, and that was the problem. I didn't not like knowing where something was headed. There were too many variables and not enough information to back anything up.
"We still don't know who sent the dead rats a few weeks back either," Aaron piped up.
I had almost forgotten about that with everything else going on.
"We never did determine if it was for Valerie or Vanessa." Easton shrugged his shoulder. "I'm leaning toward you, Vanessa, just because of the whole don't-snitch thing and the dead flowers. Your blackmailer wouldn't want you saying anything to anyone about what was happening."
"And I never would've if they hadn't beat up Hannah. I would've gladly kept my mouth shut to protect her."
I had to bite on the inside of my cheek to keep me from saying what I wanted to which was that Hannah never deserved her sister’s loyalty.
Hannah deserved everything she got for what she put Vanessa through.
"Do we know why she was attacked?" Maverick asked the question that I hadn't even thought to ask.
"According to the police report, it was because she refused to share drugs she was having Joel sneak into the facility to her," Hendrix told the room.
Vanessa shook her head. "Unbelievable. All the money I spent on her, and she was still using even in rehab. I don't know how I could've missed it all these years."
"She didn't want you to see it," I reassured Vanessa so she didn't go down the rabbit hole of blaming herself again.
Even with everything Hannah had done, Vanessa still felt guilty because she was a good person.
