“This means nothing. I’m sorry.”
“Have you had any death threats, Miss Graham?”
“No.”
“Any feelings of being watched or noticing a vehicle following you?” Jones asked.
I’d been shaking my head until he mentioned the car. Oh.
“What is it?” Ball pressed.
“A rattlesnake was in my car. Fuck knows how it happened, but it appeared while I was driving. It could have caused a bad accident, but I managed to pull over safely. The little bastard did strike, but it bit the leather of my boots, luckily,” I said.
“That’s a highly unusual happening,” Jones stated.
“Yeah, no shit. People don’t often find a rattlesnake inside a secured vehicle,” I replied and offered a weak chuckle.
“Did you report it?” Ball asked.
“No. It was just one of those things. The car had been locked. How could anyone have placed a rattlesnake in it!” I retorted.
“There are ways of breaking in,” Jones said, and I grimaced.
“Sure, but this feels unreal. You’ve no real evidence linking that poor woman’s murder to me,” I replied.
“Miss Graham, you’re not a suspect—”
“I hope not!” I exclaimed.
Jones frowned. “Please let me finish. We think the target victim was you. Not the new tenant. Our concern is that someone is looking to harm or kill you. We will be conferring with the locals here and keeping them updated on any developments. May I recommend that you have your home security system overhauled? And I strongly suggest reporting the rattlesnake incident. It creates a paper chain of evidence.”
“Okay. Thank you. I’ll look into it, but I honestly don’t know what to say.”
“Does anyone spring to mind who’d like to harm you? You work in the ER, maybe the parent of a child who died or an ex-boyfriend,” Ball asked.
“No exes. I don’t date, and the one I do have isn’t interested in me whatsoever. Trust me on that. But there’ve been a few threats, and I can give you their names. But you’d have to contact my former employer for further details, and they’ve gone bankrupt,” I replied.
“Anyone stand out?” Jones pressed.
“No. Sorry. Death threats are rare, which makes them all memorable, but any I’d have worried about or taken seriously? No, most were from grieving parents. To be honest, threats are more likely to be levelled against doctors than against nurses. And the few I received were generic, aimed at the whole team.”
“No signs of a stalker?” Ball asked.
“No. I wasn’t even aware I was coming here until a few days before I did. Honestly, I didn’t give anyone my new address as I wasn’t close to anybody there. The post office was the only place I gave a forwarding address to; not even my old landlord had it.”
“Okay, Miss Graham. May I strongly suggest keeping your eyes open and, if you see or hear anything suspicious, call nine-one-one. We’ll speak to the local PD and have them put your address on an alert list,” Jones said.
“What’s that?”
“If a call comes in from your residence, you’ll take priority over every other call,” Ball explained.
“Right, thanks.”
They stood and shook my hand. I noted the time as they left, and my shift was over. Confused and worried, I headed back out and finished a few records before heading towards the staff room. Stone and his friends could stay in the waiting room for all I cared; I’d slip out through the staff entrance.
Harlequin
They were police. The two men whom April had gone to meet were police; their clothing screamed it. Interested, I wondered why they wanted to speak to her. Whatever it was, it was a shock, judging by April’s body language. Both cops looked worried as they questioned April, and I sensed this was serious. April kept shaking her head, so I didn’t think they were accusing her of a crime.
