“Officer Andrew Jennings. I’ve handled several incidents with Elizabeth Bergstrom’s stalker, Eric Dahl, who has eluded the police for several months.”
“The police want him and he is on record as her stalker?” said the judge.
“Yes, Your Honor,” said Andrew. “We couldn’t ascertain if that is his real identity or determine his whereabouts, but he has tormented Elizabeth for months.”
“You may continue,” the judge said to me. “What happened upstairs?”
“Eric assaulted me. I fought my way free. He caught me and injected me with something that made me dizzy and weak. He didn’t expect me to fight. I bloodied his nose, but he shoved me down the stairs. I hit my head and broke my arm. He tried to drag me out the door, but my screams woke Christopher. Eric ran. I passed out and woke up in the hospital. Until an hour ago, I didn’t know that they had arrested Christopher. I came as fast as I could.” I begged his forgiveness with my eyes.
“Your family didn’t tell you about Christopher’s arrest?” said the judge. “And you didn’t tell them about Eric.” Her sharp gaze met mine.
“I didn’t get a chance, but Christopher would never hurt me. I’m sorry I took so long.” I said the last as I stared at him, not the judge.
He’d looked up during my retelling of the evening, his eyes riveted on my face. His expression, at last, was hopeful.
“Dr. Winters, case dismissed.” The judge banged her gavel. “You’re free to go.”
The bailiff released him, and his lawyer shook his hand. Christopher looked at me throughout.
Everyone else in the courtroom disappeared as I ran to him. He scooped me into his arms and buried his face in my shoulder.
“Oh, Lizzie.” His whole body shook with emotion. “I thought the lab techs had done something to me and that I’d hurt you. I thought I’d lost you forever.”
I squeezed tighter. “Do you forgive me for not coming sooner?”
He kissed me, my face in his trembling hands. It was more than forgiveness. I sensed love and almost overwhelming relief.
“I remember nothing after I bought ice cream. My tires were slashed, and I tried to call you. Horace and Jasper knocked me out. My next memory is you unconscious in my arms. Your arm was crooked. There was blood all over the floor and I didn’t know how I got there.”
“We rescued you from the lab.” I wrapped my arms around him and looked into his tearful eyes. They were the palest I’d seen them, reminding me of glacial pools with dark rings. “I’ll tell you about it later.” My throat hurt. I wasn’t used to talking so much at once.
His thumb stroked my bottom lip with his promise. My heart reminded me it had pieced itself back together by fluttering at his touch.
Somebody cleared their throat, reminding me we weren’t alone.
Meghan, Dad, and Andrew stood nearby. All three wore smiles to see Christopher exonerated and me out of the hospital.
“If you’ve been in the hospital and I’ve been in jail, where’s Ember?”
“I’ve got your cat,” said Dad. “Andrew brought her the first day. I hope that’s okay.”
I nodded. Tears threatened again, and my gut clenched. I wanted to go home, but wasn’t sure it was safe. Eric had bragged that locks couldn’t keep him out, but alarms could.
“I forgot to set the alarm when I went to the lab with the private investigators. Eric waited inside for me to return. We’ll be safe at home with the alarm on.” Once I would have tried to take the blame for what had happened, but the attack wasn’t my fault. It was Eric’s.
“Has anyone been back to Real Tech?” I turned to face the others, though I rested my back against Christopher. He wrapped his arms around me. We weren’t going to be able to stop touching each other. We needed physical contact.
Andrew nodded. “The human trials have been shut down, but they have manipulated the men who were taken to be without emotions—phase one of the experiments. We don’t think they injected anyone with the second compound.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing that the other revelations from that night had been lost. “Eric is the mystery boss at Real Tech. He referred to it as his lab.”
Andrew’s jaw dropped. “When?”
“He boasted about it that night in the house. Brandon worked for him under duress, at least before his injection.”
“How are we going to find Eric?” said Andrew. “Nothing we’ve done so far has worked. We don’t know his real name or where he is. The boss has cleared out of Real Tech, so we won’t find him there. He’s a horrible human, but brilliant. He’s always a step ahead.”
“Hire Luke and Ella. If anyone can find him, they can.”
