“Who’s been where?”
“Caleb,” she practically screamed. “He’s b-been in m-my apartment. I-I think he just l-left.”
“Okay, listen, honey. I’m having a hard time understanding you, so I need you to try to calm down a bit. Take a deep breath in and out slowly. Can you do that for me?”
No.“Y-yes.”
As instructed, Charlie forced herself to inhale through her nose before letting it out slowly.
“Good girl. Now, tell me again what’s going on.”
As quickly as she could, Charlie went through what she’d found when she woke up.
“Jesus. Are you okay? Where’s Derek?”
“I’m fine. Derek’s not picking up. H-he’s working.”
“And you’re sure it was Caleb?”
Was he serious? “It’s been less than three weeks since the Hellcat was trashed. Then, yesterday, Derek’s house burns down, and now this? You’re the detective. You tell me.”
Charlie would’ve felt bad for being so snippy if she weren’t terrified out of her damned mind.
“Good point.” There was a slight pause before Eric said, “I want you to get to your car and drive to the station. I’ll be at the doors waiting when you pull up.”
Renewed fear had Charlie shaking her head before he’d even finished. “I can’t leave, Eric. What if that’s what he wants? What if he’s out there, right now, just waiting for me to come outside?”
Just imagining seeing Caleb again made her want to throw up.
Muttering a low curse, Eric said, “All right. I’ll send a car to you. Hold on while I get with dispatch to see who’s closest to your building. I’ll be right back, okay? Don’t hang up.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
Sitting on the couch, Charlie curled her legs to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. She hated that Caleb still had the power to frighten her this way.
“Charlie? You still there?”
Hearing Eric’s voice again made her jump and she silently cursed her ex-husband again.
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“Okay. Here’s what’s going to happen. Officer Morse is on his way to you. He’s been given instructions to go to your door rather than you coming down to him. Does your door have a peephole?”
“Yes.”
“Good. When you hear him knock, I want you to look through the peephole to make sure you see a police officer there. Do you have something to write with? I want to give you his badge number.”
Charlie shot up from the couch and went to a small drawer at the edge of her kitchen counter. Hands still shaking, she pulled out a small notepad and pen she kept there.
“Okay. I’m ready.”
“Officer Morse’s badge number is eight five four.”
“Eight, five, four,” she repeated the numbers back to him as she wrote them down.
“I know this guy. His first name is Will. He has short, dark blond hair and blue eyes. He’s young, but he’s a good cop. You can trust him.”
“Okay.”
