Page 56 of Her Devoted HERO

“Mary Poppins, it’s about damned time you picked up!” This time the raspy voice was loud. But it still slithered. He was disguising it.

Her thumb hovered over ‘END,’ when she realized Dex and Clint had told her to keep the creep talking.

She stepped away from the girl and her baby and whispered into the phone. “What do you want from me? Who are you?”

“Don’t play coy with me. You think just because you’re beautiful you can ignore a man.” Now he was quiet and scary. They’d been right, the guy was a serious whackjob.

“Look, Dude, I ignored everybody who e-mailed me. Don’t take it personally.”

“You didn’t. You’re seeing the sailor.”

“How do you know?” Kenna saw the girl’s head jerk up. She needed to take it down a notch. “How do you know who I’m spending time with?” she asked in a quieter voice.

“I know a great deal about you. I wish I could get as close to you as Smooches does. I like to cuddle.” The last was said with a grating laugh.

Kenna didn’t respond. She couldn’t. How could he know the name of Rosalie’s dog? Who was this guy? Oh God. Austin.

“Stay away from me.”

“You get it now, don’t you? You’re worried about your son. Don’t be. I care about you, Kenna. I wouldn’t hurt your child. I want you to like me. Now if you do something to make me angry...” he let the words hang out there.

“Stay away from Austin. You stay away from my boy!” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the little boy was now crying.

“Or what?” the man asked softly.

“I’m calling the police.”

“They couldn’t help Jean.” The man laughed. It was the evilest sound Kenna had ever heard in her life.

The line went dead.

***

Herbert Lundquist was standing over her in his office. She had just gotten done making phone calls ensuring that Austin was safely at Denny’s house for the rest of the weekend. She’d also convinced her mother to stay with her bridge partner Wilma until Monday.

“I’ll have my assistant drive you to the police station,” Herbert said.

“I’m fine to drive myself,” Kenna said.

“Please, beg my pardon, but you didn’t look well a half hour ago. I think you need someone to drive you.”

There was a knock on the door, and then Clint Archer walked into the office.

“Kenna, we have a problem,” Clint said at the same time as Lundquist asked, “Who is this?”

“I know. He called me. He threatened my son.”

“Hello, Mr. Lundquist.” Clint walked up to Herbert. “My name is Clint Archer. I’m providing security for Ms. Wright until her boyfriend arrives home this afternoon. Could you give the two of us a moment of privacy?”

“Kenna, is this all right?” Herbert asked her.

Kenna nodded.

As soon as the door closed, Clint turned on her. “Lady, what is your problem?”

“He threatened my son.”

“Why didn’t you call me as soon as your call with that fucker ended? I called you Kenna. You saw my number come up on your phone and you ignored it. What the hell?”