Easier to Run (25 page)

Ben took my phone out of my hands. “Don’t worry about it, Cas.”

“He was released,” I yelled, feeling my entire body start to shake.

“Cas, it doesn’t mean he has anything to do with this. If so, they’ll pull prints off the note, match them to his, and drag his ass back to jail.”

If only it was all that simple.

“Just take it easy until we hear what the police say.” He wrapped his arms around me, and I leaned over to lay my head in his lap. I could tell myself over and over that it didn’t make sense. That Ben was probably right and Mitchel wouldn’t take such a stupid chance, but it didn’t work.

If it is him, this is the end, he goes back to jail
.

“When we figure out all of this,” I said. “And Liz is better, and my stalkers are gone, and everything is finally settled. I want to go to Florida—and not on a run. I want to sit on a beach, and dig my toes into the sand, and not worry about all this stupid shit that gets in the way.”

“Deal,” Ben whispered, squeezing my hand, and giving me a reassuring smile. “I will take you on the best Florida vacation imaginable.”

“Manatees and dolphins.”

“Everything you want, love.”

***

I held my breath as Ben opened the door to the two police officers and explained everything. We followed them into the bedroom, watching as they slid the paper into a plastic bag. They continued searching the rooms, checking all of the windows in the apartment for signs that they’d been tampered with, and asking question after question about who might have done it.

I watched from the center of the living room while they checked the lock on the apartment door.

“There’s no sign of tampering with any of the locks,” one officer said. “Is there any other way they might have gotten in?”

Ben shook his head. “And no one has keys except for me, my roommate, and my brother. He has the spare in case something happens while we’re away. My roommate left with us this morning, and has been with his girlfriend all afternoon. I already asked him.”

I tried to pay attention, but my mind kept throwing other thoughts in the way.
Mitchel
.
The prank messages
. What if it all had followed me back in ways I had never imagined?

I grabbed Ben’s arm as he got closer. “You don’t think that someone who’s been messaging me….” I couldn’t bear to finish.

“Messages?” The female officer said.

I jumped, not expecting that anyone else had been listening. “J-just um….” How did I explain that in a tactful way? “A bunch of p-prankish messages.”

I walked slowly to the counter and picked up my phone to boot it up again. So much for saying that final goodbye. I shook my head, staring down at the phone as tears blurred my vision. This was what I got for ignoring it all and trying to run away from my past. Warm hands pressed against my cheeks, and I sniffled as Ben lifted my face.

“It’s okay,” he whispered.

I pressed my lips together and nodded, handing him the phone. “Just take it.”

He looked down at the screen, then handed it to the officer.

“We have your permission to search the phone?” she asked.

“Search it, d-destroy it, do whatever you want with it. I n-never want to see it again.” I wanted to hide away in a hole as soon as he looked down at what was on the screen.

“How long have you been getting these messages?”

Oh, God, why did I have to explain again? This time to total strangers. I kept dragging my fingers through my hair, trying to find a way to calm my nerves. “About t-two m-months.”

“You didn’t report it? You could file harassment charges.”

“R-right. Like anyone wants to l-listen to the girl who c-can’t talk and gets perverted m-messages because she was stupid”—Ben grabbed my arm but I jerked away.

I felt like my legs were going to collapse under me and I sat back against the wall.

Everyone closed in around me—or at the very least, it felt like it. Maybe I could just skirt around the issue and no one would notice. “S-some jerk posted my n-number on the internet—a sex website.”

“Someone you know?” the female officer asked.

“I… I-I don’t know who did it.”

“We can run the numbers and see what comes up,” she said. “You can decide if you’d like to press harassment charges.”

Would she be saying that if they knew the whole truth?

Ben’s arm came around my waist, holding me against his side.

“Can I press harassment charges against my grandparents?” I asked. I couldn’t believe the words came out. I meant it as a joke inside my head not for the rest of the world to hear.

“Are they harassing you?” the male officer asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t—I don’t know. I didn’t m-mean it.”

“They’re kind of jerks,” Ben said. “They’ve made some hurtful comments.”

“We’ll see what we find on the phone,” the female said. “I’d suggest you have your landlord change the locks. Is there anywhere you can stay until then?”

I knew what was coming, and my stomach swam into my chest.

“Yeah,” Ben said. “We can stay with my parents.”

They took down the rest of our information, and Ben called his mom while we packed up some clothes to take with us.

Ben

Cassie didn’t stop the nervous snapping of her nails until I pulled up to my parents’ house. They had a small cottage style house that sat on four acres overlooking a lake. Most of the land was forested, or landscaped into beautiful gardens where Mom spent most of her time.

“When’d they move here?”

“Right after you left and I moved out. They didn’t really need a four bedroom house all to themselves.”

“What if whoever is stalking me follows us here?”

“First, we don’t even know that someone is stalking you. The police have the address, they’re supposed to keep an eye on it, and Dad had a fancy alarm system put in because he didn’t like Mom being at home alone when he leaves out at five am. She thought it was overkill, but what can you do?”

I was trying to put her at ease, but nothing seemed to help.

She stared up at the house, with her head tilted sideways and pressed against the window. “Why does everything have to go to piss at once?”

“I don’t know. Maybe that means once it’s all over we’ll have a relaxing few years.”

Cassie finally laughed, then rolled her eyes. “We better.”

“Let’s get moved in.” I opened the door and climbed out of the truck, but Cassie didn’t move.

“Exactly how many guest bedrooms do they have?” she asked.

“One, with a queen sized bed.”

She looked at me, then back to the house. “So are you going to be sleeping on the couch?”

“No?” I said simply. I put my hands on the roof of the cab and leaned inside. “I’ll be sleeping next to you.”

“That’s not awkward at all.”

“Cas, my parents thought I knocked up my ex. They know how babies are made. I don’t think they’re going to be shocked by us sleeping in the same bed. Now,” I grabbed our bags out of the back. “Get out of the truck.”

By the time our feet hit the first step of the porch, Mom was standing in the doorway with the screen door open.

“It’s about time you come see me,” Mom said, grabbing Cassie as soon as she was within reach. She patted Cassie’s cheek and looked her over. “Chuck’s been rubbing it in that he saw you first. And again today. Come here, sweetie.” She wrapped her up in another hug.

“T-thanks for letting us stay,” Cassie said.

“Don’t mention it, honey.” She came to me. “Good to see you again, too. I trust you’re staying out of trouble now.”

After giving me a hug, she shooed us both into the house. I showed Cassie around, while Mom went back to check on the chicken and dumplings she had on the stove.

We started in the basement so I could drop off my bags. “Welcome to the guest suite,” I said, tugging Cassie closer and stealing a kiss. A couch lined the back wall, near a TV tucked in the corner, with rows of family pictures hanging over it. The bed took up the opposite wall, flanked by windows that overlooked the lake. “There’s a bathroom behind the stairs.”

“Your parents are certainly prepared for visitors,” Cassie said, staring out the window.

I crept up behind her, and pushed her hair aside.

Her body tensed and she raised her shoulders to cut me off. “You shouldn’t try that here.”

“Try what?” I asked pressing my fingertips into her shoulders.

She moaned and dropped her head forward. “Never mind. I won’t argue.”

“Really?” I kissed the back of her neck.

“Behave,” she whispered, and swatted my thigh while I continued kneading her shoulders and neck.

After a few minutes, she dropped backward and laid her head against my shoulder.

Mom knocked on the door to the stairs, and it squeaked as it opened. “Either of you want anything for lunch?”

Cassie sighed. “I just want a nap.”

“No thanks, Mom,” I called back.

“Raid the kitchen if you change your mind, I’ll be out back in the garden.” The door popped closed.

“Take a nap, Bug,” I said, kissing her forehead, and smacking her gently on the ass. “Want me to stay down here with you?”

“I’ll be okay.” She dropped onto the bed and pulled me back down for another kiss. “Just stay within shouting distance.”

“Will do. I’m going to call Brantley and check on some things. I’ll be right upstairs.”

Cassie cursed as soon as my foot hit the first stair so I turned back.

“No music on the new phone.”

I chuckled. “There’s Wi-Fi if you want to remedy that. I’ll text you the password.”

She blew me a kiss, then flopped backward onto the pillows. I stood there for a minute just staring at her. One thing after another we’d already had to fight our way through. I just kept hoping that we could come out stronger on the other side. I hadn’t lost her yet, and I didn’t intend to.

I pulled myself up the stairs, then copied the passcode off the Wi-Fi router and sent it to Cassie’s new number. She sent back a smiley face with heart eyes. I couldn’t suppress the smile. She was mine, every bit mine. Whatever we had to do, whoever we had to fight, this time I’d be there beside her.

I sat down on the couch and dialed Brantley’s cell.

“Did you know Liz was on medication?” was the unexpected first question out of his mouth.

“Um,” I tried to let my brain catch up. “Aside from birth control? I think it would have come up….” What on earth kind of question was that?

“Doc said they think someone has been messing with her meds. They just got her records transferred in and found out she was on um….” He paused for a long minute. “Well to make it short she had two prescriptions for bipolar disorder.”

“What?”

“Yeah, that was the general consensus here, too. She didn’t tell anyone, but she’s been on the meds for three years.”

“Damn,” I whispered, rubbing the back of my neck. Cassie and I were going to have to take that Florida vacation soon, before my muscles twisted into unbreakable knots.

“She’s been a bit more lucid, but still doesn’t really make sense. Paige called off and she’s talking to some of their other friends to see if she can find anything out about the other guy Liz was seeing. And I figured you’d have your hands full so I went ahead and called our landlord to get the locks changed on the apartment.”

“Thanks, I was going to do that next.”

“Oh, I’m not done. She informed me that our spare key had been checked out of the office. By Liz.”

Only garbled mush came out of my mouth as I couldn’t decide which question to ask first. I might have suspected that Liz had set it all up, if she didn’t have the irrefutable alibi of being in the hospital and only half-coherent.

“So,” Brantley continued. “I asked why they broke policy and the manager said she wasn’t sure, she wasn’t the one who authorized the check out. One of the maintenance men was and he wasn’t around to ask.”

“Shit just keeps getting deeper.”

“Yeah, but they’re putting a new lock on tonight. And the maintenance man is probably going to get fired, but well, I’m a little beyond caring about that.”

“Great.” I stretched out on the couch and rubbed my hand over my face. “By the way, I have my own shit news. When we got back to the apartment and found everything, Cas searched for Mitchel’s name on the internet and found out he was released last month. Probably around the same time she left her grandparents’ house.”

“You think he knows she’s back?”

“I’m not even about to start making wagers on what that man thinks or what he’s up to.” I didn’t want to consider the possibility, but at this point, I had to.

“Police should be able to tell you where he is. They have to report that shit and make it public. How’s your little firecracker doing with all of this?”

“She’s surprisingly well, I’d say. She’s downstairs trying to take a nap. What did you say to her this morning anyway?”

There was a long pause and a jumbled mess of other voices before Brantley came back. “I told her about my dad, hoping it might help her open up—and possibly not stare at me like I’m going to murder her in her sleep.”

Very few people saw beyond Brantley’s rough exterior. I had a front row seat since I lived with him, but even then he tried his best to hide it under tattoos, tattered clothes, and wild hair. It didn’t always work. “I appreciate it.”

Brantley grunted. “I, on the other hand, don’t appreciate the chat you had with my girlfriend this morning.”

“Nah, I appreciated that, too. It’s what you get for giving me a hard time.”

“It only backs up my initial assessment of the situation, and you’re only bitter because I’m right.”

I snickered. We had all needed a good laugh and it was worth it. “Just watch your back until we know what’s going on.”

“Yeah. I’ll text you if anything comes up.”

After I disconnected the call, I peeked out the back window and saw Mom sitting in the garden. It was a beautiful afternoon to sit outside and enjoy the view, but I had too many things on my mind. I drummed my fingers on the back of my phone, and with a burst of courage, I searched the internet for Stacey Cline’s legal practice.

I had met Stacey about two years after Cassie left—and if I had to explain any of it to Cassie, I knew I was going to be in for it. Stacey had just passed the bar exam and come to town to join a small local practice. We had hit it off and one night of dinner and drinks, turned into an all-nighter in bed.

After that, she pulled away. I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but she wouldn’t even return my calls. A few months later, we ran into each other again, and she explained that she’d never done anything like that before. She’d cut me off because she’d been embarrassed and thought I’d only be after sex. We ended up laughing it off, until she told me the real reason for her reaction. Like Cassie, she’d been assaulted. Hers had been on a college campus—in her dorm room with a classmate she’d known for a couple of years.

I found the number for her practice and dialed. It was a long shot—a very long shot, but I thought of all people, she might be able to help. As long as Cassie didn’t ask too many questions and kill me first.

“Law offices of Randall and Cline,” the receptionist said.

“Is Stacey Cline available?” It had been almost a year since we’d spoken last when we bumped into each other at a small local restaurant. I had been with friends, but she walked in with a man in a tailored suit on her arm.

“I’m afraid she’s in a meeting right now. Can I take a message?”

I gave her my name and number and asked to have Stacey call me, hoping that the receptionist wouldn’t want too many details.

I could sit on my phone and research all day, but I knew I wouldn’t come up with the answers I needed—the answers Cassie and I both needed. So, I took my phone and joined Mom in the garden to chat for a while and take my mind off everything.

***

Mom and I sat near the bedroom door, while Cassie slept inside. I glanced down at the time and realized it was already nearing five o’clock. But just as I was about to rule out getting a callback from Stacey, my phone buzzed.

“I need to get this. Will you give me a shout if you hear Cassie?”

Mom nodded, so I answered the phone and walked to the back of the yard.

“Hi, Ben?” Stacey said.

“Yeah, hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”

“Not really, but I was quite surprised to see your name on my desk. What can I do for you?”

“Remember when I told you about my old friend, Cassie?”

“Yeah, believe me I wouldn’t forget that.”

“Um,” I tried to figure out where to start. “She’s back. And she just found out that her rapist was released last month.”

“Has he been giving her trouble?”

I sighed and stared out over the peaceful lake, wishing life could be more like that. “I am not sure. It’s complicated. Someone broke into my apartment today—that’s where she’s been staying. We reported it to the police, but she’s also been getting harassing text messages from who knows how many men. It’s non-stop. It’s kinda hard to put succinctly where the problems begin and end, and she also has PTSD, so I’d really like to find a way to calm her fears about everything.”

I finally stopped to take a breath after my long spiel. I expected her to tell me that she might be able to look at it in a couple of weeks, or point me in some other direction to look in.