INTRUSION (Whitney Holmes Series) (3 page)

My father usually fell asleep in front of the TV and about three in the morning, he would stumble off to bed.

We thanked my father when he got to my school and he said he loved me. I told him I loved him, too.

When I got to my locker, there was a red rose sticking out of it. I thought someone was really playing a trick on me. It really bothered me, not to know who it was from.

I threw the rose in the trash dramatically, in case someone was watching.

Chanda’s locker was near mine and she saw me.

“This is getting strange. We now know he knows where you go to school,” Chanda said.

“
I still think it is a prank,” I said.

“
Will you talk to your parents about it when you get home?” she asked.

“
Okay,” I said. “This is enough weirdness going on.”

The rest of the school day was uneventful. I liked school and was pretty smart. I had a few friends whom Chanda and I hung out with. Sometimes, we got together after school and went to the 7-Eleven and got something to eat and talk.

Debbie, Elizabeth, and Rachel were waiting to walk with us to the store after school. Chanda told them all about the creeper and they all agreed that I should tell my parents.

The thing was, I knew my mom would handle it okay but I thought my dad would go to the police or something. Or, he might try to deal with it himself.

After I drank my Slurpee, Chanda and I walked home. My dad didn’t get out of work until late, so we had to walk home instead of getting a ride.

When I got home, I threw my books on the couch and went to find my mom.

She was folding clothes in her bedroom and watching an old Perry Mason crime show.

“
Hi, honey, how was your day?” she asked me.

“
Weird,” I said.

I proceeded to tell her about the text messages and the rose in my locker.

“Sounds like you have an admirer,” she said, smiling.

“
You don’t think I have to worry?” I asked.

“
No, not yet,” she said.

“
What do you mean?” I asked her.

“
Well, if it gets weirder, we will do something, but I think it is harmless right now,” she said.

I thanked her and went to my room, I hoped she was right.

My phone rang and I picked up without thinking. A voice that was definitely disguised said, “That wasn’t nice to throw my rose away.”

Then he hung up. I was going to talk to my dad. He wasn’t as cool as my mom, but I didn’t get the response from her that I wanted, which was to solve this mystery and get him to leave me alone. I guess I wanted her to get excited or upset. I know I shouldn’t be, but I was more than a little worried about this guy. I waited until my dad came home and had dinner. When he went and sat in his chair, I walked over to him.

“I have something I need to talk to you about,” I said to him.

“
Anything you need to talk about, I’m here,” he said.

I started out by telling him about the text I got after the movies and then I told him about the phone call I got earlier that day.

“Should I be worried?” I asked.

My father’s face got redder and redder as I talked.

“I think we might have to worry,” he said.

“
I thought so,” I said.

“
Tomorrow, I will call a police officer to come over and talk to us. It is too bad you threw that rose away,” he said.

“
Next time, I will keep whatever he gives me, if there is a next time,” I said.

“
Hopefully, it is just a prank someone is playing on you, but I want to find out if there are precautions we can take to protect you,” my dad said. I felt taken care of in a way I couldn’t explain.

“
Thank you, Dad,” I said.

I went to my room. I made sure my curtains were closed. I also checked the closet, just to make sure no one was in there, I really hated being so scared.

The next day, I didn’t have a flower on my locker, but I had a note sticking out of it. In cut-out letters from a magazine, it said,

“
You look beautiful, today.”

I remembered what I told my dad about keeping evidence, so I tucked the note in my purse. I looked around to see if anyone was watching. All the kids at the school were doing normal things like taking their books out of their lockers and talking.

It was hard to concentrate at school because I felt like I had a bomb in my purse. I was glad my dad was going to talk to a police officer today to see if I was in any danger.

At lunch, my usual crowd sat on some bricks outside of the cafeteria and ate lunch.

I bought my lunch at school and I always had. I don’t think my mother ever considered making brown-bag lunches for me and my brothers. I think she thought we were getting a healthy hot meal every day. Most of the time, I bought a fried burrito at the school snack bar. It was not the healthiest meal I could have chosen, but they were tasty and it was a habit that was hard to break.

I told Chanda quietly about the note and she said she was glad we were going to talk to the police.

That evening when my dad came home, he called the police. They said they would send someone over to look at the note and get a statement from us. I was really nervous about the police coming over.

There were no sirens when they drove up and two male officers came up our walkway. They knocked on the door and my father let them in. We all went and sat in the living room. I had the note on our coffee table, waiting for them.

“Hello, I am Officer Stan Mitchell and this is Officer Robert Malcolm,” the tallest of the two officers said.

“
I am Paul Holmes and this is my daughter, Whitney,” my father said. My mom had taken the boys out for an ice cream.

We all shook hands and my father offered the officers a seat and we all sat down.

“We understand there might be a stalking situation here?” Officer Stan Mitchell said.

“
We really don’t know,” my father said.

“
Why doesn’t Whitney tell us what has happened and we will make our assessment,” Officer Malcolm said.

I was embarrassed to be put under the spotlight. I went ahead and talked because they were there and I didn’t want to waste their time.

“The first thing that happened was some older guys, around thirty-something, tried to sit by my friend Chanda and I at the movies. We had to move twice and finally, I told them that if they didn’t stop bothering us, I was going to get a movie usher to kick them out.”

“
That’s significant,” said one cop and made notes on his clipboard, “Then what happened?”

“
When we got home, someone sent me a text saying it was good that I didn’t sit by those creeps or something like that,” I said.

“
Chanda is who?” Officer Mitchell asked.

“
She is my best friend, she lives next door. Her name is Chanda Kingsley,” I said.

“
Okay, go on,” Officer Malcolm said.

“
The next day, my family and I had pizza after church and then someone sent me a text asking if it was good pizza,” I said.

“
Okay. Weird, but not too weird,” Officer Mitchell said. “A pizza parlor is a public place. Was it from a blocked number?”

“
Yes.”

“
Anything else happen?”

“
Yesterday, someone put a rose on my locker. I threw it away immediately and when I got home, a blocked number called me. I picked up the phone and the person said in a disguised voice, ‘you shouldn’t have thrown away my rose’ and then he hung up,” I said.

“
Weirder,” Officer Malcolm said.

“
Today, I got this note taped to my locker.” I carefully pointed to the note on the coffee table and both officers put on gloves to look at it.

“
I would say you definitely have a stalker,” Officer Mitchell said.

“
That’s what I was worried about.”

“
We need you to come down to the station and make a statement. Can you come tomorrow after school?” Officer Malcolm asked.

“
My mom would have to take me because my dad doesn’t get home until late,” I said.

“
This is important. I will get off work early tomorrow and take you,” my dad said, his eyebrows moving together in a worried look.

“
Thank you, Dad.”

“
If you have a school I.D., you need to bring it and plan to have your fingerprints taken,” Officer Malcolm said.

“
Did anyone else touch the note?” Officer Mitchell asked.

“
No, only me. I watch a lot of crime shows,” I said.

“
At least they are good for something,” my father said and the officers smiled.

Both officers got up and Officer Malcolm put the note in a clear plastic evidence bag, sealed it up and wrote something on it. They thanked us and we thanked them and they left.

My dad gave me a big hug and said I did a good job speaking to the officers.

My mom and brothers came home and Jacob’s face was all chocolaty. My mom handed my dad and me each a cup of ice cream she got my favorite flavor: Rocky Road.

My dad asked my mom to go to their room for a minute. I knew he was going to tell her all about the officers’ visit. We had decided not to tell the boys about my stalker just yet. Jacob was a little high-strung and we didn’t want to scare either of them.

I went in my room and checked the closet, looked under my bed and made sure my curtain was shut. I put my pajamas on and got in bed. I was more than a little scared. The next day was going to be a big day, going down to the station and all. I was scared to be fingerprinted, I knew it wouldn’t hurt, but still I didn’t like it I didn’t have any strange phone calls or messages on my phone. I fell asleep with some anxiety.

The next day, my father told me to come straight home from school. Like I would forget where we were going and it was all I could think about all day at school.

When I got to school, my locker was rose-free and note-free. But when I opened it, water came pouring out of it, all of my books and notebooks were soaked.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I really didn’t know what to do.

Chanda was standing there beside me.

“Oh my,” she said. “How did that happen? Was the roof leaking into the locker? Did a pipe burst?”

“
I think it was a prank from my stalker.”

She started taking out all the textbooks, one at a time and then my notebooks. She made a pile of books on the bricks in front of the lockers.

“I am going to go get some paper towels and see how damaged these are,” she said.

I nodded my head, holding back tears.

She came back with a whole roll of the tan paper towels from our girls’ bathroom and she started blotting the books.

Afterward, she dried my locker. I just sat there like a dummy, not knowing what to do.

“Well, it looks like all your notebooks are ruined and the books, too,” she said.

“
What am I going to do? I need those notebooks for finals and I will have to pay for the books,” I said.

“
Let’s take the whole mess up to the office and see what they will do,” she said.

We gathered up the sloppy mess and walked to the office. I kept wondering if someone was watching me.

We walked in, dripping, to the office.

“
What in the world?” Alice, the school secretary asked.

“
Whitney opened her locker and this is what she found,” Chanda said.

“
Let me find a box or something to put it all in. You are dripping all over the floor,” Alice said.

We stood there dripping while Alice found a cardboard box. We put the whole mess in the box.

“I think we better call the principal out for this one,” Alice said.

She walked to the principal’s door and knocked, he asked her to come in and she went in and shut the door. A few minutes later, Mr. Hoffstetter, the principal, came out with Alice following him. When I saw him, I got tears in my eyes again. He was such a grandfatherly figure and he had always been nice to me.

“Now, Whitney, what’s this I hear about vandalism to your locker?” he said to me.

“
I opened my locker and water poured out. This is the mess we were left with.” I pointed to the books and notebooks.

I explained to the principal about the stalker and how we already had contacted the police.

“Do you have a backpack?” he asked me.

“
Yes,” I said, nodding.