INTRUSION (Whitney Holmes Series) (6 page)

“
Yes, it is outside my daughter’s window,” my dad said.

“
Let’s go take a look,” the photographer said.

We all went outside and walked to where the footprint was located and It was still there.

The photographer immediately started taking pictures of it at different angles. When he was finished, the police officer took out a measuring tape and bent down and measured the footprint. He measured the length and the width. He wrote down something in a little notebook. When he was finished, he asked us if we wanted to go in the house to talk.

“
Yes, we would,” my father said.

I wanted to go in because it felt creepy to be out here where the stalker had been just hours before.

When we got inside, my mother asked everyone if they wanted some coffee. Both the photographer and the officer said they would. Just black coffee, no cream or sugar.

My mother left to go get the coffee and my father asked everyone to sit down. I sat at the end of the couch, hugging myself.

“I know you have been through this before, but could you tell me what is happening?” the officer said.

“
Whitney, do you want to tell him or would you like me to?” my father asked.

“
Please tell him,” I said.

“
Someone has been either playing pranks on my little girl or he is serious,” my father said.

“
What sort of pranks?”

“
Giving flowers, sending weird texts, destroying hundreds of dollars’ worth of books, putting strange notes in her school backpack, and now this footprint,” my father said.

“
What did he write in the text message?” the officer asked.

“
One time she went to the movies and some guys were bothering her and that night she got a text saying that the person was glad she didn’t sit by them,” my father said.

“
Okay, did you see who sent the text?” the officer asked.

“
No, it was blocked. They first tried to call me and I didn’t take the call because it said unavailable,” I said.

“
Did anything else happen?” the officer asked.

“
He put a flower in my locker, then when I threw it away, I got a note saying it wasn’t nice for me to throw it away,” I said.

“
It was put together in magazine cut-outs,” my dad said, “like a ransom note.”

“
After that, we called the police and I got a text message calling me a Witch,” I said, embarrassed.

“
Anything else?”

“
Later, I got a note saying he forgave me,” I said.

“
Sounds like a stalker,” the police officer said. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“
No,” I said, and felt the heat rising to my face.

“
Do you have an ex-boyfriend or anyone you may have rejected?”

I was even more embarrassed. “There’s a boy named Brendan. I was going with him for a while, but I broke up with him a few months ago.”

“What’s his last name?” the officer pressed.

“
Please. It’s not him. He wouldn’t do that. We are still friends. We say hi every day.”

“
You’re sure?”

“
Yes.”

“
Why did you break up with him?”

I put my palm over my face in humiliation. “If you must know, he’s such a sports fanatic that he didn’t have a whole lot of time for me. I was like number five on his list of things he was interested in. If not number six.”

The officer laughed. “Okay, it’s not Brendan. Sorry to embarrass you. We just have to figure out who would stalk you. I don’t think it’s an adult, unless it’s a teacher or someone else who works at the school.”

“
I agree,” I said.

“
Has any teacher or school employee ever made you uncomfortable or asked you to meet them anywhere off campus?”

I was affronted. “No, I trust my teachers. Completely. And if anything seemed off about a teacher, I would tell my parents.”

“Sounds like you have thought this through.”

I nodded. “It’s a student, sir. Someone I have classes with, probably.”

“Do you have any idea who might be behind this,
any
idea at all?”

“
No, sir. I don’t. I’m stumped.”

“
Has anyone ever bullied you at school?”

“
No. I’m in honors classes, mostly. Everyone is too busy studying to be mean to anyone else.”

“
Does my family need to worry?” my father asked the officer.

“
Well, your daughter needs more security if someone is watching her every move that easily. Do you have a dog at home?” the officer asked.

“
No,” my dad said.

“
I would get a dog,” the officer said. “A big dog with a big bark.”

“
Really?” my dad asked. “A dog will solve this?”

“
Yes, and put him in the back yard at night,” the officer said.

I was kind of excited to get a dog, my parents had always said they were too much trouble.

“What kind of a dog?” Dad asked.

“
I would get a German shepherd from the German Shepherd Rescue. You can’t lose. You get a family pet and you could save a life,” the officer said. “Stalkers hate watch dogs.”

“
So, don’t get a puppy?” Mom asked.

“
No. A grown dog.”

“
We will talk about it,” my dad said, looking at Mom for her approval.

“
I highly recommend it,” the officer said. “Here’s the thing. The dog will bond with your family and be very loyal. A dog is on the job 24 hours a day. You cannot sneak past a German shepherd, I have one. They are the best burglar alarms in the entire world and you’ll have a friend for life.”

The officer and the photographer left after that. My mom told me to get my stuff because I was going to school. I was glad school was almost over for the year, I couldn’t take much more of this, I was a nervous wreck.

When I got to school, I told Chanda all about the footprint in the mud by my window, she looked scared. I also told her we might get a dog, she was excited about that, her parents also felt dogs were too much trouble.

After my mother picked me up from school, we went on the internet to see about German shepherd rescue organizations. There were so many dogs to choose from. They were all beautiful and smart looking. I couldn’t choose one and neither could my mom. On the website it said that the German shepherd rescue organization was going to be at a pet store near our house on Saturday.

“Mom, do you think we can go?” I asked her. “Just to see them?”

“
I think that would be a good idea. I will talk it over with your father and we will probably go. I think seeing the dogs up close is better than looking at pictures,” she said.

I went into the living room and told the boys, they were excited to get a dog. We started arguing about names they wanted to get a boy dog and call it “Killer,” but, I wanted a girl dog. I didn’t know what to call her but “Killer” seemed a little extreme.

We ate dinner and waited for my dad to come home. When he did, we all ran to him and told him about the new dog and he seemed excited about the idea.

“
Let’s plan on all of us going on Saturday. I have done some reading on German shepherds at work and they are very protective of the family they live with. I think Whitney is right and we should get a girl dog. When they have a pack, which would be us, they are very protective,” my father said.

“
Yay,” I said, gloating over my dad taking my side.

“
You boys are younger and you have never had a dog, so I just need to tell you that you must be gentle with a dog and not ever tease it or be rough with it.”

“
We know that, Dad! We’re not babies,” Jacob said. I smiled. The boys pouted a little but they couldn’t stay mad, we were getting a dog!

Saturday couldn’t come soon enough. My stalker left me alone, thank goodness, and my family was bonding while looking at the local German shepherd rescue website and trying to decide which dog we wanted. We decided to look at three dogs; their names were Hilda, Miracle, and Gloria. All of them were big, beautiful, and scary-looking. I was hoping one of them would fit with our family.

We got up and ate breakfast on Saturday morning. We were excited about getting the German shepherd. We all got in our car and went to “The Fish Bowl,” which was the pet store that had the dogs available for adoption.

When we drove up, there were dogs everywhere. There was one person holding the leash of one dog and people were already looking at them. My dad stopped the car and the boys and I ran over to where the dogs were. The handlers were happy to see us and they showed us a dog immediately. Her name was Gretchen and she was beautiful. She let us pet her and she even let my dad walk her when he came up.

We didn’t know where the three dogs were that we had picked on the website, but there were so many to choose from. We all got to walk a dog and we had so much fun petting them.

We knew from the website that we couldn’t take one home that day because we had to fill out an application and have a home inspection. My dad filled out the application and we made plans to have an inspection the following week. The dogs would be at a different pet store that was a little further away, but we didn’t care.

We looked at dogs all morning and we all had a favorite. I loved the one named Gretchen. She weighed about ninety pounds and she looked strong. She let me hug her and she seemed really happy that I was touching her her tail was really wagging and she licked my face.

None of the dogs seemed mean, I knew they had had rough lives because I read about it on the website. If I remembered correctly, Gretchen’s family had moved away and left her in the back yard with no food she had bulked up in weight at her foster home so I knew she was getting good care now.

My mom finally said we needed to go home and have lunch. We told the people who were in charge of the dogs that we would see them the following week.

When we got to the car, my mom made us all use hand sanitizer. She said she didn’t know where the dogs had been and they were probably filthy.

I told her they all looked well cared for and she didn’t argue with me.

The next week seemed to go by slowly. I got three text messages from my stalker. The first one said that he liked what I had on that day. The second one said he thought I was beautiful. The third one scared me because he said he was watching me and my friends at lunch and that I shouldn’t wear such short skirts. I was wearing a skirt that day and changed into jeans. I showed each text to my dad and he said he wished I could take our new dog to school with me. I did, too.

The inspector from the German Shepherd Rescue came out to the house and gave us her okay. She said we had a nice fence around our back yard and she didn’t see any way a dog could get out. She said she wished we had a fence in the front yard too, but the back one was okay.

I was so happy that nothing was going to stand in our way of adopting a dog. They were expensive. We were going to have to pay three hundred dollars for the dog. We also went and bought a large water and food bowl. We also needed to get a large collar and a large leash. By the time we were finished buying toys and treats, our bill was one hundred dollars.

“A four-hundred-dollar dog.” My dad grimaced.

“
A puppy would be a lot more money,” I said. “But Gretchen is already housebroken and trained and spayed. The puppies wouldn’t be trained.” I knew this because I had been all over the internet looking at dogs and puppies.

Saturday came and we went to the pet store that was a little further away. This one was called “A Pet’s Life,” and it was huge. When we arrived, I immediately looked for Gretchen. I saw her and I got out of the car and ran over to her.

My parents watched me with her and they also walked around with her. She was so loving and sweet and she didn’t even mind when my brothers walked her.

My dad said he had already decided to get Gretchen if she was still with the German Shepherd Rescue. I hugged him and told him thank you.

He paid for Gretchen and we walked her to our car. She seemed to understand she was coming home with us. She hopped right up in our car. It was a little cramped with me and the boys and her in the back. When we petted her and said we loved her, she would lick our hands.

When we got to our house, my dad said we should let her in the back yard so she could do her thing and also get acclimated. It was weird. The first thing she did was sniff over where the footprint was. I was hoping she was going to make a great watchdog.

We had her bowl of food and water by the side of the house. She went over and ate a little bit and drank some. I think she was just being polite.