Unbreakable (37 page)

In the kitchen are Jacob, Lucy, Emma, Sam and
Jimmy. They are scattered around the table and looking at a bunch
of notebooks. They are old and tattered. Some look like they’ve
been wet and dried again. “What are those?” I ask Luke.

“We found these in the woods. They’re his
notes and pictures of you,” he explains slowly. “We found an
encampment in a tree by accident. It was camouflaged quite well,”
he continues and I can tell all eyes are on me as he tells me the
news. “He was there a lot, and for awhile.” I walk over to the
table, pick up one of the notebooks, and read one of the pages:

>>>> “She is so beautiful in the
sun. I think she knows I’m watching her. She is telling me she
knows because she sits where I can see her.
>>>>>>>

Pages and pages of what I’m doing and how I
look. I see a stack of photos and pick those up to flip through
them. They are taken from a distance, but there are hundreds of
them. All with me standing or sitting in various places, on various
days because my clothes are different. There are a few with Emma in
them, and I can tell that they have been from the last few months.
There’s one where I am talking to Luke and he has scratched out
Luke’s head with something sharp.

I look up from the pictures and every eye is
on me. I’m dumbfounded and don’t know what to say.

“Did you recognize him?” Jacob finally
speaks. “By what we can tell from the notes, he worked for your
parents for a short time before Jane fired him,” he reveals what
they have learned.

“We’ve had workers in and out of here for
years. Jane fired a lot of men for being incompetent,” I say trying
to wrap my head around it. “I didn’t recognize him at all.” I
remember his eyes were so mad. “Can you tell how long he’s been
watching me?” I ask.

“We don’t have an exact time frame, but from
what we can tell, it was about 4 or 5 months before the car crash,”
Jacob answers. “Lucy went through some old payroll to see if she
could narrow down who was fired around that time, but most of the
records of past employees are gone,” he continues. “Can you
remember any details about him, height, hair color, that sort of
thing?” He asks me to describe him.

“Dark skin, tanned, and scruffy facial hair,
light brown hair and dark mad eyes.” I shiver. Luke puts his arm
around my waist and pulls me to him.

“What about height, can you tell me about how
tall he was?” Jacob interrogates for more information.

“Maybe six feet or a little shorter, but I
don’t know he was far from me,” I say frustrated that I can’t
explain him better.

“It’s okay baby,” Luke says kissing the top
of my head. “We know more about him than we did yesterday, so that
is only going to help us,” he comforts me.

“Hey girl, let’s let these guys figure it
out. You and I need to have a chat,” Emma says and tries to lead me
out of the room. I know she is just trying to get my mind off the
stalker. I stop and reach up to give Luke a kiss. He takes my face
in his hands and leans into my kiss. It’s sweet and slow and so
loving. “I Love you,” he whispers to me. “Now go have some girl
talk.” He swats my behind as I turn around to join Emma. Emma
motions for Lucy to join us and we go into the study.

“Well I have some news, and I wanted to tell
you so you can’t accuse me of keeping things from you,” she says
and I am not sure if I want to hear her news right now. “I talked
to Daddy, and he says that he knows more than he ever let on. That
he will fill us in on everything when he gets back,” she says, “but
he also said that you probably will not want to know what he is
going to tell you and that you really need to think about if you
want to open that door or not.”

“Well of course I want to know, why wouldn’t
I?” I’m baffled that they think I wouldn’t want to know what
happened to my mother.

“Daddy had a good point, except for the
stalker of course, things are going good. You have Luke and friends
that love you. Nothing from your past can change the future,” she
says warily and I almost think that she doesn’t want me to know.
Must have been the way her dad warned her that she seems scared to
have the secrets revealed.

“When does he get back?”

“Not for a week, so you have time to think
about it. I just wanted to let you know what I know,” she says
taking my hand and giving it a squeeze.

“I’ve been reading those books we got from
Cypress Grove. They are pretty messed up,” I explain to them. If
the truth has anything to do with the dark magic in those books,
maybe I don’t want to know the truth.

“I don’t want you messing with any crossroad
devil spells, you hear me?” Emma scolds pointing her finger at
me.

I grab her finger and bite it, which makes
her laugh and I join in. Lucy has no idea what’s going on, but our
laughter is infectious and she can’t help but join in.

“Now that’s the sweetest sound I could hear.”
We look up to see Luke leaning against the doorframe. His arms are
crossed and he has a big smile on his face. He looks so sexy
standing there beaming down at me. The love he has for me is so
apparent in those dark brown eyes.

“I hate to break up this party, but it’s
after midnight and I think we should get some sleep,” he says to
me.

“Get some sleep? I just woke up from a twelve
hour coma. What did you give me, anyways?” I turn to Emma.

“It was one of Jane’s sleeping pills I found
in the bathroom.” She sounds guilty when she confesses it to me. No
wonder she would be out for days at a time. “I gave you a fourth of
the dose that is listed on the bottle.” She chuckles nervously,
wondering if I’m going to be mad. I don’t have the energy to be mad
at her right now, so I just shrug at her confession, and I can see
the relief on her face.

“Well you can come upstairs with me while I
get some sleep. You can watch TV or read a book. I’m exhausted,” he
says giving me a sheepish grin. “And you are not leaving my side.”
He orders.

“Fine, fine” I give in and lift my hand up to
have him help me off the floor where we are sitting. “Let me go say
goodnight to Jacob.” I smile up at Luke and he just nods
sleepily.

Jacob is still pouring over the notebooks
when I walk into the kitchen and doesn’t notice me at first.

“Hey you! Thank you!” I say when he looks up
and he gives me a giant grin, but I can see the worry in his
eyes.

“You going to bed?” He says standing up and
coming around the table to give me a hug.

“Yeah, apparently the twelve hours I just got
wasn’t enough,” I joke and it makes him chuckle. He puts his arm
around my shoulders to bring me in for a hug when we hear the loud
crash of glass breaking behind us. Jacob instantly ducks my head
with his hand and shields me from the glass shards that are flying
by us.

“Fucking bastard,” I hear Jacob scream and
Luke is in the kitchen, eyes wide, before I have any idea what
happened.

Jacob pushes me toward Luke. Luke grabs my
arm and is rushing me toward the study before I can even make a
sound. He places me on the couch and in a very stern voice orders,
“Stay here.” He turns to Lucy and Emma who are still sitting on the
floor chatting. “Lock this door and don’t open it until one of us
tells you,” he demands us, Emma and Lucy are looking up at him in
shock.

“Lucy, I need you to check the video for the
last half hour!” Jacob yells from the hall before Luke shuts the
door. He says one more time with such seriousness to lock the door
that Emma gets up instantly and does it.

Lucy’s fingers are already flying on the
keyboard, and she’s staring at the monitor in total
concentration.

“Something was thrown through the window.” Is
all I say to their unasked question.

We hear Jacob shouting orders. “Jimmy, Luke,
check every room. Sam get the dogs and come with me.”

“Damn it!” Lucy shouts after about 5 minutes
of watching the feeds. She picks up her cell and within seconds she
is talking to who I assume is Jacob.

“He’s placed four monitors on a loop,” she
tells the cell phone. “Yeah it was a kink in the system and he
found it,” Lucy says and I can hear the shame in her voice. “I’m
fixing it right now. I’m sorry I didn’t see it,” she apologizes to
the phone. “I know, I know, but I’m still sorry,” she says and I
have the feeling that Jacob is consoling her, saying that it’s not
her fault. “OK,” and she hangs up the cell.

“He’s says to remain in here,” she repeats
his order to us. “I’m sorry, I don’t know how I missed that.” She
turns to us apologetically and I can tell she is very upset that he
outsmarted her again and that she let us down.

“It’s okay, he didn’t hurt anyone, and
hopefully he’s gone,” I tell her to make her feel better. “Hell, I
think we have all made our fair share of mistakes,” I admit.

We sit in the room not saying much. Lucy
tells us she is putting some extra security in places she should
have before, but was paying too much attention to trying to find
him. “I knew he was trying to distract us,” she mumbles. “I should
have done this in the first place.” She is still upset with
herself.

After about an hour of pacing the small room,
I can’t take it anymore. We haven’t heard a sound and I am starting
to worry. What if he has hurt the boys? I would rather myself die
than have something happen to Luke or Jacob, even Jimmy. I look at
Emma who is mindlessly flipping through a magazine. “No, Lilly,
we’re staying here.” She reads my mind and I plop on the couch next
to her. I chew on my thumbnail nervously to keep myself from
bursting into tears. I feel so helpless in here not having a clue
what is happening.

We hear a knock on the door and I hear Luke’s
voice saying the coast is clear. I rush to the door unlocking it
and jump in his arms. He holds me tight against his strong chest. I
don’t want to leave his arms again ever. I was scared, so scared,
and just being in his arms takes all the fear away.

“Did you find him?” My words shudder out of
me.

“No!” Luke says as he slowly sets me down.
“He threw a brick at the window.”

Jacob comes up behind us and gives me a
reassuring squeeze on my arm before he makes his way to Lucy. They
start talking back and forth about breach and she keeps apologizing
over and over again, even though Jacob is trying to calm her down.
“It’s not your fault, I missed it too,” I hear him trying to
comfort her.

“Where’s Jimmy?” Emma asks as she tries to
get past Luke in the doorway.

“He’s boarding up the window.” She disappears
into the kitchen.

“There was another note,” Luke whispers and I
plant my cheek on his hard chest holding him tight as he slowly
rubs my back.

“What did the note say,” I breathe.

We go into the kitchen after Jacob assures me
that it is safe and on the table is the brick. It is in a plastic
evidence bag, although I am sure there are probably no prints on
it.

The envelope is in another bag and has the
words Emma scribbled across the front. It was for her not me. I see
Emma’s face turn white as she picks up the letter that is in a
different plastic bag. She drops it on the table. Jimmy catches her
before she falls to the floor and helps her to a chair.

You’ve turned her into a
dirty whore just like you. You will pay for this, and so will
she!

I read the note that is now laying face up on
the table where Emma had dropped it. My mouth goes dry and I try to
tell Emma I’m sorry with my eyes, but she is only looking at Jimmy
who is trying to comfort her and calm her down.

His words so angry just like his dark eyes.
What was once love for me has turned to hatred of me?

“This is typical stalker behavior,” Jacob
explains and I can tell he is trying to make us all feel
better.

“He sees you with Luke, even now that you
know about him, and have gone to all of this to keep him away. He
is angry,” he tells us. Luke’s behind me with his hands on my
shoulders. “He’s blaming Emma for it, and thinks she’s the reason
you are with Luke,” he continues.

“So instead of wanting me, he wants to hurt
me?” I quiz wondering which one is worse.

“Yes and no. In my experience he still wants
you. He probably believes if he can get rid of Emma that you would
want him again. Or if he can get you away from Emma and Luke, you
would be free of their spell, as it were,” Jacob says not making
any of us feel better. “In reading his journals, he truly believed
that you knew he was watching you. At first it was because of Jane
that you wouldn’t acknowledge his presence and then he felt it was
a game you guys were playing after the deaths,” Jacob clarifies for
us.

“So he wants me out of the way,” Emma says
her voice trembling, “What a psycho bastard!”

“This is just another one of his mind games,”
Jacob says to us. “Like I said, right now this is a game to him. He
is probably getting off on your fear of him,” Jacob consoles.

“Lucy, do you have a lock on the monitors
now?” He asks her sweetly.

“Yes, and if someone tries to mess with the
feed, there’s a back door that will warn me on my phone,” she
assures him and I can tell she’s still feeling guilty.

“OK. All we can do now is try to get some
sleep,” Jacob says to us. “Lucy, you are staying, obviously. Emma,
you and Jimmy need to stay here tonight.” They nod in agreement.
“Sam is in the cottage with the dogs and the house is locked up
tight.”

“So what are we going to do?” I ask Luke once
we are in the room and the door is shut. He looks at me puzzled by
my question. “He’s not giving up and he is getting more aggressive.
How long is this going to go on?” I ask him frustrated. I know
there is nothing he can do right now.

“Well, right now I am going to lay with you
in bed and hold you tight. We will figure something out in the
morning,” he says and his words comfort me. I want to lie in his
arms and forget about everything. It’s not long before I’m fast
asleep in his safe warm embrace.