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With that, I started my car and pulled out of the parking lot just as Everly and her kid were pulling in.
9
EVERLY
Idon’t think I’ve ever had so many people in my house at any one time before. Oliver and Mason were outside doing who knows what to my garden while installing cameras around the cottage and the main house. Nick and Noah were also installing a top-of-the-line alarm system.
Despite my argument that everyone was overreacting, they all continued as if I didn’t speak. Noah had pointed out that it was an employee perk of his new job with Salinger Security. When I pointed out that it wasn’t his house, he made sure to remind me that it was his daughter’s primary residence and that wanting to keep her safe shouldn’t be held against him. Yeah, he played that card.
I would’ve relented at that point, if he hadn’t announced that he would be moving in. When I protested citing the lack of room as a reason, he announced that he would be sleeping on my couch. That was all decided before everyone, including two police officers, arrived at my house.
After we found the package, Noah suggested I get Skylar somewhere safe. There was no need for her to be surrounded with all that would take place. He wanted to mitigate the trauma for her and I appreciated that. Fortunately, I could drop heroff with her friends at the diner. Tess even offered to have her sleepover another night if needed.
I appreciated not having her around. The police had just finished taking mine and Noah’s statements. One of the officers was happy to get Skylar’s statement the following morning. Her partner readily agreed.
Fingers clicked in front of my face and Lilly’s bright blue eyes came into focus. She was looking at a photo of the note on the package. “This is not the first message you’ve received, is it?”
With that blonde hair pulled back, wearing an oversized hoodie and paint-stained jeans, Lilly looked nothing like the former profiler she was. Everyone raved about her ability to read a situation with a single glance. I didn’t understand the skill until that very moment. I didn’t even bother questioning how she had known.
I picked up a dish cloth and wet it as I gathered my thoughts. Cleaning always calmed me down and I ran the cloth over the already clean marble breakfast counter as I answered Lilly.
“I had been receiving emails to my private email account for a good few months.” It seemed weird since I was not in the public eye. “It started in the fall, maybe late summer.”
“Four or five months?” Lilly nodded and narrowed her eyes. “Nothing before that? You said he sent the email to your private address. Do you have another one?”
“I still have an address for fan mail. My manager handles that.” I looked at the woman who had become a close friend in a matter of two years. “Is that important? I mean I rarely get anything to that account anymore.”
Watching Lilly in work mode was fascinating. I could see why her husband fell for her on a mission, or a case, or whatever. She tilted her head to the side, her gaze moved from me back to her phone. “Well, if these emails and notes only started a few months back, something that happened then, likely triggeredthis man. And I am sure it's a man. If he’s been messaging you for longer than that, then something happened that made it easier for him to find your home address and private email. And I am inclined to believe the second one.”
“Why?”
“He used the word dismiss. My guess is he is tired of being ignored.” Lily pocketed her phone and leaned against the kitchen counter next to me. “Please tell me you didn’t delete the messages.”
I walked through to the bedroom without answering her, knowing that she would follow me. It wasn’t a frilly or flowery room, but the purple stripes and lavender pictures made it decidedly feminine. I picked my laptop up off my bed. “I didn’t save the first few. But I started getting creeped out with the last few he’d sent.”
“You started getting creeped out and said nothing?” Lilly folded her arms, a scowl taking over her pretty face. “You have friends in the security business. We’re good at our jobs. Some might even call us the best at what we do. Why didn’t you bring this to us?”
I knew that question would come. “It's only been in the last few months, maybe six weeks or so.” I wasn’t stupid, I knew I had friends who could solve that kind of thing. “I planned on telling you when the guys got back from that mission to South America.” I didn’t know more than that, but I know the girls were pre-occupied while their men were away. “Then there was Anna’s kidnapping and the Holiday Party, and my mother getting sick. I kept putting it off.”
Lilly scrunched her face, just hiding her smile. “We have had a busy holiday season, haven’t we?”
“And I suppose now it's my turn?”
“What do you mean?”
I started counting our run of bad luck on my fingers. “Well, you got kidnapped by that DeMarchis guy. Cassie had that explosion and Brie witnessed a murder. We’re not going to mention that fiasco with Anna last month.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Lilly smiled and nudged me. “You know what all those things have in common?”
“You mean having some bad guy after us is not enough?” Because seriously that was more than enough for me.
Lilly’s lip quirked but I honestly saw nothing funny about my friends being in danger. “We all found the love of our lives during those situations.”
I knew immediately what she was trying to imply. I held my hands up. “Oh, no. That ship sailed thirteen years ago. He has a life and so do I. I’m very different from the wide-eyed pop starlet I was when I met him.”
My friend was not deterred. “And I’m sure he’s not the same Special Forces candidate you met either. Noah has seen and done things that we could never imagine. But just because you’ve both grown up doesn’t mean you cannot be together. I mean he’s the man responsible for the termurban legend sexin our circle.”
She was referring to the term we used when any of them experienced phenomenal sex. I mentioned that I had only experienced that kind of thing with Skylar’s father. “I was not the first of us to have that kind of thing. Remember, Bex said the sex with Logan was great too.”
