Page 91 of Make No Mistake

I hurried out of the office before anyone else could stop me. I checked behind me a few times on the way back to my apartment but didn’t see anyone following me. That would probably be too obvious if he left after I did.

There were no marked cop cars in the parking lot, but I assumed they were being more discrete. We had no idea when he would come; all we had was hope that knowing I’d be in my apartment alone would be temping enough.

When I opened the front door, I was surprised to see most of the kitchen had been repaired and the living room looked as if nothing had happened. Whoever Carter had hired to fix our place was fast. I was so grateful I didn’t have to see our home violated like that again.

I wandered through my room feeling like a visitor even though I’d only been away for a few days. My phone vibrated in my pocket. When I pulled it out, I saw a text from Jay.

He wanted to make sure I got to my apartment safely. Rather than reply, I decided to call him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah. I didn’t see anything out of the norm on my way over.”

“Good.”

There was an awkward pause. Neither of us wanted to talk about our mock fight.

“You did good, Mac. I have a feeling this is going to work.”

“I do too. You were a little too convincing though.”

He sighed, and there was another pause. “I know. I’m sorry I was so harsh, but I wanted to make sure it was believable. I didn’t mean to make you cry though.”

I laughed. “It’s okay.”

“I can’t wait for this all to be over.”

“Me either.” I dropped on to the couch and looked around. “How did Stacy know about Aubrey?”

Her comment had been bugging me since I’d walked out of the office.

He chuckled. “I made sure to talk to her about it before you came in. I just said you were staying with me because of the attack, and Aubrey decided to stay with her brother. I think she pieced together the rest.”

“She is a good journalist.” I laughed and shook my head. “I wish you could come over.”

“Me too, Mac. But unfortunately, that would defeat the purpose. Hopefully, he’ll be there soon, and we can put this behind us.”

“Yeah.” The idea of sitting and waiting for him to come was starting to get to me. I really did wish Jay could be here with me.

“Hey, I’ve got to run. We’re printing tomorrow, so I need to do my final check before I leave tonight. Call me if you need anything though.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Be safe, Mac. I …” He cleared his throat. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.”

I hung up and looked down at the phone. What had he been about to say? I didn’t want to let my mind wander, so I opened my laptop and searched for a movie to watch to pass the time since our TV had been destroyed.

My mind wasn’t focused on the romantic comedy I’d chosen. I wanted to know why Detective Larson hadn’t texted or called me yet. I wanted to know if there were officers close. If the attacker came in, how long would it take for the officers to come in? What if they took too long? What if he attacked me again?

I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood up and walked around the apartment, going into every room. I didn’t know what I was looking for but it was something to do.

After I’d paced the distance from my bathroom to Aubrey’s for the third time, I knew I was close to losing my mind. When I checked my phone, I groaned. It was only six. The sun was still out. I probably had several more hours of waiting.

Dinner was something I could focus on. I went into the kitchen then realized most everything had been boxed up so the cabinets could be rebuilt. I opened the fridge but there was nothing I could eat. Just a carton of almond milk and some string cheese.

I checked my phone again. Maybe I could order something? I obviously couldn’t go out to get something, but maybe I could get a pizza delivered.