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“No. Please, just take the towel and shoe”—she stooped down and grabbed the other of the pair—“shoes out of here.”
He took them from her and left the bedroom. Why they hadn’t been removed before now was a mystery to me.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. I just need a minute in here. Alone.”
I nodded and walked out to join Loring. A few minutes later, my cell phone buzzed in my back pocket. A text from a number I didn’t recognize.
I read the words, and then read them again.
I will have you.
Chapter Twenty
Melanie
I was pacing around my bedroom when Jonah returned.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“I’m okay. It’s just… I don’t think I can live here anymore, you know? Even if I did live here, I’d have to get all new stuff. But I really don’t feel safe here.”
I stopped before clamping my hand to my mouth. I hoped he didn’t think I was inviting myself to stay at his home indefinitely.
“You don’t have to decide that right now. Who knows when the police will release the area, and it will take a few weeks for your insurance company to settle your loss anyway. But you do need to take some time to pick out all the stuff you want.”
“I don’t know if I have it in me to do that today.” I wasn’t lying. Just being in the loft made my skin crawl, and seeing the towel and shoe had almost sent me into hysteria. I was having symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, perfectly normal in my case. I did need to get out of here.
“That’s fine. Just find anything of value to take today, to keep it safe.”
I had very little of any value. I kept all my important documents in a safe deposit box at my bank, along with some jewelry from my grandmother. The few pieces of gold jewelry I kept here weren’t worth much. Pretty much everything I had was replaceable. That didn’t say very much for my life up to this point. Forty years, and what did I have to show for my life? No husband, no children, though I’d never thought I had it in me to be a mother. Sure, I’d helped some people but not all of them. One was haunting me still.
I covered my eyes with my hands.
“Melanie?” Jonah’s hands were warm on my shoulder.
“I’m all right,” I choked out, opening my eyes. “Give me about five minutes to gather up what I need.”
Jonah nodded. “Just tell me what you need. I’ll take it all down to the truck.”
I eyed my file cabinet in the corner of my bedroom. Gina’s file was in there, as well as encrypted on my computer and on the cloud. I turned to Jonah. “Just that,” I said, gesturing. “I’ll grab what clothes I want. Everything else can stay. I’ll follow you to your place in my car. That way, I’ll have it with me.”
I had some money saved up. I needed a change. I’d buy some new clothes. Some new furniture. And once this loft got back in shape after I got the insurance payment, it was going on the market. Would anyone buy a loft where a woman had been abducted?
Just what I didn’t need. Another loss.
* * *
When we returned to the ranch, Jonah carried the file cabinet into my bedroom as well as a couple of suitcases I’d filled with clothes and other things I wanted, which wasn’t much. It was nearing dinnertime, but I wasn’t very hungry, so I decided to go to bed.
He promised not to leave the house.
I washed up in my private bathroom and then found some sweats—clean this time—and put them on. I climbed into bed, wishing for Jonah or even Lucy and her warmth against me. But I had to be strong to get through this. I was safe in the house. I had watched Jonah lock the doors.
I lay in bed for a few minutes, my heart beating in my ears.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
