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“Still. It’s not that easy to pluck a cell phone number out of the air. It might help us track him down if we knew where he got your number.” Aaron rubbed his thumb across the corner of his mouth, deep in thought. “Were you ever on any of those dating sites? Tinder, eharmony, OKCupid?”
“No.” She sat up straighter in her chair. “Why would you think I’d need to stoop to that kind of thing?”
“Settle down,” he said, not condescendingly. “I don’t think anything. I’m just asking, that’s all. These are all things I need to know, if I’m to help you.”
She should stop being so defensive. But she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t get it out of her head that this was Aaron Powell. The man who’d ripped her heart out when he left without explanation. And she’d never really recovered. Her mother had told her that’d it’d only been puppy-love, you could never truly feel anything that strong when you were seventeen. Her mother scoffed at the idea that Julie had found her soul mate; the idea was ridiculous. Julie tried to believe her mother’s words, tried to cement them in her mind, hoping they’d help harden her heart.
But no matter how hard she tried, no one had ever truly measured up to Aaron. Not one of her relationships had lasted past a year. Most had only gone for a few months, at best.
And now here he was, sitting there larger than life, playing at being a bodyguard, of all things.
“I know, and I’m sorry,” Julie replied, going for demure, but not sure she got there. She locked eyes with Aaron, wondering if he had even the smallest inkling of what was really going on in her head.
“Anything else?” he asked. “Did he try and contact you face-to-face? Have you ever seen this guy close up?”
Julie hesitated. She should tell Aaron everything. Neither her father nor Daniella knew about the break in. She’d kept it a secret yesterday because her father had been so upset. More rattled than she’d ever seen him before. That kind of information might’ve tipped him over the edge. But Aaron needed to know. And something told her if she withheld the information, when he found out—not if, but when—he wouldn’t be happy about it.
“Ah…” She glanced up at Steve and watched his familiar face harden slightly, as if she were about to deliver a physical blow. But there was no going back. “I think he broke into my villa. It was about a week before Dad called and asked me to come and help out at Stormcloud.”
Steve tensed at her words, and Daniella leaned across the table to stare at Julie.
But before either of them could speak, Aaron held up a hand. “You think he did what?”
“Well, I’m not one-hundred-percent sure.” She squirmed in her seat. “The door wasn’t busted in, or anything like that,” she added quickly. “But when I got home from work one night, things looked…slightly different. Like stuff had been moved and not put back exactly right. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, I do. Often people get a feeling that they’ve been violated, even if there is no evidence to prove it,” he replied, and she let out a sigh of relief. He understood. But he held her gaze, not letting her escape his next question. “Did he take anything? Was anything missing? Did he leave you a note? Or a sign of some sort?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she replied. That night she’d rushed in her door, arms laden with bags of food shopping, but it wasn’t until she’d dumped the bags on her kitchen countertop that a strange feeling had clawed up her spine. As if someone was watching her. Leaving the food sitting on the counter, she’d walked slowly through her villa, trying to find the source of her unease. Everything had looked fine. Nothing was broken and there was no sign of a forced entry. It wasn’t until she wandered into her bedroom that the hairs on the back of her neck really stood on end. Her room was at the back of the villa, with a window overlooking a small courtyard. She’d decorated the room herself and it always felt like she was entering a kind of haven. Not that night, however. The first thing she noticed was the smell of her perfume. It hung heavy in the air, as if someone had sprayed it throughout the room. When she went over to her set of tallboy drawers, she ran her gaze over all the familiar items on the top. Cosmetics, perfume, her collection of rings in a small wooden box, a hairbrush, and comb. Everything was still there. But had things been moved slightly? She wasn’t sure. The top drawer also sat slightly open. Only half a centimeter, or so. Had she not closed it properly this morning?
She’d tried to tell herself it was an overactive imagination, but that night she’d been scared to sleep in her own bed, and had slept on the couch, with all the lights blazing, and an old softball bat by her side.
“It was more of a feeling than anything concrete I could put my finger on?” she added, hating that she sounded lame.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Daniella could no longer hold her tongue. “Or why didn’t you at least report this to the police?”
“I considered it,” Julie replied, sitting back in her chair. “But there was no evidence, and I didn’t think anyone would believe me.” She fixed her stepmother with an unwavering gaze. Daniella was the most no-nonsense person she knew, and she probably would’ve been the first person to scoff at her for letting her imagination carry her away if she had reported it to the police and they’d dismissed it out of hand.
Daniella understood the implied innuendo, and her eyes narrowed. “Well, perhaps that was for us to decide.” Daniella’s voice rose slightly.
“It’s not unheard of for a stalker to enter a person’s home,” Aaron spoke over the top of Daniella, effectively shutting her down. “But it does show another level of sophistication. Which is worrying.” He turned his troubled gaze toward Julie. “But remember, there is no blame here,” Aaron said, tone stating that he’d brook no argument. “Julie is a victim in this crime, one that she had no control over.”
Steve lay a hand on Daniella’s arm, but said nothing. In his unassuming way, he was telling Daniella to keep her thoughts to herself, and Julie was grateful.
“So, let me get this straight.” Aaron turned his chair so that he was facing Julie directly. She couldn’t help but notice the way his thighs bulged beneath his black pants, and she had to drag her gaze up to meet his. “You believe this stalker attached himself to you after you attended the family planning clinic, but you’re not sure how or why. He sent you letters, emails and texts over the course of around three months, with the threats slowly escalating.”
Julie nodded at his clinical evaluation.
“You think he broke into your villa, but we’re not really sure why, as there was no threat left and nothing was stolen. Is that correct?”
She nodded her agreement again.
“Then you moved out here and heard nothing more? Until three weeks ago, when the first letter arrived.”
“Yep, you’ve got it all in a nutshell,” Julie replied.
“He’s certainly persistent, I’ll give him that much. We need to understand how he found you, and why he’s continuing to hound you.” Aaron tapped his finger against his lips in contemplation.
“One last question,” he said. “What about the father of the…unborn child?”
