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Sure enough, she’d just started getting dressed after drying her long black hair when she heard a pounding at her bedroom door and shortly after that the handle for the bathroom door rattled.
She took a deep breath and opened the door stepping right into Paul’s arms. He held her close for a minute before letting her go and taking a step back.
“Big Dog wants to have a sitrep. Are you ready?” he asked, giving her a long glance up and down.
“Sitrep? What’s that?” Nicole pushed around him and moved over to where she’d left her shoes.
“Situation report. It’s a military term.” Paul placed his hand in the middle of her back to point her towards the door.
“He was in the military?” She slid her feet in her shoes and let Paul guide her.
“We all were in one form or another. I’ll tell you more about it later. Darrall and Monty are waiting.” His hand on her back pressed a little more firmly.
“Oh. Okay.” Nicole let him guide her out of the bedroom and towards the living room.
As she entered the room, she saw that both men were standing by the kitchen window and had moved all of her plants to the counter. There were also two more men standing in the room.
“I’m not sure you remember. This is Bruce Phantom Henderson and Ryan Knight Pickerson. They were at the meeting yesterday and have been outside watching your six all night.”
Nicole nodded to acknowledge both of the men. “Thank you for all your assistance.”
Both men nodded and smiled at her.
“Ms. Swafford.” Darrall turned to address all of them. “Neptune and I were just discussing your security. Please have a seat.” He gestured towards her couch.
“It’s Nicole, please Mr. Forrest. Would you like something to drink?” Nicole stood awkwardly in front of the couch, not sure what to do.
“No thanks, Nicole. You can call me Darrall or Big Dog. Please, have a seat. We need to discuss a new development and decide what would be the best plan going forward.”
Nicole nodded and sat on the farthest corner of her couch, leaving room for others to sit if they desired.
Darrall grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and set it in the middle of the room facing the window, which Nicole didn’t understand until he straddled it and leaned his arms against the back. The other men stood behind him.
“As I’m sure you’re aware by now, there’s been a new development in the case,” Darrall said as he nodded to the others.
Paul sat perched on the end of the couch opposite her, leaning on the arm, more than sitting, while Monty took the only other chair, her recliner. One of the other men got a chair from her dining table, while the other one leaned against the door jamb.
“Brain, if you could explain.” Darrall continued.
“While I was out, this was placed on my window.” He held out a plastic bag with a note in it.
“After we make a copy of it, we’ll check for fingerprints and send the results to Tampa’s crime lab. They’ve agreed to run any results through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. I’m not sure what, if any, results we will get. It’s a place to start. Neptune and I have already checked my truck, and everything came back clean.”
Nicole sat holding the note still encased in the plastic bag. “This was Huang. I’m sure of it. He’s trying to scare me off, so I’ll go away.” It was all she could do to keep from wadding the paper up and throwing it across the room.
“I’d normally agree, but it’s almost too soon for a follow-up. He just delivered his first message yesterday. I doubt that he would strike again this soon. He’s gonna want to give you time to react,” Paul said as he stood and took the note from her, laying it on the bar that separated the kitchen and living room before returning to sit beside her.
He sat close, but not too close. He took one of her hands in his and laid the two hands bound together on his thigh.
“My instincts tell me this is something different,” Darrall’s eyes narrowed and focused on their bound hands, but he didn’t say anything.
“Do you know of anyone else that might do something like this?” Monty asked, typing something on the tablet he had pulled out of his pocket.
“It’s got to be Huang. Who else could it be and why would anyone else be warning you to leave me alone?” Nicole wished Paul wouldn’t have taken the note. Maybe if she stared at it long enough, she would see the answers.
“That’s what we are trying to figure out. I want you to think of anyone that might do something like this. Maybe someone who’s paid you too much attention, stared at you too long, or seemed too friendly for the circumstances. It could be someone you know very well, or someone you’ve only met briefly. For some reason, someone is focused on you.”
Nicole shook her head. Between her job and everyday life, she had to know and meet thousands of people. No one immediately came to mind.
