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Officer Lambert shot his partner a quelling look. To Donni, he said, “Take it easy, ma’am, don’t cry—”I’m not crying, thought Donni “—we’ll take this nasty letter and we’ll send it to the labs to be analyzed. Even if it’s not a credible threat—and they usually aren’t,” he added, “it looks like it has the potential to be a case for animal cruelty.”
“Not a credible threat?” Donni asked. “They called me a bitch and told me I was going to die. Do I have tofeelthe knife before I can report it?”
“Just because someone makes a threat, that doesn’t mean they can carry it out.”
“They know where Ilive,” she said shrilly. “They wrote me a letter inblood.”
Lambert shot Corcoran another look. “Like I said, we’ll get this all checked out. We can send someone to do a patrol around the area over the next few days or so. I think Patrell goes by this area anyway, on his way out to the quarry. Do you have someone who can stay with you?”
Donni almost said no. Then her stomach sank. “My stepson,” she said. “Rafe.”
“Rafael? He and my Ariel dated in high school. He must be all grown up now.”
“Yes,” Donni said, aware of Corcoran watching her very closely.
“I’ll let Frank know. You expecting anyone else coming by the house?”
“No.” Distracted, she shook her head. “No one else.”
I have no one else.
“All right. Well, then, you take care, Mrs. Blake. Call us if you see or hear anything else.”
The two police got into their squad car and drove away, kicking up a few pebbles on the old, worn road. Donni watched them go and then she went back into the house.That was a waste of time, she thought, feeling just as miserable, and just as worried.
Was one measly patrol supposed to keep her safe all night?
When she picked up her phone, there was another missed call and a text, both from Rafe.
Call me
She called him. She was freaked out and Rafe felt like a better alternative to whomever was sending her sick shit in the mail. He picked up on the first ring.
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“Well, I just woke up and I’ve been busy receiving death threats,” she said, not liking the frosty entitlement in his tone. “What do you want? I’ll be sure to prioritize it accordingly.”
“What kind of death threats?”
“Pictures,” she said. “Terrible pictures.”
Rafe paused a beat. “Someone sent me pictures, too.”
Ice seemed to coat her insides. “Were they violent?”
“It would be better if I showed you. Can I come over?”
And there it is. Donni leaned back against the ugly Blanco Perla granite counters with their Dalmatian-like spots. She’d always thought they seemed better suited to a bordello than a kitchen, especially with all thosePlayboysencased in glass beneath the bar. But then she realized that if this was a bordello, that implied she was the whore.
Tracing around one of the black spots, she said, “The officers said someone should stay with me. To . . . keep me safe tonight.” She went on quickly, “I don’t have anyone else.”
“So you’ve said.” A cool note entered his voice. “I’ll be there in ten. Maybe less.”
He was there in seven, which meant he’d been speeding because the drive to his motel normally took fifteen. Through the kitchen blinds, Donni watched him swing out of the car, dressed in the same expensive streetwear he’d worn to dinner. It gave her the irrational urge to change.
Rafe knocked instead of ringing the bell and she made herself walk slowly to the door, reminding herself that she wasn’t at his beck and call, and wasn’t trying to impress him. Even so, she couldn’t stop the fear that trickled through her like a broken faucet as he stepped over her threshold, into her home.
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