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Finally, another officer entered the room, and I took a seat. “Ms. Reyes? I’m Officer Golden. I don’t have many questions for you, but I want to talk with you and show you a few things.”
I said little, going with the philosophy of less was more in this situation.
“Let’s start here.” The officer pushed a few photos forward for me to inspect. There were images of a man standing near my car in a black sweatshirt on different days. I could tell the officer was waiting for some kind of response from me. “Do you recognize this person?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “No. How could I? I can’t see any faces.”
He set three pictures of roses on my car down on the desk. “Campus police took these after some women reported someone leaving these on their cars. Did you ever receive roses?”
“Um. Yes. Three of them. They look similar to the roses that were left on my windshield.” Each photo showed a perfectly opened bloom, with the thorns removed.
“Do you know who left them?”
“No.” I could have said how I thought Teddy had left them at first, but kept the details to myself.
“Then let’s move on to the videos.” At the touch of a button, videos appeared on a tablet of Teddy and me talking beside my car. One of Teddy stowing my rolling briefcase under the car. And another of someone, again from behind, in a black sweatshirt, looking like they were putting something under my windshield. “Do you know the man in these videos?”
“The first few are my friend, um, Theo. I don’t know who was the last since I can’t see his face.”
“Does Theo own a black sweatshirt?”
“Well, yes, I think so, but—”
“Like this one?” He pulled one out and set it between us.
I refused to inspect it. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“I have something to show you. You might find this letter interesting.”
The first line sent a wave of shock through me.
I was stalked by Theodore Delfino.
The letter went back to the year he was a senior in high school.
In the statement area, it read in black ink handwriting:
I tried breaking up with Theo several times, but he won’t leave me alone. He won’t let me go. He’s always watching me. Theo leaves me little presents or flowers all the time on my car or in my locker. After we broke up, he threatened that if another man touches me, he’ll beat him up. He also calls and texts me multiple times a day. He won’t stop following me.
The scrawled signature was too scratchy to make out the name Tracy something, but it didn’t matter. The photos, the videos, some of the evidence didn’t exactly point to Teddy. But this letter? I hardly believed my eyes. I could totally see Teddy in every line. Half of me didn’t buy any of it, though. My Teddy wouldn’t stalk people.
The officer broke into my scrambling thoughts. “All the signs possibly point toward Theodore Delfino as the Glendale College stalker. This is a safe space, Ms. Reyes. If you’re scared of him and being threatened by him, you can tell me.”
“I’m not. No, Ted—Theo is just an old family friend. I don’t believe he’d do these things.”
The officer put everything away into a folder and handed me a card. “Okay. If you can think of anything that might help us in this case, please call me.”
I had to get out of there. Thankfully, Luc’s driver was waiting to take me home. In the car, I begged him to take me to Teddy instead.
I texted him:
Mia: The driver is taking me to the ranch to see you.
Teddy: Okay. Love you. See you soon.
I hesitated to send him the same reply. But why? I loved him with all of my heart, and it angered me even more that anyone would put any doubt of his trustworthiness into my head about him.
Mia: Love you too.
