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Ihad been working on Daniel’s case for the whole day and was looking forward to going home and spending the weekend with him. After my chat with Kye, I called Tyler, and he agreed that he would come up here on Monday and spend whatever time was needed to help me prove Daniel’s innocence. He was going to stay with Jayden, despite my pleas for him to stay with me. I guessed he wanted to give me and Daniel some time to ourselves and didn’t want to impose. I understood what he was saying, but part of me felt that I needed him close by, as if there was something about to happen that would tear my world apart and I needed him to be there for me.
Kye had popped his head in to say goodbye and not to worry about him. He was going to disappear for a few days to meet with his contact, who was sure he had a lead on the killer. I just hoped that he didn’t put himself in danger to do so. He had come on so far from the man we had first met when he’d helped to kidnap Sienna. Even further from the man he had become in Madeira only last year. None of us wanted to see him end up like that again, and I was afraid that reaching out to his old contacts may send him down that route again.
Looking at the clock on the wall, I saw that it was nearly five o’clock and time to head back home. I quickly packed all my stuff away, walked out of the office, and headed out for the weekend. I said goodbye to everyone who was still in the office and walked out into the warm afternoon sun of the day.
The street was alive with people, as it always was on a Friday afternoon and evening. People were finishing work and heading into the local cafés and bars to enjoy the start of the weekend. It was something that I had done regularly in the past, but tonight I was only heading in one direction: home. I wanted to spend the evening with Daniel, and I was looking forward to whatever he had decided to cook for dinner.
As I was walking down the street towards my apartment building, I noticed a tall guy striding towards me wearing a grey hoodie. I wouldn’t usually have paid attention, but the fact that he had the hood up, covering most of his face in the heat of the afternoon, caught my eye. I could understand on a spring or autumn day, but in the middle of summer, most people just walked around in t-shirts. As he came towards me, he barged into me, causing me to nearly lose my balance. I went to speak to him to tell him to be more careful next time, but he just continued to walk down the road, acting as if nothing had happened.
I stood there for a while, confused by what had just happened. Had he meant to do that? I suddenly checked all my pockets to make sure nothing had been stolen. Everything was still there: keys, wallet, phone. Nothing had gone.
Shaking my head, I put it down to him just being in a bad mood and not paying attention to what he was doing and continued on my way. I turned into the alleyway towards my building and headed up to my floor. As I got to the door, I thought I would say something I had always wanted to as I walked into my apartment. Unlocking the door, I stepped in and spoke.
“Hi, honey. I’m home.” I chuckled at my own voice as I closed the door behind me.
I walked towards the kitchen, expecting to find Daniel in there getting dinner ready, but he was nowhere to be found.
“Daniel?”
There was no reply, and I started to wonder if he had forgotten something and had popped out again. I walked out of the kitchen and headed towards the front room. As I walked through the door, I found Daniel sitting on the sofa, his head in his hands, leaning over his knees. It was obvious that something was wrong and he was upset. I rushed over and pulled him into me as I felt him shaking in my arms. I gently rubbed his back as I held him in silence for a moment before speaking.
“What’s happened? I hate to see you upset like this.”
I felt him move slightly and pull away from me. As I looked over, I saw the redness of his eyes where he had been crying. Immediately, I wanted to pull him back into me, to comfort him and take away the pain he was obviously feeling.
He placed a hand on my chest to stop me and gave me a sad smile before he spoke. “Please, Romeo, just give me a moment and I will explain.”
He sat there for a moment and took a deep breath before he continued.
“Something happened while I was on my way back from the shops this afternoon. I was attacked by a man, and he threatened both your and my lives.”
I gasped when I heard him start to explain. I didn’t mean it to come out, but seeing how upset he was, I knew how serious this was. I sat there and listened as he explained what had happened on his way back. How he had felt he was being followed, was pulled into an alleyway, threatened, and then attacked. My mind was racing when he stopped speaking to look at me. Everything seemed to go through my mind all at once as I spoke to him.
“Did you get a good look at the guy? I could look through the surveillance cameras on the street, and then we could let the police know and—”
Daniel placed his finger on my lips to stop me from speaking. I was going a mile a minute, not taking a breath between sentences, and the panic starting to set in. It was Daniel’s turn to try to comfort and calm me down. I could feel my heart racing at the thought that someone wanted to hurt us both. I couldn’t stand losing him now that I had just found him.
Daniel removed his finger and took my hand in his, rubbing small circles on my hand, as much to comfort himself as me.
“I couldn’t see the guy’s face, because he was wearing a hoodie. I thought it was strange that he had the hood up covering his face on such a warm afternoon.”
It was then that the realisation hit me. A guy in a hoodie, with the hood up. It must have been the same guy that had barged into me. It was too much of a coincidence not to be.
“What colour hoodie was he wearing?”
I saw confusion come over Daniel’s face. I probably would have reacted the same way in his shoes, but I needed him to tell me.
“Please, Daniel. It’s important. Tell me the colour, and then I will explain.”
“It was grey. But I really don’t see the significance.”
It had to be the same person.
“The significance is that a man in a grey hoodie barged into me on the way home. He just walked straight up to me without looking. I was going to say something, but he just carried on walking as if nothing happened. What’s the chances of both of us finding different guys with grey hoodies and having some form of interaction with them?”
I saw the realisation come over his face as he thought about what I had said.
“Exactly. It had to be the same person. He wanted to make his presence known to me without talking to me. A silent threat that we would both realise once we had spoken to each other. I will look at the surveillance footage when I get back to work on Monday, but for now, I want to spend the relaxing weekend I had planned for us. Let’s not worry about anything today. I know it’s difficult, but we don’t have to go anywhere. He may know where we live, but he can’t get into the building without a code. And even if he does, he won’t get past the front door if we don’t want him to. So, let's relax and spend a cosy weekend together.”
