ChapterTwenty-Three
Bella went through her nighttime routine. She checked the front and back doors. Then the dining room, checking the windows were closed.
Self-pity had her by the hand and walked through the house with her.
In her make-believe world, Nate told her he had no idea how he’d gone through his entire adult life without realizing she was right there all the time. That the past few days, and especially the other night, had given him a massive wake-up call.
Except Nate wasn’t the one who needed the wake-up call. She did. Rattling each of the living room windows, she made sure they were still locked tight.
One more circuit and she went to bed. Sleep took its own sweet time, but with the help of some late-night television and a couple of chapters in her book, Bella settled down for the night.
Heart pounding, she jerked wide awake.
The dark shape beside the window was her dresser. Dim light reflected in the mirror. On the bedside table, moonlight limned her lamp. Her cell clock read three-seventeen.
Everything normal. Still, she held her breath, waiting and listening. For what?
There. A sound like a footfall. Then nothing.
Bella strained her ears.
Nothing.
There, again! But closer this time. Someone was in the house.
Bella shot out of bed. She shut her bedroom door. No freaking lock. Snatching up her phone, she sprinted into the bathroom. Not wanting to make any noise, she eased the bathroom door closed and rammed the lock home.
Fingers shaking, she misdialed, then finally hit Nate’s number.
He answered almost immediately. “Bella?”
“Nate.” Her whisper screamed around the silent bathroom. “I’m not sure, but I think somebody is in the house with me.”
“Shit.” The phone crackled as he moved. “I’m on my way.”
“Nate, I’m scared.”
“I know, babe.” So calm and certain, his voice kept her from losing it. “Where are you?”
“In the bathroom. I locked myself in.” It could be nothing. She might be stupidly nervous because of Adam. At this stage, however, she wasn’t taking any chances.
“Good girl.”
Her bedroom door creaked.
“He’s in the bedroom,” she whispered.
“Fuck.” The phone thumped as if he’d dropped it, and then Nate was back again. “Stay locked in. Don’t move.”
The footsteps padded closer to the bathroom door.
“Nate.” Bella’s voice came out in a squeak. “He’s right outside.”
“Don’t hang up, Bella. Leave me on the line.”
Bella scrabbled as far from the door as she could get. The bathtub pressed into her spine and she climbed inside.
“What’s happening, Bella?” Nate’s voice, calm and grim, but there.
“Nothing.”
Sounds from her bedroom, drawers opening and closing. Her intruder was going through her stuff.
Nate’s voice. “You still with me, babe?”
“He’s opening my drawers.” Part of her wanted to march out there and defend her stuff, but it was a very small part, hiding behind the need for self-preservation.
The bathroom door handle turned.
“He’s trying the door.” Bella couldn’t drag her gaze away from it. Her phone slipped in her sweaty hand.
“Stay very quiet, baby.” A car started over the phone line. “I’m on my way.”
Someone pushed the door. The lock held.
“Bella?” Adam! “I know you’re in there.”
“Stay with me, baby,” Nate said.
Bella nodded. Her voice froze in her windpipe.
“Open the door, Bella.” Adam sounded annoyed. He tried the lock again, rattling the door in its frame. “I just want to talk to you. Please open the door.”
“Do not fucking open that door,” Nate said. “Are you still there?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Bella!” Adam pounded on the door. “Open this door. I want to talk to you. Come on, Bella, you know me. Now open the door.”
“Say nothing,” Nate said. “Do not engage him. I’m nearly there.”
The faint wail of a siren cut through the night.
Bella strained to hear and there it was again. A siren, getting louder.
“Damn.” Adam thumped the door. “This is not over, Bella. You can’t treat me like this. I love you.”
“I’m on your street,” Nate said.
“I can hear you,” Bella whispered.
Footsteps across her bedroom floor, and then the door opening again.
“He’s not in my room anymore. I don’t know where he is.” She didn’t want Nate walking into whatever nasty surprise Adam had planned.
“Stay where you are,” Nate said.
A car door slammed outside and then boots pounded up her walk.
Nate couldn’t get in. The front door was locked, just like he’d told her. “The door’s locked,” she said into the phone.
“Don’t worry about it,” Nate said. “And don’t come out to try to open it.”
Half-standing, Bella crouched back in the bath again.
She could make out the sounds of movement through her house. She had no idea what was happening on the other side of that door. Time actually seemed to move backward as she waited.
A knock on the bathroom door.
Bella froze.
“Bella, it’s Nate. Open up, baby.”
Bella must have seen one too many movies because her response came almost automatically. “How do I know it’s you?”
“It’s Nate. I know you’re scared, but you can open the door now.”
It sounded like Nate. “Tell me something only Nate would know.”
“Shit, Bella.” Silence. “Okay, when we were in fourth grade, you came to school sick and barfed all over Miss Feinburger.”
Bella nearly tripped over the bath lip as she shot for the door. She unlocked it, wrenched it open, and threw herself at Nate.
His big arms came around her immediately. “Hey, I’ve got you.”
“Don’t let me go.” She buried her nose in his neck, relishing the Nate-ness of him.
“Not a chance.” He ran his big hands down her spine and kissed the top of her head. “I’m here now.”
“Is he gone?” She dared not look up from Nate’s neck. She felt safe here, cocooned in the smell and feel of him.
“He’s gone.” Nate’s voice held a grim note, like maybe he’d been hoping for something else. “I checked the house before I let you out.”
Bella edged an inch away from Nate. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” Nate tightened his arms around her. “I’ve got you now.”
The shudders kept growing. Adam had broken into her home, her sanctuary. He’d stood right where she and Nate stood now and tried to get to her. She couldn’t ignore this anymore. Much as she wanted to pretend Adam would go away, he wasn’t going to. “What do I do?”
“You can’t stay here.” Nate’s voice rumbled through his chest.
No way in hell would she spend the night here. Not now. Damn Adam and this bullshit. He’d made her home feel like a danger zone. “I could go to my parents’ house.”
“Alone?” Nate pressed her away from him. His beautiful face was so serious. “No.”
“Okay.” She didn’t even bother with a token protest. She really, really didn’t want to be alone. Maybe she could stay with Liz.
“What the fuck.” As if Bella had summoned her, Liz rounded the bend in the hall at a run. She’d thrown a jacket and UGGs on, but the black silk of her negligee peeped out. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Adam broke in.” Saying the words brought the damn tears. She hadn’t even known she was close to crying until Liz gave her that sympathetic face and rubbed her back. As if bawling her eyes out had been waiting in the wings for its cue, Bella couldn’t seem to stop.
Nate rocked her in his arms, murmuring something.
Liz stroked her back with different murmurs.
“She can stay with me,” Liz said.
Bella sobbed harder. Liz was so kind and so giving all the time. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t given her friendship a chance before now.
“No.” Nate’s arms got like a vice, but she welcomed them. “She’s staying with me.”
Liz quirked a brow. “Bella?”
The part of her that really wanted to be feisty and fiercely independent whispered that she should turn the offer down with a flounce and a few choice words. But she was tired and scared out of her tiny mind and next to Nate was the only place she wanted to be. “I’ll be okay with Nate.”
“Well, if that changes . . .” Noel appeared behind Liz. “You only have to call and Liz and I will come get you.”
Liz turned on him. “Don’t say Liz and I like we’re a couple. You lost that right. Actually, you pretty much fucked your way out of that right.”
“I understand.” Noel nodded and stepped around a vibrating Liz. He pressed a business card into Bella’s palm. “You can call me, or you can call Liz, anytime.”
“Thank you.” Bella had the horrible feeling she might start bawling again.
“Pack a bag, honey.” Nate stroked her spine. “Take a few things for the next couple of days. This is now an active crime scene. If Adam left behind any DNA, we’re gonna find it.”
Red and blue lights flashed around the corner and a second cruiser drew up. Gabby climbed out, hitched up her utility belt, and strode toward them. “Sheriff.” She nodded at Nate. “What happened?”
“I’ll walk you through it.” Nate pressed Bella away from him. “Pack that bag. I don’t want anyone else inside until we’ve processed the scene.”
Now her house, which she had been so proud to buy and spent hours decorating, making it into the sort of place where she felt safe and happy, was a crime scene. Bella dragged herself to her bedroom.
* * *
Nate’s instincts howled not to let her out of his sight, but they had one shot at Adam and Nate aimed to make sure he had enough evidence gathered to make it a slam dunk. He had Bella’s testimony, but some physical evidence linking the bastard to the scene would certainly help.
Gabby trailed him into the kitchen.
“Far as I can see, he broke in through the kitchen.” He motioned her around some broken glass. “Make sure you check for footprints outside in the morning. We might get lucky. Then—”
“Sheriff.” Gabby crouched down near the glass. “I got this. This isn’t my first crime scene.”
Maybe not, but it was her first crime scene where Bella was the victim. Make that second crime scene. He should have found Adam before it got to this, but after the incident at the store, Adam had pulled a vanishing act. Nate aimed to make sure they got the twisted shithead before there was a third incident. Adam was escalating, and that scared Nate more than he cared to admit.
Fuck! Adam had gotten too close. One flimsy door had stood between him and Bella. His hands shook and he shoved them into his pockets.
“You okay there, Sheriff ?” Gabby kept on examining the back door. It was like she had ESP or some such shit.
“Yeah.” Because what else could he say? That he was freaked way the fuck out and he didn’t like it one little bit? He knew enough about shock to get that his reaction was setting in now. Now that Bella was safe, his mind was playing what if with him and he hated the direction it was headed. Working with living victims was always harrowing, and faces from his SLC days lined up and jeered at him. All the ones he hadn’t gotten to in time. All the women and kids left to piece their lives together again after some shithead had torn them apart.
Not his Bella. He wasn’t going to add her face to that lineup.
“I’m taking Bella home with me,” he said. Fuck what Gabby made of that.
She nodded. “Sounds like the best plan.”
Nate left her to it. Who the hell was he kidding? It was the only plan he could get his head around. Gut deep, he needed to be close to her, to have his eyes on her at all times, and he couldn’t make that go away.
On her fridge, she had her plan for Christmas pinned with a fridge magnet that read: “Live Now.” Beside it hung a birthday calendar for the year. He checked August 10, just for shits, and sure enough, there he was in Bella’s neat handwriting. In middle school, she used to dot her i’s with little hearts and flowers.
She’d jammed a little slip of paper under the same magnet. The number looked familiar. He pulled out his cell and checked.
Daniel Carver. Motherfucker!