Running Back to You (The Running Series, #1) (49 page)

Tonight was to be my first night here under our new living arrangements. 
I love that he thought about marking it with a gift of flowers.  Evan has a
knack for making me feel special and appreciated.  I wish I had seen them as a
bouquet.

“Jette, come here.  Check this out!”  Marcus calls for me to join him by
the sink.  There is a piece of paper sitting in the bottom of the sink, burned
to a crisp.  Beside it is a lone matchstick, which was used to set it aflame.

“I guess that was my love note from Evan,” I sigh.

Marcus continues to sweep the house, searching in every closet, cabinet,
and pantry.  He even gets down on the floor and checks under the bed in the
spare bedroom.

I bring Marcus upstairs to Evan’s workout room.  We can tell rather
quickly that there’s no one up here.  The room is simply four walls with
windows and tons of equipment scattered throughout the room.

Confident that we’re alone in the house, Marcus refocuses our attention. 
“Let’s get back to your room and grab that laptop.”

We go back to the master suite.  I’m relieved to see Evan’s laptop is
untouched exactly where I expected it to be, sitting on his dresser, charging.
I unplug it and hand it to Marcus.  “Just click on the
Find my iPhone
icon
on the dock.  It looks like a green radar screen.”  I want to see if my red
dress is still hanging in the closet.

I open the door slowly, unsure what awaits me inside, and sure enough, my
dress bag from Saks is empty.  Making matters worse, hanging neatly on a hanger
beside the dress bag is a change of clothes,
her
clothes.  This must be
what she was wearing before she slipped into my dress.  All my clothes have
been tossed from the closet, and now the only article of clothing remaining
beside Evan’s are hers.  Does she think she’s replacing me?

I take a peek in the master bath, and there’s more evidence left behind. 
An empty box of brown hair dye is lying in the trash.  My flat iron is still
out on the counter.  She must have been here for a while.  I feel nauseous,
like I’m going to throw up.

“Jette, what’s the address at your place?”  Marcus calls to me.  I’m sure
he’s asking about the house I shared with Auggie until a few hours ago.

“Comanche Avenue.  Why?”

“Evan’s phone is there, at your house,” he tells me.

I’m relieved that he’s so close by, but I can’t imagine why, of all
places, he’d take her there.  I need to check on Auggie.  I pray to God he’s
not caught in the middle of this.

Quickly, I dial Auggie’s phone number.  It rings and rings, but he
doesn’t answer.  My mind immediately makes a checklist of possible reasons why
he didn’t answer his phone, and the list is rather long.  There’s no reason to
panic, yet. 

Just then, the front door bursts open and Adam comes rushing through the
house and into the bedroom, frantic.  He takes one look at the mess and he
knows.  “She was here, wasn’t she?  Did she do this?”

Marcus and I nod our heads.  “Shit!  I tried to warn him.”

Adam turns around and walks out of the bedroom, heading straight to the
kitchen where he inspects the mess left behind there.  “Did she do this, too?”

“She did,” I confirm.  “Adam, you can explain all of this to me later. 
We found Evan.  He’s at my house.  If we leave now, we’ll be there in five minutes,”
I plea.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.  Look at what she’s done, Jette. 
She’s gotten violent.  Up until now, she’s been an annoyance and a source of
torment, but never dangerous.  This is different.  Something’s changed. 
Something pushed her over the edge.”  Adam is now pacing around the room,
trying to put all the clues together and solve the puzzle.

Marcus bends down to start picking up the broken glass and flowers. 

“Stop!” Adam shouts, stopping Marcus dead in his tracks.  “That’s
evidence.  We need to call the police now.”

Adam pulls out his cell phone, calls 9-1-1, and reports a home invasion. 
He tells us the police will be here right away.  There are lots of police
patrolling the boardwalk area in their cruisers, and one will be dispatched to
Evan’s house.

I walk mindlessly around the house with Evan’s MacBook Air in my hands. 
If that dot moves, I want to know immediately.  It’s taking all my willpower
not to force one of the boys to take me to him.  But if she’s dangerous and
deranged, my appearance might only escalate things, putting Evan in greater
danger.

As we wait for the police to arrive, I try to think back to each incident
that I now know Averee was responsible for.  First of all, there was the car
chase.  I never saw the driver, so it certainly could have been her.  And that
means I led her right to Evan’s house that night.

Then there was the note and flower on my car.  I assumed the note was
written by a man, but really, who knows?  I have no idea what her handwriting
looks like.

The things that stump me are my earlier home invasion, e-mail hacking,
and Craigslist ad.  How did she pull those off?

I find Adam to ask him if he has any insight while he and Marcus are
raiding Evan’s liquor cabinet.  We could all use a good stiff drink to calm our
nerves right now.  Marcus pours me a shot and I toss it back.  I don’t even
know what I’m drinking.  The burning sensation as it slides down my throat is
strangely soothing.

“Hey, Adam, do you really think it’s possible that Averee is responsible
for everything?  Including the e-mail and Craigslist stuff?”

“Yes, I do.  I’ve been working on that, Jette.  Frankly, you set yourself
up a little bit.  I checked your Facebook page, and you have your personal cell
phone number and your e-mail listed as a part of your personal information. 
The day you moved back home to Jersey, you ‘checked in’ on Facebook, giving
everyone your new home address.  With that kind of personal information and
enough cash, there are all kinds of computer nerds willing to take Averee’s
money and do whatever she wants.”

Holy crap, he’s right.  I hardly ever go on Facebook anymore.  I didn’t
even realize I was making it so easy for someone to find me.

“But how did she know about me?  This all started way before you made
that public announcement and our trip to the city.”

Adam explains.  “I’m pretty sure it started the same day you and Evan
first had your picture taken by the paparazzi.  You know, that
over-the-shoulder beach carry picture?  Word was already spreading that Evan
was seeing someone, the picture just confirmed the rumor.  Averee’s been
keeping very close tabs on Evan for months now.”

It’s a very disconcerting feeling to know that you can be watched and
monitored without your knowledge by people you’ve never met before. 

Just then, there’s a loud knock on the door.  “Point Pleasant Police.” 
Thank God!  I look up as Adam invites them in, and I’m relieved to see one of the
officers is my new friend, Officer Harper. 

Adam and I tell him everything.  Fortunately, he has enough background
information that he puts all the pieces together pretty easily.  He calls for
police to report to my house immediately for a domestic disturbance and a
possible assault with a deadly weapon.  We know she used a knife here, and that
means it’s entirely possible she may use a weapon again.

The police ask us to step outside while they check and process the
house.  Adam grabs a bottle of tequila and I give Officer Harper Evan’s laptop
so he can monitor Evan’s movements.  Now I have absolutely no idea what’s
happening.  At least when I had the laptop, I knew where they were.

Adam, Marcus and I go sit outside on the deck to wait.  I gaze around this
beautiful deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and memories come flooding back
to me.  This is where Evan first brought me that day on the beach when I
twisted my ankle, carrying me in his strong arms.  We sat here and talked for
hours.  I fell in love with him that day, right here. 

I can’t just sit and wait.  I need to do something, anything.  Then I
realize I should probably call Evan’s parents.  I’m certain they’re sleeping at
this hour, but I think they need to know what’s happening.  Adam agrees, and
together, we call the McGuire’s. 

We’re careful not to tell them every detail, but just enough so they know
the seriousness of the situation.  Evan’s dad, John, is a very rational man. 
He listens carefully and asks very few questions.  I can hear Evan’s mother,
Jill, in the background, in near hysterics once she finds out that Evan’s in
danger.  John thanks us for calling, and tells us they’ll be here as soon as
they can.

Police sirens are getting louder and louder, and it sounds like a dozen
cruisers are headed straight for Evan’s house.  We watch through the sliding
glass door into the house as police multiply in numbers, invading our home like
a hungry swarm of locust. 

As we sit here, minutes feel like hours.  My phone rings and I nearly
jump out of my skin.  I look down at the phone, and it’s Emmy.

“Jette, Derek and I are here at Evan’s, but the police won’t let us in. 
Where are you?”

“We’re on the deck.  Come around back.  Just follow the path.”  I know
the bar’s not closed yet.  Why are they here?

Emmy runs up to me and wraps her arms around me, holding me tightly. 
When she releases me, Derek comes over and hugs me, too.  I hold onto him a
little tighter and slightly longer than I probably should have.  He and I have
a special bond, and having him with me makes me feel better.

“What are you two doing here?  How did you find Evan’s house?  I never
gave you guys the address.”

Derek explains.  “Once we found out that the two of you were fired, we
quit and walked out.  As we started driving down Route 35, it wasn’t hard to
find McGuire’s house.  Between the news vans and the police cars parked out
front, it was pretty easy to find you guys.”

“What did you just say?”  Did I hear them correctly?

Derek repeats, “We followed the news vans and police sirens.”

“No, not that part .  The other part.”

“What?  That we quit?  Of course we did,” Emmy says.

“Did you say I got fired?”  Emmy and Derek look at Marcus for help.

Marcus walks over to me, and takes my hands into his.  “It’s true, Jette. 
Jack said we could leave, but not to bother coming back.  I didn’t hesitate,
and I knew you wouldn’t either.”

“No, you’re right, I was leaving no matter what.  But you didn’t have to
do this, too.  You lost your job.  Oh, Marcus, I’m so sorry!  And you two,” I
give Emmy and Derek an apologetic look, “I don’t know how I’ll make it up to
any of you.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Jette.  This is the way things had to go down.
We’re all in this together to the end, no matter what.”  Marcus is a man of few
words, but when he says something, I know he means it and it’s coming from his
heart.

“I’ll find a way to thank you someday, all three of you.”  I hope that I
will.

I wrap my arms around myself and shiver.  I have a chill that I can’t
seem to shake.  Maybe there’s a cool breeze coming off the ocean.  Derek starts
a fire in the fire pit, trying to be helpful.  I don’t think even the warmth of
the fire will make me feel better.  I won’t be comfortable again until I know
Evan’s safe.

Everyone gathers around the fire pit trying to get warm.  “So, Adam,”
Emmy starts, “what do we know about De-Ho?”

“I’m sorry, about who?” Adam looks confused.

“DeVeau, De-Ho, same thing,” Emmy chides.

“Well, I guess it’s best if we put all our cards on the table now. 
There’s no sense holding back at this point,” he begins.  “Averee’s been
calling and texting Evan.  A lot.  We didn’t think much of it until recently.
The calls got so bad that he stopped taking her calls and blocked her number. 
That’s when she started texting him nearly a hundred times a day.”

“Seriously?  Evan told me she was still calling him, but I had no idea it
was that bad.”  He did get a lot of texts that he ignored while we were
together.  I’m guessing most of those calls and texts were from
her
. 

“Jette, you have to understand, until tonight, we had no idea Averee was
the one stalking you.  If we had, I promise you, this would have ended a long
time ago.”  Adam’s leaning down, holding his head in his hands.  He won’t look
at me.  “We’re pretty sure she took that Broadway gig just to be closer to
Evan.  She thought that when she confronted him at the Knick’s game and he saw
her in person, he would run back to her.  When that didn’t happen, things got
worse.” Adam explains.

“But why do you think Evan took off with her tonight?  And why would he
take her to my house, especially if he knew Averee was harassing me?”  None of
this makes any sense.

“It sounds like he left in a rush.  She must have said something to him
to really scare him.  My guess is he was putting as much distance between the
two of you as possible,” Adam tells me.

Marcus makes an observation.  “From what I’ve seen here tonight, Jette,
she’s directing all her aggression towards you.  It’s your clothes she tore
up.  It’s your flowers she destroyed.  It’s your love note she burned.  And
it’s your dress she decided to wear.  She didn’t touch anything of Evan’s.  And
she had plenty of opportunity.”

Derek looks at me, adding, “Jette, you don’t live at that house anymore. 
Evan probably just thought it was safer than bringing her to his house where
you’re more likely to show up.”

Emmy agrees.  “Didn’t you tell me Evan has a key to your house?  It
really does make sense if you think about it.”

“But Adam, you knew she was the one stalking me.  You knew she vandalized
my car.  That was hours ago.  Why didn’t you do anything?  If you did, none of
this would have happened and we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“I wanted to, believe me, Jette, I tried to talk him into it most of the
afternoon while you were at work.  But he wouldn’t let me.  She’s sick.  Evan
wanted to quietly get her help without going public and ruining her career.  We
were going to call her people first thing in the morning so they could get her
to a treatment facility.”  Adam looks at me solemnly, “We had a plan.”