SACRIFICES (31 page)

                                                                      See you around buddy boy.

            
 
Brad sits down the letter and quickly dials his house.

He sits there tapping his foot on the floor quickly waiting for Jenny to pick up. But she doesn’t. The answering machine does. Brad realizes that she might not be answering the phone because it’s not her house so he waits.

              “Hi this is the home of Brad and Brad. We are not here right now so please leave a message after the beep
...BEEP
.”

              “...Hi Jenny are you there. This is Brad if you are there please pick up the phone...” He listens to the dead air waiting. “...Hello Jenny, this is Brad...” He looks at his watch. “...I’ll be there in about 15 minutes if you hear this message just wait for me, bye.” Brad hangs up and tucks the letter into his top drawer and starts to walk quickly to the door.

              He’s anxious to get home. He realizes now that the person doing this knows more than he thinks. Since the postmark on the letter was from three days ago he must have been watching Brad when he first went to the Waterloo with Jenny after the press conference. There’s no way he could have by the time frame known about the night before. He’s starting to worry. That means this guy has been watching her and him for a while now and she has to be the person he’s referring to in the letter. Brad prays that he’s wrong, but he knows he’s not.

              Brad feels a slight sense of relief that this person believes his son and friends are in Texas like he hoped they would think. Either his house was bugged or by them going out of their way to talk about Texas in public worked.

              Brad drives quickly to his house. Not to hard to do when you’re driving a
Camero IROC Z
. His son’s car is fast. Brad speeds down the side streets passing cars and making fast lane changes. It’s like a scene out of a movie. Brads frightened, he can only pray it was just a vague threat and Jenny being with him has not put her in danger.             

              He starts to signal as he draws closer to his house. He can see his Jeep in the driveway and a white Pontiac Bonneville parked out front, he assumes its Jenny’s. He pulls up behind his Jeep and quickly turns the car off and opens the door at the same time.

              Almost frantically he runs to the house and thinks to himself. ‘If she’s here why didn’t she answer the phone?’ He takes out his spare key to the house and opens the door. He doesn’t see her. He pulls out his gun and holds it toward the ground as he starts to walk the main floor listening for any noise. There are no sounds or sign of her. Brad walks upstairs to his bedroom and looks still no sign.

              ‘Where could she be?’ He wonders as he walks into the bathroom and notices her jeans and white shirt lying on the floor balled up along with her shoes. He quickly walks back out to the bedroom and doesn’t see a suitcase so he hopes that maybe she’s in the basement. He starts fearing the worse. He doesn’t know how he could live with himself if something happens to her.

              Gun still drawn, Brad walks down the stairs and then hears some noise outside in the back yard. Slowly he creeps toward the backdoor looking and listening. He opens the door and lets out a sigh of relief when he sees her lying out on the deck. He holsters his gun and shakes his head while he chuckles to himself.

              Brad walks to the pool smiling because of his overactive imagination. He’s still nervous by the obvious threats in the letter but now he feels relieved she’s all right.

              He pulls open the gate and makes the comment as he gets to the top step. “Hello they’re stranger.”

              Jenny’s lying out in a one-piece swimsuit, it’s high in the back and cuts high up the leg. The front is low cut and the turquoise color goes nicely with her eyes that are currently covered at this moment by a pair of designer sunglasses.

              She pulls down her sunglasses to the tip of her nose. “Hello they’re good-looking.” She winks and reaches over to the table and says. “I made some Margaritas; do you want a drink?” She holds it up.

              “I don’t mind if I do.” He takes an extremely long drink. “Ah. That’s very good.” He hands it back.

              “Is everything ok? I saw you on TV earlier at the press conference.” She asks as she leans up.

              “Yeah…everything is fine. So how’s the water?” Brad changes the subject as he starts to loosen his tie.

              “The water’s wonderful, but I’m more concerned about you. Didn’t you say someone was killed today? How’d that happen? You’re ok right?” Jenny sits on the edge of the folding chair and takes a hold of his hand while he stands there looking away.

              “I’m perfectly fine, it’s a long story.” Brad grins as he softly squeezes her hand.

              “I have time.” Jenny looks up with concern on her suntan face.

              “Why don’t I take you out to dinner?” Brad smiles changing the subject once again.

              “Now Mr. Jostler I can tell that something is bothering you and I would like to help you if you let me. Do you want to talk about it?” Jenny stands up and gives him a hug.

              He hugs her back and kisses her on the tip of the nose still remembering what the letter said feeling afraid for her safety. “I’ll tell you all about it later, I promise,” He gives her a big hug squeezing tightly. “So let’s go out to dinner.” He softly taps her on her butt.

              Jenny smiles and taps him on his backside and informs him. “I hope you’re not to set on going out to dinner?”

              Brad steps back a couple steps mostly to get a better look at her curves in that suit. He acts like he’s looking on the table beside her chair. “What do you mean? Aren’t you hungry?” Brad tilts his head feeling a tad bit confused by her comment.

              “Oh yeah, I’m starving. But after seeing that you had a grill up here on the deck and knowing that you love rib eyes. I took the liberty of going to the grocery store. I got us some rib eyes, baked beans, potato salad and even some potato chips and salsa. I was kind of hoping we could cook on the grill and do some swimming. Does that sound like fun to you? It sounds wonderful to me. It is Friday and I think you have tomorrow off. So we can stay up late, swim, rent some movies and drink Margaritas.” Jenny smiles and walks over to the table and bends over to pick up her drink.

              Brad watches her bend over and shakes his head. “Um, that‘s nice.” He closes his eyes. “What I meant to say was that, that does sound
nice
.” He looks away feeling awkward knowing that she caught him looking while she bent over.

              Jenny grins and says. “What’s nice?”

              Brad smiles. “Your idea sounds nice. That’s what I was talking about.” Brad looks toward his feet smiling. Although they made love the previous night and he’s seen her in jeans and also a skirt at the conference. Seeing her in this swimsuit and the outdoor lighting really gives him his first
REAL
good look at her body. He’s VERY, VERY impressed.

              Jenny walks toward him and whispers.
“I don’t think that’s what you meant.”
She starts to tickle his stomach as he shyly looks away.

              Brad decides to be playful so he turns the table. “What? You don’t think I was gawking at how sexy you’re legs and ass looks in that suit do you? To tell the truth I didn’t even notice.” Brad winks as they start to walk toward the stairs to the backyard.

              Once inside Brad notices the new bag of charcoal by the table and a bottle of pre-mixed Margarita on the counter. He walks in and takes off his shoes. He walks to the fridge and opens it. “Those steaks look great.” Brad acknowledges as he pulls out a beer.

              Jenny takes her towel and wraps it around her waist and tells him. “I’ve had em marinating all day so they should be tasty.”

              Brad removes his tie and hangs it over the back of one of the dinning room chairs and asks. “How much do I owe you for the food you bought?” He takes out his wallet as he sits down.

              Jenny walks over and sits down beside him. “Nothing.”

              Brad explains. “You are a guest in my home and I insist that you tell me how much I owe you.”

              Jenny shakes her head and smiles. “And since I am a guest in your home I insist that you let me pay for the dinner. It’s the least I can do after your sweet offer of asking me to stay.” Jenny winks and stands up.

              Brad leans back and tells her while she walks over to the counter and grabs her drink. “That’s very sweet and all but I would feel better if you’d let me pay you back.”

              Jenny shakes her head and smiles. “Nope, it’s my treat; it’s the least I can do after you being so sweet to me. End of story Mr. Jostler, don’t mention it again.” Jenny winks and takes another drink.

              “Well, I don’t like it but if you insist I guess I have no choice in the matter.” Brad stands up and walks over to her and gives her a hug and a peck on the cheek.

              Brad explains as he starts to walk away. “I’m going to go put on my trunks. I’ll be back down in a minute.”

              Jenny starts to walk toward him. “I almost forgot. Earlier when I went to get my car...”

              Brad interrupts and asks. “How’d you get it?”

              Jenny explains. “I called a cab. If I had taken your Jeep over there to get my stuff then we would have had to go back later anyway so I thought I’d save us a trip. Anyway, when I first got back I saw a black Toyota Camry parked in front of your house. I didn’t think anything at first. I thought that maybe they were across the street. But when I went in the house and took my bags up stairs I saw out your window that faces the street a guy get into it. He came from the side of your house. At least it looked like he did...” Brad takes a deep breath feeling that the guy who sent him the tape, letters and the guy that’s been killing was at his house today. He doesn’t tell her about that he just listens hoping not to scare her. “...I was just wondering who it was? It kind of scared me at first. Then he just drove off kind of fast.”

              Brad takes a sip of his beer and nods his head. “Did you get a look at the plates when you pulled up? I mean if you did then I might know who it was? I know a few people who drive Camry's.” Brad smiles trying to hide his nervousness.

              “There were none. It had one of them orange stickers in the back window. That’s all I seen when he pulled away.” Jenny shrugs her shoulders and walks up the stairs in front of Brad.

              Brad swallows hard and looks away as she walks up the stairs. That settles it she has to be told about the letters and the tape. She also needs to know about what the letter he just got said and the reference to the red head. He wants her to know what’s going on. So next time she can be on the look out or possibly decide to cut her vacation short to be on the safe side. With Brad knowing what she saw today it’s more obvious to him now that she’s probably the one the letter was referring to as far as hurting someone he cares about. They’re having a great time together but with her life now in danger their time together might be coming to a close.

              Brad realizes with all of the high tech equipment to monitor his house it did absolutely no good today. Since he knew Jenny was going to be there he decided to turn the equipment off so she wasn‘t accidentally setting off alarms all day not know how to work the system.

              Brad walks up the stairs to his room; Jenny’s sitting on the edge of the bed. He thinks that now is as good a time as any to tell her what’s going on. Better sooner than later. He smiles and takes a seat in his recliner. He grins and looks at her as she goes through her suitcase looking for some clothes. “Hey Jenny, I think we need to talk.” He grins while she looks up.

              “About what?” Jenny smiles as she sits a pair of shorts on the bed from her suitcase and a T-shirt.

              Brad looks away and tells her. “It’s a long story. But I think you need to know all about it. Especially after the letter I got today.”

              Jenny sits up straight and smiles. “Is it important?”

              Brad nods his head. “Yes, yes it is.”

              Jenny stops what’s she’s doing and gives him her full attention. She crosses her legs and asks. “What is it?”

              Brad clears his throat and starts. “The investigation into the rapes and murders that I’m working on,” He looks away trying to tell her without scaring her. “Well anyway, early on in the investigation I received a letter. It was pretty long and it said some things about what I should do. It was kind of a letter telling me to back off of the investigation,” Jenny looks on with curiosity in her eyes. “…and it said if I didn’t that they were going to hurt my son.”

              Jenny covers her mouth and asks. “He’s ok isn’t he? I mean he really is on vacation, he’s not hurt is he?”

              Brad nods his head and explains. “No, he’s fine. But that’s why he’s on vacation. To get him somewhere safe so I could continue the investigation.” Jenny nods her head in relief. “As well as him, his friends and some of the people I work with were also mentioned. The letter was actually quite frightening. So to make a long story short I just received a letter today. Now just listen so I can explain. The letter was postmarked three days ago. But the thing that worries me is it made mention of my good taste in women. They said red head.”