The 7th Tarot Card (23 page)

“
Is that a deal-breaker?” Leland responded.

“
Yes, Leland,” I replied. “Yes, it’s a deal breaker. Do you think I want to be known as someone’s fifth wife? Who is he, Henry the Eighth?”

Leland
was about to reply, when my cell phone beeped, signaling a text message had been received. I sprang from the leather chair like a possessed jack-in-the-box. It had to be Judah. I excused myself and hurried to the guest room to read my message in private.

Vibrating
with anticipation, I hopped onto the bed and flipped open the phone. The sender was ‘unidentified,’ certainly
not
what I’d expected to see. I bit my lip and steeled myself as I pressed the button to read the text:

How was
your massage today Victoria? I really enjoyed bumping into you at the mall.

I
gasped and read the message a second time in disbelief. Then with quiet hands, closed the phone and gently set it down on the antique French nightstand. My peaceful respite had come crashing to an end. I lowered my head and swiped away a tear. Somehow this sick man had not only managed to follow me, undetected, to the mall, he boldly walked right up to me and almost knocked me down. I felt supremely violated. Until now, I’d convinced myself that this was merely a disturbed individual playing some serious mind games, but eventually he’d go away. However, now, for the first time, I understood his intent. My life was in mortal danger.

He was toying with me
, like a cat toys with a mouse before he kills it.

Stunned by that revelation,
and laboring against a fear that would surely paralyze me, I could formulate only one, coherent thought.

This means war.

“
The future belongs to the risk takers, not the security seekers. The more you seek security, the less of it you will have and the more you pursue opportunity, the more security you will achieve.” —Brian Tracy, author and motivational speaker

*******

The next morning, swathed in my leopard print flannel pajamas, I sat cross-legged on Amanda’s couch sipping gourmet coffee and watching her in the kitchen making breakfast. The sky outside her floor-to-ceiling windows was gray and brooding. At least it wasn’t raining. Carl lay next to me with his head on my lap, utterly contented as I scratched behind his velvet ears, and made small talk with Amanda. Unable to hold it in any longer, I had just finished spilling my guts to her. She took it all in, wide-eyed but stoic, determined to show solidarity and strength in the face of adversity, and offering me her complete support in every way.

Now she
bustled about the kitchen, cooking up a grand breakfast to expend her nervous energy. The delicious scent of hickory smoked apple sausages grilling on the stove wafted into the living room, making my stomach growl. Judging by the way she whipped up the ingredients, the waffles were going to be light as a feather. Next to her waffle iron sat small bowls of fresh pecans and huckleberries, ready to plop onto the sizzling batter. The only thing she would allow me to do was set the table and slice up some fruit, which was already done and chilling in her Sub-Zero refrigerator.

Her turquoise caftan flowed behind her as she dashed back and forth across the kitchen gathering up
mixing bowls and depositing dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Fortunately the old goat, Fleland, hadn’t spent the night, so it was just the two of us fixing breakfast and talking girl talk: sex, fashion, makeup, how to kill a stalker and dispose of his body. The usual.

I hadn
’t called Judah yet; I figured he’d call me as soon as he had anything, so I might as well wait. There wasn’t a whole lot he could do at this point anyway, and I wasn’t going anywhere. Not now. I glanced over at my phone perched at the ready on the glass-topped coffee table and willed it to ring. Flipping it open one more time, I confirmed that it was still turned on with a fully-charged battery. Nothing had changed since five minutes ago.

Carl
, the warrior dachshund, had fallen asleep with his head still on my lap and was dreaming: snorting, and yipping softly at some imaginary squirrel or maybe the Las Vegas mob, whatever little puppies dream about. I gently moved his head and got up to refill my coffee cup.

“
I hope you know that you can stay here as long as you need to,” Amanda repeated for the third time this morning as she handed me a freshly brewed cup of coffee. She had one of those expensive coffee makers that grinds the beans, then brews one cup at a time.

“
Amanda, you are such a dear friend, thanks so—” the sound of my cell phone playing the theme from
The Godfather
—the song I tagged to Judah—interrupted me. My adrenalin surged into overdrive as I raced over, swooped my phone off the coffee table and quickly answered.

“
Hi, Victoria,” he greeted me. “Am I calling too early?”

“
No, not at all. Amanda and I were just getting ready to have some breakfast.” I glanced over at Amanda. She had stopped cooking and leaned against the jade green granite countertop, listening intently.

“
Good, well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”

“
I’ve got some news for you too, but you go first. What’s the good news?” I asked hopefully.

“
The good news is, you were right. The guy was in your condo.”

Judah
’s matter-of-fact disclosure hit me like a punch. In my heart, I knew the pervert had been there, so hearing it confirmed shouldn’t have been a shocking revelation, but still it was a blow. If this was his idea of good news, I was in a boatload of trouble.

I
steadied myself for the rest of his report. “So, what’s the bad news then?”

“
The bad news is that while he was there, he searched through your drawers. Also, it was extremely brazen of him to break-in midday when you could have been at home.”

“
What time was he there?”

“
Three-thirty, for about half an hour.”

“
That was during my massage at the mall,” I was thinking out loud. “He knew I wouldn’t be back right away.”

“
What do you mean?” he responded sharply.

I told
Judah about the encounter in front of the candle shop and the text message of last night. He was silent for a moment, then asked, “Did you recognize him?”

“
No, but with his full beard and baseball cap he could have been anyone. I only saw him for a second.”

“
I’ve got some pretty good shots of him, so the sooner you can come back home and take a look at them the better. Oh, and one other thing, he walked off with a couple of manila folders from the filing cabinet in your guest room.”

Great.
That’s just great. Now he’s stealing paperwork—personal information. I told Judah I’d head back home right after breakfast and punched the button, ending the call. Turning to an anxious Amanda, I related everything I’d heard.

“
Don’t worry, Vic, Carl and I are coming back with you,” Amanda, faithful Amanda, declared firmly as she poured the batter onto the waffle iron. The batter bubbled and hissed as it hit the hot grill, and the rising steam filled the room with the most delicious, buttery scent.

I gave her an affectionate smile.
“No, that’s okay, my dear friend. Really. Judah will meet me there, and then together we’ll go to the police. I’ll be fine. Thanks though, your support means everything.” She looked uncomfortable with my decision, but reluctantly accepted it.

We made small talk over breakfast, preferring to avoid the obvious,
then I got cleaned up, thanked Amanda for her generous hospitality and took off for home to face the music.

My spirits were
tanking as I drove across the 520 bridge, heading east towards Redmond. It would have been easy to fall into a depression, I thought, but I’ve been down that road before and learned from my mistakes. When you start to have negative thoughts you need to nip them in the bud. Block them the moment they begin. Otherwise, they take hold and send you spiraling downward into a pit, from which it’s very difficult to climb back out. So, I kept reminding myself of all the blessings in my life. Let’s see, I had an amazing, talented son; there was Judah; I had wonderful friends; there was Judah; I had a good job; there was Judah; I had a loving family; and there was Judah.

Funny how he keeps haunting me, when he so clearly is not what I
’m looking for, or want. However, when this was all behind me, I
was
going to hold him to his promise of explaining everything over a bottle of wine. And he had a lot of explaining to do. Strictly as a matter of curiosity, of course. Nothing more.

B
efore arriving at my condo complex I’d called Judah, and he was waiting outside for me as I pulled into my garage. The casual black sports coat he wore over a black T-shirt paired with jeans emphasized his dark, wavy hair and gave him a certain urban/international quality. One look at him took my breath away. Let’s face it, I was a gonner and I knew it.

In one hand he held
a white plastic bag from the hardware store and in the other his laptop. I pulled the plastic bag open and peeked inside as we walked to the stairs. “Oh, honey, a deadbolt lock. You shouldn’t have,” I said.

“
Nothing but the best for you, baby,” he said in return and shot me a playful smile. I knew he was joking, but it gave me a thrill all the same.

The first thing I noticed after
we entered my condo was the blinking light on my message machine. I hit the play button, turned up the volume, and listened.

Hello
, Victoria, this is Kristy at the credit union. Your husband stopped by yesterday afternoon to withdraw some money from your home equity line of credit, but since he’s not a signer on that account, I couldn’t give him access. I apologize if that caused any problems, but we have to abide by our security rules. If the two of you want to come in and sign some paperwork on Monday, I’d be happy to help him out. Let me know what you’d like to do. Thanks.

I put my face in my hands and leaned against the counter
.

“
Don’t cry, Victoria,” Judah said. “I know this looks bad, but we’ll stop him.”

I turned to him.
“I’m not crying, I’m ready to explode. I’m ready to go after this guy and smash his face in.”

“
That’s my girl,” he said grinning. With renewed energy, I stomped into my guestroom, opened my filing cabinet and did a quick inventory.

“
My bank folder’s missing, and so is last year’s income tax folder,” I reported when I returned to the living room.

“
Then we better get moving. Let’s take a look at the recordings and I’ll make a copy for the police.” He placed his laptop on the dining room table and while we waited for it to warm up, pulled a USB key out of his pocket and set it down next to the computer.

During the video playback
, I watched this psychotic stranger casually walk through my home, helping himself to my things. A shiver ran through me as he opened my filing cabinet and leisurely searched through my financial records. Judah sat at the table next to me, his eyes calm, watching me.

“
Do you recognize him?” he asked when the video ended.

“
No. Maybe. I don’t know. Even without his baseball cap, with his beard and long grey hair, I just don’t know who he is. He looks like an old, broken-down hippie. I wish I could tell you.” I felt disheartened as I sank back into the chair and watched Judah copy the file onto the USB key.

“
Don’t get discouraged. This may be enough,” he said as he handed me the key. “Might as well go talk to the cops now and get it over with.” He stood up and moved to the door, leaving his computer on my table. As an afterthought he returned to the table, picked up his laptop and took it with him. “Just in case,” he said with a grim smile.

I followed him out
to the parking lot and his black Porsche, gleaming in the kaleidoscopic rays of momentary sunlight. After he unlocked the doors with his remote I climbed into the passenger seat, buckled in, and we took off. A few minutes of small talk passed before I noticed we were heading south, away from Redmond.

“
Wait a minute. Where are we going?” I asked, troubled by the apparent change in plans. This isn’t the way to the police station.”

Judah kept his eyes on the road.
“I need to make sure we’re not being followed. We don’t want to tip our hand to this guy—let him know we’re onto him.” We continued south, then turned west, got onto SR 520, then off at the next exit and circled back towards the Redmond police station.

I stared at him.
“So how is it that you know so much about this kind of stuff?” I tried again.

“
What kind of stuff?”

I
heaved a sigh. “Losing a tail, secret video cameras, jimmying locks. Are you involved in something illegal? Because if you are, it’s none of my concern. I wouldn’t report you to the police or anything.”

He took his eyes off the road for a moment and turned to me.
“Victoria, it’s a long story, I’ll—”

“
Yeah, yeah, I know, you’ll tell me all about it over a bottle of wine someday.”

He
gave me a playful half-smile, then turned on the radio. I abandoned my interrogation and remained silent the rest of the way, contenting myself with watching his graceful hands and the movement of his thigh muscles as he skillfully shifted gears. Maybe he was a bodyguard, I thought. Bodyguards would know about such clandestine things, and aren’t lawbreakers. He might not be involved in anything underhanded at all. But then, why wouldn’t he just tell me that?

When we pulled into a visitor
’s slot at the Redmond Police Station parking lot, I unfastened my seatbelt and gathered my things. Judah, however, remained belted and left the car running. I hesitated and gave him a questioning look, but he just smiled back, saying nothing.

“
Aren’t you coming in with me,” I asked, feeling like a fragile baby bird that was about to be shoved out of the nest, headfirst.

“
Got some errands to run,” he responded breezily. “Just give them the video and tell them your story. You’ll be fine. Call me when you’re done and I’ll pick you up.” He gave me an unreadable smile.

“
Yes, certainly, thank you,” I replied, forcing a smile. Translation: he’s avoiding the police. Nice. “Well, what did you expect?” I grumbled under my breath. Guess I can cross bodyguard off the list.

Fully armed with my
USB key and bank account info, I opened the car door and reminded myself that I was a big girl now. Chin up, shoulders back, I climbed out of the car and marched into the second police station in as many weeks. This was getting to be a bad habit.