To Love and Protect (14 page)

Clasping her arms around her nearly naked body, Shelley screamed as the male figure dashed off into the night, his identity camouflaged by the cloak of darkness.
This isn't happening
… she insisted as she fumbled through her heap of clothes. Throwing her sweater back on and jumping into her pants, she grabbed her cell phone off the bath counter and dialed Matt’s number with an anything but steady hand.

“I’ll be right over,” he said hurriedly after she explained the latest scare. “Did you call 911 yet?”

“No.”

“Okay – I’ll let them know I’m heading over, but they’ll probably send someone on duty in case there’s possible evidence to collect.”

Shelley turned on every light in the living room as she waited for Matt to arrive, then contemplated turning them all off since she realized she was merely advertising her presence to an unwanted Peeping Tom who might still be lurking close by.  But Matt soon pulled up the driveway, ending her indecision.

"Okay, tell me again what happened," he said, but only after greeting her with a bear hug that showed how grateful he was to find her unharmed.

Shelley complied, leaving out certain details such as the skimpiness of her underwear and the fact that she had been thinking very much about him just before her peeper took a peep. She did, however, add that she caught a good glimpse of the hat because it was so odd.

"Odd in what way?"

"It had a Mickey Mouse thingamajig on it."

"You mean like a decal?"

Shelley nodded. "And it had those goofy earflap, too."

"Did you recognize the guy
underneath
the hat?"

She shook her head. "It happened so fast, and it was so dark outside. My eyes couldn't adjust fast enough from the light in the bathroom." She paused, and then sighed. "I know what you're thinking."

Matt remained steady. "What am I thinking?"

"Why didn't I pull down the shade of the window in the first place, right?"

Matt put his hand on her knee and squeezed it gently. "Look, I'm sure you never bothered doing that before, since the back of your house looks out onto your own land, not some road or another house."

“I was actually planning to head back to Diana’s to stay tonight, and figured I’d take a shower and change my clothes first. She said it'll be like old times, which is what scares me."

"Why? Didn't you get along growing up?"

"Sure, if you discount the two teeth I knocked out of her when she was ten."

"Why did you do that?"

Shelley shrugged. "She was teasing me, so I punched her in the mouth."

Matt laughed. "I don't know about you. Are you sure you don't want to make a career change into Special Forces Unit?”

“I think you of all people should know better than to suggest
that
kind of career change for someone like me.”

“Well, I’m just glad you finally realized that this situation is nothing to fool around with, and you need to take every precaution to stay safe until we catch the perpetrator.”

“Is that what they’re calling peepers these days,” Shelley said wryly.

Despite the concern in his eyes, Matt still managed to grin.  He turned to the window as the sound of crunching cobblestones grew close. “That must be someone from the department,” he noted as the sound of crunching cobblestones grew closer.  “Look, why don’t you head over to your sister’s place and I’ll stick around while they look for evidence.”

“What could they possibly find, unless he dropped that goofy hat?”

“He could have touched the outside of the window when he was leaning in to get a look, so we can check for fingerprints.  I’m sure we’ll scan the area out back from any dropped items, footprints – the usual stuff.”

He leaned over and kissed her, clearly wanting to extend the embrace but cutting it short as footsteps approached the door.  “I’ll be seeing you in the morning anyways.  Or I should say Carly and I will be seeing you. We have an appointment, and of course it’s with you.”

"You mean you'd rather meet with me than with Dave?"

Matt ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it back behind her shoulders.  "Yeah, well, I've never been one for beards.  Go get some rest and then when you have some time to spare tomorrow, we’ll go to the station and file a report. I'll make sure Sergeant Rinaldi knows we're coming. He might be familiar with other complaints in the area similar to this one."

"You mean you think that this guy hasn't singled me out, but is harassing other women, too?"

"I almost want to believe that, because that would mean this creep doesn't have something personal against you."

"But you
don't
believe that, do you," Shelley said quietly.

Matt sighed. "I guess I would've expected other reports of threats by now if that were the case.”

"And there haven't been any, have there."

"We had a report last week of a man exposing himself to woman on the other end of town."

Shelley's eyes brightened, though she immediately felt guilty at finding joy in another women's misery. "Really?"

"Unfortunately, it was the woman's husband. She said she wasn't in the mood, and he said he was just trying to show her what she was missing."

Shelley's look of horror quickly dissipated into laughter. "You're kidding!"

"Actually, I'm not. But I thought it would make you laugh." He paused.  “Well, not that
any
of this stuff is actually funny.”

Shelley rose from the couch as the front door rattled with a knock.  Matt stood up with her, hugging her tight and making her feel simultaneously secure and infused with physical desire as she felt his warm, sturdy body against her own.  If there was one person who could put her at ease through all the craziness, it was Matt. And it seemed that the craziness was accelerating with no end yet in sight.

"So we have a peeping pervert on the loose," Sergeant Rinaldi said grimly the next afternoon as he sat across his desk from Shelley and Matt.  Matt had just confirmed that no physical evidence of the peeper could be found at Shelley’s house, and it wasn’t the kind of news that they had all been hoping for.

"Dang. What I wouldn't have given to have found myself in your backyard with a loaded rifle last night. I'll tell you one thing, he would've entered your yard as a rooster, but exited as a hen."

Matt bent his head down and smirked, but Shelley snickered out loud. It was a far from funny situation, she realized, but her sanity depended on finding small pockets of humor where she could.

"I told Shelley I wasn't aware of any other recent reports like this, but do you know of any?" Matt asked.

Sergeant Rinaldi kicked his worn cowboy boots up on the desk. It took several moments for the dust to settle, though Shelley couldn't be sure if it were from the boots or the pile of musty papers on the desk. "Nope, though women are sometimes reluctant to report incidents of this nature. Now, you said he was wearing a hat of some kind?"

Shelley nodded. "It looked like one of those geeky things with earflaps.”

Sergeant Rinaldi was silent for a moment. "I have one of those."

"Oh."

This time, it was Matt's turn to hedge a snicker.

"Gets mighty cold in these New England winters. Joyce got me a red and black check flap hat three years ago for Christmas. Heck, I know it looks like crap, but it makes her happy to see me wear it, and I'll tell you, it really does keep my ears toasty warm. You should invest in one yourself, Matt."

"How about I knit one for you?" Shelley teased.

"You just stick to taking care of animals," he bantered back.

“Anyway," Sergeant Rinaldi began as he looked up at the ceiling and rubbed his chin. "What I'd like to know is if we can be certain that your peeper is the same crackpot who's been threatening you with those messages and the phone call."

"That's right," Shelley said, "the phone call. Now that you mention it, I really can't be certain whether it was a man or woman on the line. It was just this fierce kind of whisper that really could go either way."

Sergeant Rinaldi shrugged. "Maybe our peeper does, too, which is why you couldn't tell if the call was from a man or a woman."

"Are you serious?" Matt asked, disbelief in his voice.

"No, just wanted to see if you were paying attention." He turned to Shelley. "Still insisting that you're going to stay alone in your house?"

"I’ve been staying at my sister’s since last night."

"Smart move. Now, from this point on, we have several options, but it's up to you how far we go."

Shelley shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "What do you mean?"

"We could have someone from the department temporarily move into your house and get a first-eye view of the goings-on. Something like this could definitely work if the perpetrator doesn't know you've moved out. We could leave your truck in the driveway, things like that. Then when he comes by again and decides to have a peek in the window, he'll find one of our guys looking back fully dressed and packing a pistol."

The idea of someone else living in her home was unsettling to Shelley, even if it could mean an end to the prison-like existence that was slowly becoming her life. First her pets had to leave her home and be separated from her, and now
she
had to find another place to go, too. There had to be other alternatives.

"I don't know if I'm quite ready to do that yet," she finally admitted.

Sergeant Rinaldi nodded. "Like I said, I can't force you to let us take that route, but if you find yourself running from this guy long enough, you're apt to change your mind."

"Shelley, I think you should consider doing this," Matt added firmly. "What have you got to lose? You're not staying there yourself anymore as it is. You need to get your life back, and this could be the way to do it."

"All right," she conceded. "Let me get settled in at Diana's and see what she thinks about it. Everything's been so crazy lately that I just can't think straight anymore. But maybe you're right. Maybe I don't have any choice."

"You do that," Sergeant Rinaldi said, swinging his legs back down. "Just say the word, and we'll have someone in there."

"It won't be Matt, will it?"

Matt's expression was a mixture of surprise and displeasure.

"You have a problem with him being the officer assigned to watch your home?" Sergeant Rinaldi asked.

"No – it's just that I'm very much aware of the fact that he needs to be home to take care of another member of your department when he's not on duty."

Sergeant Rinaldi nodded and smiled. "You mean Carly. I see your point."

Not to mention her own dogs, though she knew Matt couldn't play dog sitter forever.

"Well, don't worry," Sergeant Rinaldi reassured her. "I'm sure the other officers will be jumping at the chance to catch this guy with his pants down."

"One thing," Matt added. "What if this guy's not the same person who's been harassing Shelley?"

Sergeant Rinaldi’s face tightened. "Then Fairfax is the scariest little town in all of the Northeast. It's one thing to know who your town drunks are and who has a habit of pocketing ciggies at the local five and dime. It's another thing altogether to have
two
crazies on the loose."