To Love and Protect (28 page)

She smiled. "Are you making fun of my home?"

"Just a little. But seriously, everything okay now?"

Shelley hesitated. Her whole point in stopping over was to tell Matt the latest development in her ongoing harassment campaign, but now that she was actually here, it no longer felt right to turn to him for support. After all, where had
she
been these past few days when he needed
her
support?

He squeezed her hand slightly and looked into her eyes. "Something's wrong, isn't it."

"Is that your cop instinct?"

"No. It's the instinct I have when I care about someone and I can tell something isn't right."

“Oh, Matt. I've been such a jerk."

He grinned slightly. "I know."

"And I'm still being a jerk by coming over here now. I miss you so much. I really do. But nothing's changed and I’m not being fair to either one of us by turning to you now."

Her words were genuine, and yet being so close to Matt and wanting to feel his touch again made her resolve about as solid as vapor. 

Matt took her face in his hands. "Stop thinking so much. Just tell me what's going on."

Shelley explained the events of the previous night.

"I don't believe it," he said, echoing her own feelings on the subject. "Are you staying in the house alone again?”

"Officer Jenkins actually stayed over last night. I don't know about from this point on."

"
Shelley.
.."

"Don't worry about me, Matt. That's not why I came here."

“Oh, okay. Just like that, I won't care what happens to you anymore.”

Shelley stood up, her eyes red as she held back tears.  It seemed like that was all she did lately. But she wasn’t going to let Matt see her cry again. She was tired of the pathetic being that she had morphed into over the past few weeks. And she knew everyone around her was no doubt tired of it too. "I think I'd better go. I'm late for work as it is."

Matt looked away, saying nothing in words, but everything in his wounded expression. Once she closed the front door behind her, the tears came, just as she knew they would. Her life was a mess. And the frightening part was that she no longer felt in control enough to get it back. Being with Matt had given her strength to feel like she could do anything. But she willingly gave that up. She had her reasons − that much was certain. But it was a lose-lose situation.

"You look flustered," Dave commented as he ran into Shelley while she was hanging up her jacket in the break room. "Everything all right?"

"No, but then again, you must be used to hearing that with me by now."

Shelley couldn't help but feel her life was becoming as much of a burden to everyone else as it was to her.

Dave put his mug of coffee down on the table. "What's wrong? Tell me."

"I found another message on my porch this morning."

The tendons in Dave's neck tightened as though he were being strangled by unseen hands. "No! You're kidding!"

Shelley shook her head. "I wish I were."

"What did it say?"

"I'm still watching you."

Dave's mouth hung open, making his elongated face appear even narrower. "Is it Geri?"

"The police checked up her whereabouts for the last couple of days, and it couldn't have been her."

"Your neighbor Herb?"

"He’s in a treatment program in Boston for peepers.”

Dave did a double-take. “They have actually have such a thing?”

“Well, that’s not the official name, but it’s a treatment program for people who aren’t considered sex offenders
yet,
but have done something to indicate they could go that route in the future.”

Dave shook his head.  “And you’re okay that he’s probably getting maid service and gourmet meals at some ritzy treatment center, rather being in jail?”

“When it looked pretty certain that Herb wasn’t the one who had been threatening me, I agreed with the option of having him pay a fine and then going through this treatment program.  Now, if I ever spot him spying on me again, you can be certain that I’ll be the first one locking the cell door behind him. I just feel everyone deserves a chance to do the right thing.”

“You’re more forgiving than I would be!”

Shelley smiled sadly as Dave’s words echoed Matt’s same earlier sentiment.  She couldn’t keep him out of her mind if she tried, and this just brought the pain back full force.  “You’re not the first person to tell me that,” she said quietly.

Dave shook his head in disbelief. "So it’s not Geri and it’s not Herb. If I didn't know you as well as I do, I'd be thinking you're the one who's secretly doing all this stuff."

"Gee, thanks," Shelley said with a hint of sarcasm.

"I didn't mean it to sound that way. I guess what I'm trying to say is that none of this makes any sense. When are the police going to do something about this?"

"They're supposed to watch my house all day, but they can't housesit forever."

"True. You'll run out of doughnuts."

Shelley laughed weakly despite the situation.

"What about cameras?" Dave suggested. "If they can catch some burger boy spitting on a bun in the back of a restaurant, you'd think they'd be able to get a look at who's been walking up on your porch to do this stuff."

"I agree. I imagine that'll be the next step. It was heading that way before, but then everything stopped. Or so we thought."

"Could this mean it wasn't Geri all along?" Dave asked, his voice rising with hope.

"I've been wondering that myself. Maybe she was set up."

"By who? You know, things like this just don't happen in real life."

Shelley let out an ironic laugh. "I used to think so, too. But I've had to change my mind about that. Because unless this is some crazy nightmare that I just haven't woken up from yet, this
is
my real life."

Jack came into the room and grabbed a small carton of milk from the refrigerator. "What's going on?" he asked, upbeat as usual.

Dave looked at Shelley, as if silently asking for permission to share the latest incident.

"Someone left a note on my porch again," Shelley said.

Jack's deep-hooded eyes popped open. "Get out!"

"No, but that's
almost
what it said," Dave began.

"No, I meant−"

"He knows what you meant," Shelley offered as she shook her head with mock annoyance. "He's just trying to be funny. I think."

"Does that mean Geri's off the hook?" Jack asked eagerly. It was no secret to anyone in the clinic that Jack harbored a crush on her.

"It’s certainly starting to look that way," Shelley replied. Nothing would make her happier than knowing Geri was in fact innocent, even though the flip side to this meant someone else was still trying to scare her.

"What about your dogs?" Dave asked. "Were they outside when this happened?"

"Yes, though that didn't stop my letter writer from coming up on the porch."

"Then it must be somebody your dogs know," Jack said.

Shelley thought for a moment. "It does seem that way. I know I came to that conclusion when this happened before and my dogs were out. They just wouldn't willingly let someone that close to the house unless they were familiar with the person."

Jack shimmied under his lab coat. "That's
really
creepy."

"That's one of the things that ended up tying all this to Geri," Shelley explained. "She's stopped by my house a few times and met the dogs. Plus, I've brought them in here a couple times when I've stopped by during errands to check on a patient."

"We'd better watch out," Dave said. "Pretty soon she'll be suspecting one of us."

"Nah," Shelley replied in all honesty. "You're not inventive enough to come up with this stuff."

"Thanks," Dave said. "Sort of."

Joan opened the break room door and said, "Shelley, you have a phone call out front."

"Is it a heavy breather?" Jack asked, shrugging when Shelley looked his way.

Shelley picked up the phone in the reception area. “Hello.”

"Shelley, it's Matt. I’ve been trying to reach you on your cell phone but there’s no answer.”

She quickly traced its last use in her mind. “I must have left it in my truck. I’ve been so caught up with other things lately that I can’t remember if I’m coming or going half the time.” She paused, the significance of his call setting in. "I didn't think I'd ever hear from you again."

"Why?"

"Because you're angry at me."

"I'm not angry," Matt protested, sounding just that. “I’m frustrated with the situation, that's all."

"Oh." Shelley tried hard to see the difference.

"Look, Shelley, like it or not, I'm still worried about you. I just talked to Sergeant Rinaldi and I told him I'd watch your house, if it's okay with you."

"No, it's not okay with me. You're supposed to be home resting. "

"And I can't sit in my car in the driveway and rest?"

"That sounds like the most uncomfortable place to be for someone who just had surgery."

"No more uncomfortable than my couch. And believe me, the couch is just as sick of me as I am of it." He sighed, no doubt feeling he was in the grip of Shelley's stubbornness. "Look, I'm not going to chase anyone down at gunpoint or anything. I'm just going to provide a presence so no one
does anything while you're away. Sergeant Rinaldi's looking into getting some surveillance video equipment from another department, but that's going to take a day or
two."

Shelley couldn't help but think how easy it would be to fall back into the protective, caring shield that Matt was more than willing to provide. But what needed to be shielded most was her heart, and she had to remember that.

"If you were to keep an eye on
my place today, I don't want it to be from the front seat of your car. Being all cramped up in there has to be the last thing you need right now."

"Okay," Matt conceded. "How about from your couch? My couch will probably be jealous, but she'll just have to do without me for a day."

Shelley smiled at Matt's breezy manner. "If you insist."

"I do."

"I'll see if Dave can double up on
a couple of appointments so I can meet you at my place in about a half hour to get you settled in."

"Hmmm. I like the sound of that."

She was glad that he couldn't see her smiling, and mad at herself that she was. "I'll see you then."

As she hung up the phone, Joan came over, her eyes in a half-squint of sympathy. "Jack and Dave just told me what happened to you this morning."

"You must all be so sick of hearing about this," Shelley said, realizing how her life had recently evolved into some kind of soap opera. And not an award-winning one, either.

"Don't be silly. We're not the ones being harassed by some creep who keeps threatening you. Especially when you thought it was finally over. I mean, 'I'm still watching you, Sweetie?' That's scary stuff. I know I'd be scared. So worrying about what
we
think should be the last thing on your mind."