30. Kali

CHAPTER 30

Kali

“Where are you hiding, woman?” Zoe’s voice bounces into my room as she swings open the front door.

“In here,” I reply from my bedroom, dropping the heavy world history book in my lap. She waltzes in, wearing lively pink scrubs with yellow ducks on them. “Cute,” I say, pointing at her, and she does a little butt shake.

“The kids love them.” She works in pediatrics at the university hospital while she’s finishing her nursing degree. “Ugh. My least favorite subject,” she groans with a scrunched-up nose, eyeing my book. School has been a lot tougher than I imagined it would be. The four-year gap hasn’t done me any favors.

“Test tomorrow. Already.” I sigh, holding up note cards. How can a professor assign a test when we’ve only been in school for two weeks?

“Have time for dinner? After the day I had, I can eat a whole damn pizza,” she says, patting her stomach. I can’t imagine working with sick kids. The stress, anxiety, and on top of that, seeing innocent children hurt and in pain. I shudder at the thought.

“Pizza sounds delicious. Not studying sounds better.”

I should’ve had another beer. I’m making a new rule—study drunk, test sober. I groan, anticipating the mountain of study cards awaiting me as I stare up at our apartment building from Zoe’s front seat. Can you tell how much I hate studying?

“What’s that?” Zoe points at my car as we pass it, and I notice a small white paper under my windshield wiper. I shrug. It wasn’t there when we left because I had to grab my sunglasses out of it, and I would’ve noticed. But now, with the sky a midnight blue, the white stands out from the lights overhead.

I walk around my car. “It’s probably an advertisement to join some club.” Flyers are a frequent occurrence on cars being so close to campus. When I pull it out and realize it’s an envelope, I glance around at other cars and notice I’m the only one with one.

The hairs on the back of my neck tingle as I slide a paper out and read the words. The earth opens underneath me, swallowing me whole. I’m back there. Buried in darkness.

My knees buckle, and my bones go limp like Jell-O. Someone yells my name.

“Kali, wake up!”

My eyes flutter open and I’m flat on the ground. Zoe pulls on my shoulders, placing me in a seated position.

“Put your knees up and put your head between your knees.”

I can barely follow her directions, but she helps.

“Take a deep breath. Now let it out.”

Uncontrollable tears fall as I tremble with fear. Zoe wraps her arms around me.

“It’s okay, babe. You passed out.”

No. It’s not okay.

He found me.

“I…I need to get inside,” I mutter, pushing off the cement, the envelope clutched in my trembling hands. My eyes dart in every direction, searching. I gasp in horror when I find him. Anger is the only thing keeping me on my feet.

A man stands alone off in the distance, too far for me to get a good look, but close enough for me to see his silhouette. He’s standing right outside the ring of light from the streetlight, wearing dark jeans and a black hoodie, his large, broad figure turned sideways with his face hidden in the shadow of his hood. “Hey!” I scream. My heart pounds against my chest. “You psychopath! If you want me, come and get me!”

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.

But I’m way past being rational.

“Kali, who are you yelling at?”

“Did you see that guy?” I ask, pointing in the direction he was standing, but he’s no longer there. “The guy in the hoodie?”

She shakes her head. “I was picking up your purse. Sorry,” she adds when I wince and drop my head. I didn’t imagine him. He was there. “C’mon, let’s get inside. You’re freaking me out.”

Once inside, behind locked doors, I curl up into a ball on the couch. Zoe lays a blanket over me. I’ve crumbled the note up in my fist, biting the urge to light it on fire.

“What happened out there? What did that note say?”

I toss it at her and draw in a shaky breath. She glances at the ball of paper for a moment and looks at me with uncertainty. I could tell her not to look, but that’ll make her want to even more. She opens it.

“You don’t belong here. You belong in a box. It comes in three.” Her words are slow and steady, as if not wanting to read it wrong.

I flinch, hearing it out loud. As if the knives are sharper, going into my heart the second time.

“Who the hell is this from? And what does it mean?”

I fought to move past this, not live like a victim, and I haven’t talked about it with anyone. Now I wonder if I put Zoe in danger.

“Did you hear about the girl buried alive? Almost five months ago?”

“That happened close by. Of course I heard about it. But what does that…” Her words trail off mid-sentence, putting two and two together. Her eyes widen as she gasps, slapping her hand to her chest. “That was you?” she whispers.

I can imagine she’s trying to figure out how I survived, how long I was down there, and what it was like being trapped. She’s the first person I’ve told. All I can do is nod.

“Oh, Kali.” She runs over and wraps her arms around me. She pulls away, her eyes filled with concern. “We need to call the police.”

A knot tightens in my stomach, and I brace myself for the painful journey back into the nightmare I thought I had escaped. Finding my voice, I point to my purse. “I have a Texas Ranger’s number in my favorites.”

Minutes later, my small apartment swarms with police officers, and not long after, Martinez storms in. They brought in a K-9 unit, hearing that there was a possibility he was close by. I can’t help but think of Paxton and Riggs. We still haven’t talked. He tried to call, but I wasn’t ready. Our future is still questionable, but before we can find out, he needs to no longer be a suspect. The last time I talked with Martinez, they were still working on it. They had found nothing yet, but they were being thorough.

“Could this be someone trying to scare you?” Martinez asks. “Who knows about what happened to you?”

I shake my head hard. “It’s him. He made sure I knew it was him.”

“How?”

The air in the room tightens as I recall details only I know. “His words…it comes in three,” I whisper.

His forehead crinkles, the information not making sense to him. Of course, it doesn’t, it’s new information. I didn’t tell anyone.

“I didn’t figure the detail was very useful.” When he flashes a stern look, about to lecture me, I add, “It’s not like knowing he has OCD will help find him.”

“Tell me now,” he says sharply. I really didn’t think it was that important.

I drop my head and continue. “Every time he shoveled dirt, he did it three times and then took a break. Not a long one, but enough to notice. Thump. Thump. Thump. Then silence.” A tear runs down my cheek as the memory strikes an emotional chord. “Why is he back for me?” My voice cracks, pleading for answers from Martinez. “This wasn’t supposed to be about me.”

Martinez exchanges a glance with one officer, his expression serious. Zoe clasps my hand and puts her head on my shoulder. Guilt rips through the center of my heart and intertwines with fear that I brought this terror to her.

“Will I ever be safe from this monster?” I overhear officers in the doorway, directing our neighbors to go back into their apartments.

This is great. Everyone will find out who I am now.

A bark and a streak of brown bursts through the open front door, weaving around officers. A dog darts directly at me and leaps onto the couch, finding the small space between Zoe and me.

“Whoa. Where did he come from?” Zoe says, shifting away from me as Riggs fixes his black orbs on her.

“Riggs?” I glance toward the door, half expecting Paxton.

“Where did this dog come from?” Martinez snaps, standing at attention with his chest puffed out. He also knows who the dog belongs to, and he’s not happy.

Right on cue, Paxton runs in with a dangling leash in one hand. Martinez sends him an icy glare, and Paxton just shrugs, holding up the leash.

“Bullshit. He fucking let him loose,” Martinez mumbles under his breath.

Paxton’s wearing a black T-shirt with “security” written in large white letters on the front. He shoots me a quick apologetic glance, and my heart flutters. One officer gives him a nod and a pat on the back before Martinez confronts him, almost nose to nose.

“Why are you here?”

“I was working a security job when I got the call,” he replies, unfazed. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to talk to Kali.”

“I do mind.” Martinez shifts to his right, stopping his advance. “You left your security job? Just like that?”

Paxton’s expression hardens. “There were two of us working. I called the company and told them I had an emergency. I’d be happy to give you all the information.”

“You do that,” Martinez clips, standing firm in his position, making Paxton go around him. “And put that damn dog on his leash.”

A weight lifts off my chest. It wasn’t him. I try to stand, but somehow Riggs’s solid head feels like a hundred-pound bowling ball in my lap.

Paxton comes and kneels in front of me. “Hey, you okay?”

I nod, even though inside, my nerves feel like they are on crack. “You got Riggs back. Does that mean you got your job back? You’re cleared?”

“I did.” He jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Guess Martinez didn’t tell you, huh?”

I sigh, shaking my head. Why can’t they work together on this and stop butting heads?

“I tried to call you, but with everything…I figured you needed more time. I get it. A buddy of mine messaged me and told me what happened tonight. Nothing could’ve kept me from coming. Since I didn’t know exactly where your room was, Riggs helped me find you.” He winks, and Riggs moves in between our legs and sits, proud of himself.

I really like this dog.

“It was him . I saw him. He was here.”

“What?” Paxton’s jaw slams shut and he clenches his teeth together. “You saw him? Did he say anything?”

“He was standing pretty far away, probably watching for my reaction to the note.” I hate that I passed out. He’s getting a kick out of my fear, and I handed it to him on a silver platter. “I told him to come and get me, and then he disappeared.”

He smacks his hand to his face, and Riggs’s dark eyes stare at me. “Please tell me you didn’t goad a psychopath?”

“It wasn’t one of my finer moments. It all boiled over in a rash outburst.” Let’s hope he doesn’t take me up on my offer.

“You can’t play games with a guy like that. He’s dangerous. Come stay with me for now,” he says. “At least until you can get your security detail. Because you will get it now.”

“Paxton, I don’t know if now is a good time for us—” I begin, but he cuts me off, standing up and crossing his arms with a rigid posture.

“I’m not asking.”

Well, then. Bossy Paxton is kind of sexy.

My instinct is to argue—I’m an independent woman who can take care of herself, and we’re not in the best of places at the moment. But I remember how quickly it took for the guy to drug me and throw me in his car.

And now he knows where I live.

“I’ll grab some of my stuff,” I concede, a trace of defeat in my voice.

Paxton lifts one side of his lips, satisfied, and reaches down to scratch Riggs’s head. “Riggs will sleep sounder knowing he’s protecting you.”

I know I will.

“Let me tell Martinez where I’ll be.”

“He’ll love that,” he quips, putting Riggs’s leash on. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

First, I walk over to Zoe. She’s texting someone. I’m sure her phone is blowing up as the news gets out. She glances up when she sees it’s me. “Can you stay at your parents’ house for a couple of nights? I don’t want you here alone,” I ask.

“I already called them, and they’re coming to pick me up.” She pulls me into a tight hug. “Are you going to be all right?”

That’s the million-dollar question, and I’d pay that amount if it meant finding the bastard. My head is pounding from all the adrenaline.

“I don’t know when I’ll be back here.” I sigh, uncertainty hanging over all my plans. “If you have a friend who wants to live with you rent-free for the semester, I’d be okay with that.”

She nods and gives me another quick hug. This freaking sucks. He’s forcing me into a state of isolation. I’m afraid to have friends. I’m afraid to live my life. What good was it I lived if I can’t live?

I want to scream.

As I walk over to Martinez, he’s talking to three officers, so I wait for him to finish. For a moment, I wonder if I’m making the right choice leaving with Paxton. There’s so much we need to talk about, but is this the right time? While I’m staying at his home?

When Martinez notices me, he turns. “The dogs haven’t picked up a scent. But we’re getting access to every camera around that area.”

I nod. Something tells me they won’t find him. Which makes my decision to stay with Paxton final. “Why didn’t you tell me that Paxton was no longer a suspect?”

He pulls in a harsh sigh, releasing an irritated exhale. He looks past me, over my shoulder, and back to me. “Because I feel there’s still a connection.”

“If there is,” I say in his defense, “he doesn’t know about it. I’m going to go stay with him. He’ll keep me safe.”

He puts his hand on my shoulder, and his eyes soften. It makes me wonder if he has kids. Do they cause him this much stress? “I hope you’re right. Just be careful, Kali.”