5. Emory

5

EMORY

I 've never been the impulsive type. Not really. I had every intention of remaining in the truck like Cole told me to.

But then I'd seen him acting weird, creeping around the side of my house when I'd already seen him go in the front door. I'd nearly jumped out of my skin when he set the alarm off.

One thought rang out in my mind: Cole must have found something. Some sign of danger, or maybe an imminent threat. I squirmed anxiously in my seat and watched for him until I felt like I was going to explode.

That's what drove me to leave the safety of the truck and follow Cole. My own house seemed sinister to me as I crept around, looking for him.

Now I've found him, but I wish I hadn't. I wish I had stayed in the truck. Cole is in the middle of cutting into a cardboard box with an exacto-knife or something. A phone sits out with the keypad visible and a timer indicating an active phone call. Why would he be doing this?

Because he thinks there's a bomb inside. It's the only logical explanation.

I've walked in on Cole at the worst possible time. My eyes take in other details, including the severed wrapping paper. I see that the box was once a wrapped present, complete with a card.

That gives me a little bit of hope. I mean, if someone bothered to sign a card, surely they would want me to be alive to read it?

Or maybe the bomb is set up to go off a short while after you open it, just to give you time to read the card…

I'm spiraling out of control. I'm going to panic, and I can't do that. When you're in the middle of a routine and you blow a spot, you can't fall apart. You have to keep going, pick up the rhythm again on the next beat and continue as if nothing went wrong.

I take a deep breath and steady myself with a hand on the doorframe.

"Cole?" The voice on the phone says. "Are you all right?"

"I'm still here. There's been a…complication."

Cole snaps his gaze on me.

"Emory," Cole growls, his eyes like an angry wolf. "I thought I told you to stay in the truck."

"I was worried about you."

He gnashes his teeth, face turning red.

"I think you're confused about how this bodyguard thing works. I'm supposed to be worried about you, not the other way around. Get out of here. This could be dangerous."

I shake my head in denial.

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"For all you know, my leaving could trigger the bomb. If it is a bomb at all. And I don't like the idea of you getting hurt because of me."

"That's literally the only reason why a bodyguard exists!" he sputters.

"Dude," the voice on the phone says, "she's obviously not leaving. Just finish the job."

Cole turns his angry glare back on the package.

"Whatever. I'm elbow deep in this. Can't force you to leave, so I'll just have to make sure I make no mistakes."

Cole holds his breath and penetrates the last layer of the box. I realize I'm holding my breath, too. Cole's lips abruptly twist into a smirk and he stands up.

"We're good, Axel. False alarm."

"You still owe me one. Peace out."

The phone beeps as the call ends. I look to Cole for an explanation.

"That was my Ranger buddy, Axel. He's done even more disposal jobs than me. But this package is clean. I don't detect anything dangerous, including the package itself."

"What's inside of it?"

"Exactly what it looks like. It's the right size for a garment box, because it's got a garment inside of it."

He lifts the thin box lid and withdraws a blue denim dress. The sight of it twists my gut into knots. I know that damn dress all too well.

"I take it from your reaction you recognize this?"

"You could say that."

A quick pivot and three steps later, I'm out in the hall, covering my face with my hands. I don't know if I want to scream, cry, or put my fist through the wall.

Cole walked up behind me. I can tell even though his footsteps didn't make a sound. I let his calmness wash over me like soothing waves. It doesn't eliminate the fear, but at least I can think.

"I thought when he went to prison that would be the end of it."

"I'm sorry it wasn't. You shouldn't have to go through this, Emory. It really isn't your fault."

"Isn't it, though?"

I turn around to find his square-jawed, bearded visage holds a look of compassion. Not one trace of pity, though. I take that as a compliment.

"What do you mean?"

I get lost in his eyes for a moment. There's pain in his gaze, old and new. I fear what might happen if I stare too long, so I break the spell.

"I trusted the wrong person. I made an error in judgment, and it's haunting me."

"Yes." Cole's eyes get a faraway look in them. Then he shakes his head as if to clear it of the melancholy.

"I know men who made an error in judgment and it cost them life and limb. It never meant I thought they deserved it. Life is a series of random tragedies and narrow escapes. So far, you keep escaping your Ex. No reason to think that won't continue to be the case."

I look past him at the dress laying crumpled on the bedspread.

"Well, whether I deserve it or not, it looks like Julian sent me a message."

He turns and strides into my bedroom. It's strange to have him here. Not because I feel like he doesn't belong.

Because I feel like he kind of does.

I pick up the dress, my nose wrinkling as disgust roils my gut.

"I hate this dress. Not just because Denim is so last century, either."

I wait, but Cole doesn't laugh or even respond. I guess he didn't get it, or maybe he doesn't have much of a sense of humor. One man army, not one man conversationalist. Right.

"I mostly hate it because Julian liked it so much. I don't know why. It's not especially flattering or revealing. It's just kind of blah."

"Maybe that's why he liked it." Cole gets a little line between his eyebrows when he's thinking. It's kind of cute, breaks up his unstoppable juggernaut image.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, men like Lovejoy hate it when anyone else has the spotlight. They think they should be the center of attention all the time, so maybe he liked you in a boring, simple dress so you wouldn't stand out so much."

"Oh my God, you're right. He was trying to make me fade away."

I look at the card on the bed and shudder.

"I'm afraid to even read that."

"I'll read it for you, then."

His big knuckled hand moves, fingers outstretched for the letter. I put my hand on his forearm.

"No, it's all right. I…I have to face this."

He nods, closing his fingers. The action makes the muscles play under his taut, tattooed skin. I can't repress a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" he asks.

"Your arm. It's like grabbing a tire! You must kill it on arm day."

"A tire?"

"Yeah, especially when you flex."

My fingers brush over one of his tattoos. His forearms bear an anchor wrapped in barbed wire, emblazoned under a trident against a crashing ocean wave. The wave morphs into a bullet-ridden but proudly flying American Flag.

But one of his tattoos stands out because it's so different from anything I've seen before. A shark and an orca caught in mid-arc of a jump are emblazoned on his skin.

"It's a Yin Yang symbol," he says. "The positive and the negative. There's a balance in the sea that you don't find on land. Sometimes, when I'm diving–"

Cole's jaw clamps down. "Never mind."

He pulls his arm away and gestures at the letter.

"What does it say?"

I can't help being hurt. I thought we were connecting, and then he got all weird on me.

Probably stupid to worry about this while my life is in danger anyway. I tear into the envelope holding the card, but before I can open it, Cole snatches it out of my hand.

"Wait," he says. "One of his accomplices is a chemist. We should make sure there's no powdered anthrax or something in here."

He takes the card to the window, careful to hold it flat, and then opens the window. Cole yanks one of my curtains down, snapping the curtain rod.

"Hey!"

He wraps the curtain around the lower half of his face, looking like a ninja or something. Then he opens the window and shakes the card in the wind. Nothing happens other than the cardstock bending where it shouldn't.

"Okay, hero, give me that. You fix my curtains."

I snatch the letter out of his hand and scan it. Only one sentence, written in cursive.

See you real soon, babe.

"This is his handwriting," I say in a wavering voice. "I'd recognize it anywhere."

Cole sort of fixes my curtains. I mean, there's a little bend in the curtain rod that's not going away. But you can only tell when you get real close to it.

"You have to leave, now. He's already been here."

"So what? I'm not going to let him destroy my life. I'm not leaving, Cole."

He sighs and gestures at the card. "What does it say?"

I turn it around so he can read it.

"If you were hoping for clues, you're going to be disappointed."

"This could still help us."

He takes the card and turns it over in his hands several times.

"Do you care if I keep this?"

I turn my face away from him and try not to cry.

"Please. Get that thing away from me."

He pauses, giving me a long look, but he doesn't speak. Cole takes his cell phone in one hand and the card in the other.

"This greeting card is retail. He had to have bought it somewhere. It might help us track his movements, maybe even figure out where he's hiding."

My eyes widen. I hadn't expected cleverness from my one-man army.

"That's a pretty good idea. How are you going to do that?"

"I'm hoping one of Jax's people can help. He has a former hacker working for him. She might be able to help me narrow down the search. In the meantime, stay put. I haven't fully cleared the property for explosives or other surprises."

He walks off into the hallway, disappearing from sight.

That leaves me alone with the dress. I stare at it for all of ten seconds before hurling it across the room. It flops onto the floor, a crumpled mess. Where it belongs, as far as I'm concerned.

My phone rings and it nearly makes me jump out of my skin. Heart pounding, I turn the screen over. Unknown number, possible spam.

Could be a sales call, or someone who got my number at a party. Or it could be Julian. I let the call go to voicemail, afraid to decline it.

The phone stops ringing, then begins a second later. So they're going to play this game? Fine.

I push the green button and lift the phone to my ear. I don't speak at first, I only listen. I can't hear anything. No breathing, no electronic clicks of a robocall. It's…sterile.

"Is that you, Babe?"

His voice is like nails across a chalkboard.

"Please, just leave me alone."

"Oh, we're way, way, way, way past that, Emmy."

I always hated when he called me that.

"I don't know why you can't see that you're my twin flame, Emmy. We belong together."

"I'm not your twin flame, and if you want to stay out of prison you'll stop bothering me. You know the entire state of California is looking for you and your friends."

"Ah," he says, sounding impressed. "So they figured out that Banner and Blumbert got out with me."

"Cole figured it out. Two serial killers? Really? You know what they say about the company you keep, Julian."

"They're only tools, Emmy. Tools I have bent and shaped to a new purpose."

"Remember what your therapist said about grandiose delusions, Julian."

"He was small-minded. Just like you. I send you a gift and you just throw it on the floor?"

I lean forward, my blood burning hot in my veins. I liked hearing the hurt in his voice.

"That's right, Julian. I threw your denim monstrosity right where it belongs."

I look over at the dress. My heart stops beating for a moment, then thuds with renewed vigor.

How did he know I'd thrown the dress on the floor?

"Who's the big guy walking around your place? Is he your new boyfriend? Bad timing on his part, because he's going to have to die, too."

I whip my gaze around the bedroom. Where was it? Where had he hidden the camera? I knew he wasn't inside. Cole had made sure.

Hadn't he?

"Oh, I love seeing you this scared, Emmy. Now you're looking around, and getting up off the bed…"

"Shut up! Why can't you leave me alone?"

"Because you're mine, Emmy. Now and forever."

"I don't belong to anyone, and the next time I give my heart away, it will be someone who deserves it!"

I jam my finger on the red icon and then put my phone in airplane mode so he can't call back. I run out into the hall.

"Cole!"

No one answers. My house feels oddly empty and occupied at the same time. Even if Julian isn't here physically, he's here in spirit. His malevolence hangs over everything. It's like being in a haunted house.

I run down the hall, calling out again.

"Cole? Cole, are you in here?"

I make it down the stairs and around the corner before I collide with another body. Before the scream reaches my lips, I realize it's Cole.

"Are you all right?"

I clutch at him, my hands grabbing his arms.

"Cole, he's watching us! He's watching us right now!"

"I know. I found a camera. But it looks like it runs through your Wi-Fi."

"What does that mean?"

"Change your password and you'll blind him. So to speak."

I log into my account, and change my password. It takes several tries.

"For god's sake, do I have to use hieroglyphs? What was wrong with that password?"

Once that's done, I turn a frown on Cole.

"Now what? Do you think your hacker friend can help?"

He stares at the camera in his hand, and then closes his fist over it.

"I hope so. Looks like we need to go back to the office."

Even though we've won a victory over Julian, it still feels like a defeat. Maybe we shut down his spy cameras. But his malignant presence lingers. He's managed to taint my home. Again.

Even when I win, I lose.