16. Sebastian

16

Sebastian

S ebastian decided that it was time to pay a visit to Darius Evans. He found Darius' home and work addresses.

"Julian, I'm headed to Albuquerque. I need to talk to a man about some manners. You have to hold down the fort until I get back."

"Who are you going after?"

Sebastian explained about Darius. "You don't know that he's the stalker, and you don't want to jump to conclusions. I think that you should take either Anthony or me with you."

"You don't think I can take him by myself?"

Julian laughed. "That's the problem. I know you can. However, you are angry, and I don't want you destroying Darius."

"I don't need a babysitter."

"No, but I think that having a friend along for the ride would be a good idea."

"I solemnly swear that I will do no physical harm to any dweeb or jerk, unless he comes at me first," Sebastian said, holding up the two fingers signaling Scout's honor.

"You were never a Scout."

"But I have honor. I won't hurt him."

"Fine," Julian said. "Check in after you talk to him."

"Yes, Boss," Sebastian said with a smirk.

Darius wasn't hard to find at his job with Vertex Design and Engineering. Sebastian asked to speak with him and the receptionist didn't ask questions, including his name. She simply led him to Darius' office. Sebastian tended to have that effect on people.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

"My name is Sebastian Garner. I'm from Angel's Creek, and I'm great friends with Talia."

Darius paled and his hands shook slightly. "Oh."

"She's been having a problem with a stalker who has tried to break into her house. This morning, the individual in question slashed her tires. Tell me, Darius, are you the person who slashed her tires?"

He stood up straight, making his six-four frame look even bigger. Sebastian flexed his muscles, making his biceps and pecs pop out. Darius fell back into his chair.

"I haven't been to Angel's Creek. I wanted to, but she told me not to come."

"Where were you on these dates?" Sebastian asked, putting a piece of paper in front of him.

"This morning, I was at home. I'd been at the bar until one-thirty. It wasn't me who slashed her tires. I was at work on this date," he said, pointing to the daytime intrusion.

"Fair enough," Sebastian said. "I strongly suggest that you never contact Talia again. If you do, I promise that I will destroy you."

"I understand, and I won't. I'll erase her number from my phone right now," he said, fumbling with the device.

Without another word, Sebastian left Darius' office. He nodded to the receptionist who stared at him with her mouth open and left feeling satisfied.

He texted Julian. Talked to Darius. He's not the stalker. Darius has assured me he will not contact her again. He is in one piece completely unharmed.

The reply was swift. Good boy.

Sebastian chuckled and started his truck. He was satisfied that he had managed to convince Darius to leave Talia alone. However, he still had a problem.

"Who in the hell is stalking her and why?" he muttered to himself. "According to her, she doesn't have any other exes who might be interested, and I'm certain she wasn't lying to me."

It occurred to him that it could be Sallie. He could see her slashing Talia's tires. However, she didn't wear a size eleven boots. It was possible for her to wear them anyway to give the impression that a man was harassing Talia.

The more he thought about it, the more that he was relatively certain that it wasn't Sallie. She would be the kind of person to slash tires, but not the rest of it. Sallie would be more likely to confront Talia to her face and give her some kind of warning to back off.

That afternoon, he headed over to Talia's when she got home from school.

"I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"

"The good news," she said.

"Darius will no longer be a problem. He has promised that he will never contact you again and I believe him."

"You didn't hurt him, did you?" she asked.

"Why do people think that I hurt people?" Sebastian asked in a hurt tone of voice.

"Because you are very protective and you would do what you thought you had to in order to take care of people who matter to you."

"True, but I didn't harm a single hair on his head. I might have scared him a little, but he'll recover. I'm pretty sure he lost your number."

Talia shook her head. "What's the bad news?"

"Darius is not your stalker, meaning you still have a problem. Can you think of anyone else who might want to scare you or even hurt you?"

She thought for a minute. "There is one possibility. Joe Ellis is the father of one of my students. The kid is great, but Joe has been hitting on me since open house. He's brought me flowers and chocolate. Joe asked me out on dates a couple of times, but I told him I was seeing someone. He gave me an ominous warning today, saying that single women often get hurt, and the prisons are filled with men who have hurt women. He suggested that I need a man to take care of me."

"He's trying to scare you into dating him?" Sebastian asked incredulously.

"I guess so. He's a prison guard."

"Let me see what I can find out about him. Even though it's still light out, please lock your door and set your alarm."

"Will do."

He hugged her and then waited for her to go inside and engage the locks before he went to his office. His first call was to the warden.

"Jeffrey, this is Sebastian Garner. How are you?"

"Well. I hope you are."

"I am. I'm working on a case and I hope you can help me. What can you tell me about Joe Ellis?"

Jeffrey groaned. "He's trouble. I drew up the paperwork to terminate him today. There are rumors that he's brought drugs, cell phones, and other contraband into the prison. A few people said they would give proof if they were protected from him. He's had a lot of complaints of brutality from the prisoners, some of which we have caught on camera."

"Thanks for the info."

Joe was wearing the right style of boots in his pictures on social media. Being a security guard seemed to give Joe a sense of being powerful because that was a common theme throughout his pages. Sebastian's gut told him that he had the right guy.

"Anthony, come take a ride with me," Sebastian said. "I'm pretty sure I know who Talia's stalker is. He's well armed."

"I want to come," Julian said.

"No. You crispy crittered the people the last time I took you out on a date," Sebastian teased. "Go home and get some rest. I'm probably going to send you to Wyoming with a couple of other guys to apprehend Kenneth. Adam has a good lead on who Kenneth's boss is. We're going to take down all of them at once. You can use necessary force at the compound."

"Party time," Julian said. "When do I leave?"

"Tomorrow evening. You'll hit the compound in the middle of the night."

That satisfied Julian. Sebastian and Anthony went to Joe's house, but the place was empty. They called social services, though, because it was obvious the place wasn't fit for a kid to be in.

"Go home," Sebastian said. "If I get a line on him, I'll call you."

"Ten-four."

Sebastian looked through Joe's social media again, looking for clues as to where Joe hung out. He searched them one by one. People at every location said they hadn't seen him.

"The hell with this. It's late. I'm tired. She has alarms and I'm nearby. I'll find him tomorrow."

Just then, his phone rang. It was the security company.

"This is Katy from the security company. There's been a break-in at Talia Delaney's home."

Sebastian broke every speed limit getting over to Talia's. Her front door had been busted down. The man Sebastian assumed was Joe Ellis was lying bloody on the floor with a snarling wolf standing over him.

It only took a few seconds for him to take in the scene. Rage built up inside of him, and if Joe hadn't been already on the ground, Sebastian would have destroyed him.

"You have to help me. That bitch turned into a wolf and attacked me for no reason. She invited me in and we were kissing. Then, she just turned into a wolf."

Sebastian snarled and resisted the urge to kick him in the ribs. "What kind of drugs are you on? People don't turn into animals."

He nodded at Talia who ran into her bedroom to get cleaned up and dressed, hiding the clothes that she tore when she shifted just in case the cops made a cursory search of the house, looking for a wolf.

Joe was sitting against the wall, his face and chest bloody. He glared at Talia.

"I saw you turn into a wolf," he said.

"Did you now?" she said calmly, perching on the edge of her couch. "All I know is that you broke into my house, as evidenced by my broken door that you kicked in. You tried to attack me, and I used street fighting and some martial arts to defend myself and put you on the ground. You are obviously trying to come up with any excuse at all to explain why a woman was able to beat you in a fair fight."

The cops chose that moment to appear. "What happened?"

Talia repeated her story. They helped Joe to his feet.

"Your pupils are blown. What are you on?" one of them said.

"Ma'am, we're going to need you to come to the station and make a statement," the other said.

She set the alarm and shut the door the best she could, tying a rope from the handle to the railing to keep it from swinging open. That way, if anyone else tried to get into the house, the alarm would trip and notify the people monitoring it.

"Hopefully, lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place," she said.

Talia gave her statement at the police station. One of the officers looked dubiously at the long scratches on Joe's face and chest, as well as the chunk missing from his chest, especially since she insisted that she didn't have a dog.

The chief, a friend of Sebastian's, understood the situation and said that he would make sure that everything was fine. Joe was booked.

"You will stay at my place tonight," Sebastian said.

"I'm not going to argue. The lock is broken on the door, and I would be worried all night."

She grabbed everything she needed for the next morning, and they walked back over to Sebastian's. They undressed, made love, and fell asleep in each other's arms.