There's an Invisible Man Sleeping in My Bed

Chapter 51

            It was like a scene from a movie. The street held three police cars, while a fourth was in Thalia’s driveway. Already, the Builders were sitting in the back of the cruisers, still handcuffed by the looks of it. Thalia could see an officer in one of the cruisers, the radio held to her mouth as she spoke, while three of the others stood beside their respective vehicles.

            The cop escorting Thalia brought her over to where two of them stood, under the shade of a tree. “Are you up to talking now?” he asked.

            She nodded.

            One of the other officers cleared his throat. “Please tell us what happened. You can take as much time as you need.”

            Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Thalia felt Colt squeeze her hand. “I…for a while now, I’ve felt like someone’s been watching me. Like I’m being followed around. And my parents are gone a lot, so I got scared. I made some traps in case anyone tried to break in. I thought I was just being silly and paranoid, until they caught people! I heard them break in! So I called the police, but they got away. That was the first time. So I started trying to be even more careful.

            Then today, I felt like I was being watched again, so I came straight home. But they followed me! They started banging on my door, telling me to let them in. I told them to go away. When they didn’t, I told them I’d call the police. They just kept trying to make me open the door, until somehow, they got my door open.

            I tried to run for the phone, but they blocked me off. One of them tried to grab me, so I hit him. Then they surrounded me. Eventually they grabbed me. I screamed. Then they had my mouth covered and I couldn’t scream anymore. But then you all came. And that’s what happened.”

            One of the officers, the one who’d been taking notes, looked up at Thalia. “Had you seen any of these men before?”

            Thalia shook her head. “I don’t think so. I didn’t see the people who broke in, so I don’t know if they’re the same people, but I don’t know why two different groups of people would break into my house. I don’t even know why one group would!”

            While Thalia took several deep breaths to calm herself again, inwardly she worried about how the police were taking all of this. Acting had never been her strong suit, and while they’d come up with a rough idea of what she should say beforehand, it was still hard to tell the few lies she needed to for their story to hold water.

            She held in the sigh of relief she felt when she saw the officers nodding. “That’s fine. Have you had any other break-ins, or attempted ones?”

            Thalia shook her head. “No, I’d have filed a report if I had.”

            The first one studied her. “Anything of yours gone missing recently?”

            “No,” she said, frowning. “Not that I noticed. Are you saying they’d been in my house a bunch of times?”

            Her escort shook his head, holding his hands up. “No, no. It’s just a standard question for these kinds of things.”

A familiar shout interrupted the note-taker, whose mouth was open. “Let me through!”

            Turning, Thalia relaxed at the sight of Ruth, her hands on her hips, staring down the cop that stood in her way. “That’s my friend over there! And I was one of the people who called 911, so you have to let me through.”

            The man who’d escorted Thalia outside glanced at her. “Do you know her?”

            She nodded. “Ruth’s my best friend. She’s the one who installed the security system for me.”

            As he waved at the cop in front of Ruth, the one taking notes frowned. “What security system? We didn’t hear any alarms coming in.”

            “We didn’t set up any alarms. Just cameras. Ruth is good at stuff like that, and she and my cousin Will set it up so she gets an alert when my door’s been open and she checks the cameras from her computer.”

            Ruth was there then, shoving her way until she’d taken the officer’s position beside Thalia. “Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you did they?”

            Thalia was able to force a small smile as she rubbed one arm. “I’m alright now. Just a bit freaked out still.”

            Her friend snorted. “Well of course you’re freak out! You have every right to be. And you,” she said, turning her attention to the police standing in front of them. “How come it took you this long to get here? I phoned as soon as I saw those bastards break into her house and still took you like ten minutes to get there and get them off her!”

            The note-taker stared at her. “We came as soon as we were able to.”

            Ruth harrumphed, folding her arms over her chest.

            Thalia’s escort coughed. “We understand you have video of the incident?”

            “Damn right I do! I texted my sister to bring my computer over, since I ran straight here after I called you lot.”

            The three officers exchanged looks. The escort smiled encouragingly at Thalia. “Why don’t you come with me and sit on the stairs?” he said nodding at the front of her house. “You’d probably feel better after a bit of a rest.”

            The other two’s eyes were on Ruth. “We’d like to ask you some questions about what happened.”

            Ruth looked at Thalia, who nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

            Her friend looked her over before nodding as well. “Alright then. But if you need me…”

            “I’ll call for you,” Thalia said, with the tiniest of real smiles making an appearance on her face. She felt Colt squeeze her hand again and resisted the urge to smile at him as well. Instead, she followed the man who’d taken charge of her back towards her house.