Time Stands Still

Chapter 17

 The last couple of weeks had been filled with anxiety. Each morning, my stomach felt like it wanted to crawl up through my throat. My head was constantly pounding due to all of the stress that I was experiencing and I was seriously considering trying coffee again to combat the constant fatigue that filled my body.

And that wasn't everything. There was the paranoia too. I constantly felt like somebody was ready to come attack and kill me from every nook and corner. I was living in constant fear. Then there was the factor that I felt like an absolute idiot for even visiting my mother. Why on earth had I thought that it would be a good idea?

However as more weeks passed by, the calmness started to return back in my life. Scarlet had told me that there seemed to be no activity coming from Boris Flores and that my mother hadn't made any calls to him either. She had also made sure that a FBI agent was temporarily working in the Seattle PD, so we could make sure that he wasn't using them again to find information about us. So slowly I was able to sleep and eat again. No longer did I expect a man with a gun from every single dark covered space.

I allowed work to consume me again. Both Rhys and I allowed work to consume us again. Scarlet had left a while ago so we needed to do everything on our own. So we started to work a little longer than usual.

We were just about to pack up and head out for the day when Simona came rushing in. Her outer appearance was impeccable but the expression on her face screamed hysteria. "I need your guys' help."

"Nice to see you again, Simona," Rhys said.

Simona briefly glared at Rhys. "I'm not in the mood for this, okay guys? I have been debating for awhile about telling someone so you better shut up." A smile played on my lips despite my worry for Simona.

Rhys held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, tell us what we can do for you."

The fierceness immediately left her eyes. The mood in the room now seemed to definitely darken. I briefly debated about giving her a hug when I saw her slumped position, but it wasn't the right time or place.

"Well, I have been getting a lot of threatening calls. It's not unusual. I have gotten them before from clients that get a little bit too...," she paused for a moment as her eyes searched the room for the right word. "Aggressive! Aggressive. But my agency always deal with them so I generally don't really worry."

"But," I asked.

Her hand went through her curly hair. "These calls are untraceable and I don't recognize this person. He does sound vaguely familiar but it doesn't sound like the voice of my past or recent clients. At least I think so."

"What made you come to us?" Rhys asked.

Her hand passed through her hair again, getting stuck at the end. Her hand was quickly pulled loose. I winced at the motion. "They started leaving messages at my apartment and that started to worry me," she admitted.

"Because they know where you live," Rhys deducted.

Simona nodded.

I frowned. "Do you have the messages with you?" She nodded. Her hand went to her black handbag and a pile of various types of colored notes fell into my hands. I briefly glanced at them and could already see thousands of derogatory names.

"Why didn't you go to the police with these?" Rhys asked as he looked over my shoulder and grabbed some of the notes to look at them.

Simona snorted. "You think that they are going to help a person of my sort."

I frowned despite knowing what she said was true. The police was pretty well-known for victim blaming. "If we do help you," I started considering my next words carefully. "I do think that it would be wise if you informed the police, at least so they can offer protection. I'll even go talk to Langley myself to get help for you."