Saving You (Love in June Springs Book 1)

Saving You -19-

           

Chapter 19

The day passed, thankfully, quickly. She tidied up and bought groceries. She ran into people she knew from the clinic and was proud of herself when she remembered most of them. She organized her wardrobe by function, she caught up on some episodes of shows she liked. Around nine in the evening, she set her alarm for eleven and settled in to take a nap. She didn't want to be too tired when Declan arrived.

It barely felt as though she'd closed her eyes when the scratching started.

What it was about the sound, she couldn't say, but it caught her attention. The sun had long since vanished, and since she'd forgotten to switch on her bedside lamp the room was filled only with the light of the moon outside.

The scratching came again, louder this time. Brows furrowed, Katelyn grabbed her phone and rested her finger besides the Emergency Call option. Not fully awake just yet, she followed the sound, tracing it to the front door.

For a moment, she titled her head and just stared at it. Something was different... Right, there was a bolt lock now. One of those chain style ones, but trickier to cut into. When did that get there?

With a shrug, she slide the latch into place and unlocked the door handle. The scratching stopped and she froze, waiting to see if it would start up again.

It didn't.

Slowly, so as to not disturb whatever might still be on the other side, Katelyn opened the door a sliver. Just enough to see out.

No one was there.

She opened the door a little further, looking all over the visible area. Her roaming gaze stopped when a stark white envelope caught her attention. This one didn't have anything from Declan, and she knew no one else would just leave a letter for her.

Trying to remain calm, Katelyn slowly closed the door. There was a new tension in the atmosphere, her fight-or-flight response triggered though she couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was about the envelope that set her off.

She needed to get the police here. But first, she needed to calm down.

She closed her eyes, took a couple of deep breaths. On the third, her phone rang.

She jumped, letting out a small squeak.

"Declan, thank God it's you," she rushed out.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing. Possibly. There's a letter on my doorstep. I haven't touched it, haven't even completely opened the door yet." Why was she so much more worried about this than she'd been the week before when her place had been broken into? "I was about to call. Someone should get out here, double check it's... safe."

Declan shouted something to someone, but it was muffled. He must have covered up the microphone. "I'm technically off duty but I'm coming. Martin's off today so I'm bringing Miles Jones and Oliver Itschell. Not sure if you've met them but I'll be there to introduce you, okay?"

Letting out another breath, Katelyn nodded. "Okay. Yeah, okay."

There was a click, then, "I'm in my car, I'm not hanging up until I get there. Are you okay?"

"I will be. I can't wait for this whole thing to just be over. If it ever is." Katelyn put her back against the wall facing the door, slid down it so she was sitting. "How was work?"

"You know, we actually had an interesting day today." He started talking, using soft words and a methodical tone to tell her all about how a local high school kid had raided his dad's liquor cabinet and proceeded to drink as much of it as he could before stealing said father's very nice, very new, BMW. Since the kid now had a couple of priors, one of which was a DUI from just a couple of months ago, he was facing a pretty serious arrest.