Obsession: Callie Douglas, Book One

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"That was a busy day", said Addison as we left. I slung my bag over my shoulder and prepared to brave the heat outside. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Self-defence training with Gabe, and then dinner. Launder my new bed linens, for sure. I'm tired after the weekend, so I think I'll head to bed early."

"Alone?" she asked, all but salivating.

I laughed. "Of course, alone. What about you?"

"I'm also going to bed alone."

I laughed again. "You don't have to sound so disheartened about it."

"It's just that I broke up with my boyfriend six weeks ago."

"Six weeks isn't that long. My ex-boyfriend and I broke up two months ago, and in some ways it feels like just yesterday."

"Was it a serious relationship?"

"Yes, it was. Was yours?"

"Yes, it was. We were together for four years and I thought he was about to propose when he said he wanted to talk with me. Instead, he told me that he wanted to see other people and he wasn't sure I was what he wanted in his life. Can you believe that? So we broke up."

"You sound very angry."

"I am. I was planning our wedding in my head and he was planning our divorce in his."

"How have you been coping?"

"By going to bars and picking up whomever I can."

"Except for last weekend."

"Yeah, I had my period."

"Are you using condoms?"

"Yes. I've never had unprotected sex." We reached my car and stood at the front of it talking, both ignoring the fact that there was another note attached to my windshield.

"Good. Be careful. You read my session notes. You know how dangerous the bar and party scene can be. Let me know if you ever want to talk about this further."

Addison gave me a hug. "I'm so glad you came to Rockville. You're already a good friend. Thank you for caring."

I looked at my car, hands on my hips. "How much do you want to bet that's not a pizza delivery menu?" I asked. I pulled the note from under my wiper. "I saw your problems on the weekend. I can help you. Let me love you and I'll protect you from everything bad in your life." I tucked the note into my purse to add to my file at home. "See you tomorrow", I said.

"Wait, that's it? You aren't scared or anything?"

"No, I went past scared on Saturday. Now, this seems routine and anticlimactic."

"You're a better person than I am. I'd be a quivering mess. Take care of yourself and be careful on your way home."

Gabe was not so blasé when he read the note. "I want to capture the person who is responsible for this, but I'm not sure how."

"The only thing I can think of is to have an officer stake out my car. But that requires huge manpower and would be hard to keep quiet."

"I could get Lucas and Levi taken off their rounds for the day and have them do surveillance, but you're right. That's a huge amount of manpower for someone who has essentially just been leaving threatening letters. We can't assume that the person leaving the notes is the same person who ransacked your apartment or even the person who exploded your car. Your apartment could have been the result of a random break and enter and when they saw how little you had to steal they reacted violently."