Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“I’ll be right back.” I give her waist a squeeze and head to the front door. When I open it, I’m surprised to see Cobi and Detective Hammer standing outside on the porch. “Everything okay?”
“Sorry,” Cobi says as I stand back so that he and Detective Hammer can come inside. “I was going to call to make sure you were home, but we were in the area, so I figured we’d stop by. Is Olivia here with you?”
“Is everything okay?” Olivia asks from the doorway to the kitchen before I can answer.
“We just want to talk to you for a few minutes and fill you in on a few things recently brought to our attention.”
“Sure,” she says, then motions over her shoulder toward the kitchen. “I just need to get something out of the oven.”
“We can talk in there,” Cobi says, and I follow both men into the kitchen behind Olivia.
“You want something to drink—water, tea, soda?” I ask as Olivia removes the garlic bread from the oven.
“I’ll take a water,” Cobi says, and Detective Hammer requests the same. After handing them each a bottle from the fridge, I lean my hip against the counter next to Olivia.
“Did you find out who broke in next door or vandalized my car?” she asks, picking up her wineglass.
“Unfortunately, no,” Cobi says, pulling out one of the stools at the counter, and Detective Hammer does the same. “But we did come across three open cases around Middle Tennessee similar to yours.”
“How so?” I ask, and the moment Cobi’s gaze comes to me, I brace from the look in his eyes.
“Over the past six months, there have been four break-ins with the same MO, not including yours. In each situation, the house or apartment was lived in by a woman with a female roommate. The suspect gets into the house and makes it look like a robbery took place before he leaves, not taking anything of value with him and leaving no sign of forced entry.”
“Okay,” Olivia whispers.
“After some time has passed, who we are assuming is that same perp comes back when one of the roommates is gone.” His jaw gets tight. “And in each situation, the woman is then raped, tied up, and left for the roommate to find.”
“Oh my God.” Olivia breathes, pressing her hand against her stomach while I reach for her, wrapping my hand around her hip.
“This morning, the suspect struck again, only the woman woke up and said that something felt off when she heard someone in her house since her roommate works the overnight shift at a factory. After her break-in, her father got her a handgun and took her to the shooting range, so when a man she did not know entered her bedroom, she shot at him without warning, and he took off.”
“Is she okay?” Olivia asks, and I hate the fear I hear in her voice.
“Scared as you can imagine, but okay. The suspect was gone by the time the police arrived, but he left blood at the scene from where she hit him. They are currently running that evidence through CODIS to see if this is someone who has any priors and to confirm that he is the same suspect from the other two cases.”
“Do you think he’s after me?” she whispers, my fingers digging into her side as my skin suddenly feels too tight.
“We wish we knew,” Detective Hammer says softly. “Right now, Cobi and I are just going with our guts that these cases and yours are linked. That hasn’t even been confirmed across departments. And your situation was a little different since money was taken.”
“So it might not be connected?”
“It might not, but he could have just seen the cash out in the open, knew that it would be impossible to trace, and taken it. Right now, we just want you to be aware of the possible danger that you are in.”
“I appreciate that, but it still doesn’t make me feel good to think that someone might be after me or my friend,” she says as her weight settles heavy against me like she can’t hold herself up under this new information.
“I’m sorry,” Cobi says quietly, holding her stare. “We’re going to do everything we can on our end, and I know that Bax won’t let anything happen to you.” His eyes come to me. “It might be smart to get her a gun.”
Turning to me, she starts to shake her head. “I’m not carrying a gun.”
“We’ll talk about it.”
“We won’t,” she says, looking panicked. “I would probably shoot myself on accident if I had a gun.”
“I’d take you to the range and show you how to use it.”
“I’m not carrying a gun,” she repeats, and my jaw clenches. I can tell just from the look in her eyes that she’s not going to be swayed, and I’d never want her to do something that makes her uncomfortable, even if it makes me feel better.