Haunted(32)

The police chief, Chief Moses, was there to take our statements.

“Mr. and Mrs. Reed, we need to talk.”

“You can speak freely in front of everyone. It will save us from repeating the story.”

“We have confirmed it was one of your previous kidnappers in your house, Mrs. Reed. We took fingerprints and they match with the fingerprints we have on file for Andrew Smith. Apparently, police on the scene found a place cut out in the plaster behind your bedroom closet. It appears he has been living within your walls and the crawl space area in your attic. They found a sleeping bag and food in the attic. They also found several weapons, rope, dolls, masks, and some other things. Andrew also cut out peep holes in the attic ceiling where it appears he has been watching you. He seems to fit the profile of a ‘resentful stalker.’”

“What’s that?” I asked because it sure as shit didn’t sound good.

“Resentful stalkers pursue a vendetta because of a sense of grievance against the victims—motivated mainly by the desire to frighten and distress the victim.”

My stomach bottomed out. He had been living in her house this whole f*cking time. He had been trying to drive her crazy. Was he going to do other things to her? The rope? What was he going to do? I’d been there three days, and I’d never expected a thing. Strangely, Beth didn’t appear to be as in shock as the rest of us. I think she was just happy she wasn’t crazy.

“The police will start a 24-hour watch and protection on both Mr. and Mrs. Reed and also put surveillance on Mrs. Reed’s son, Joey. It seems like he is targeting Mrs. Lowe, I mean, Mrs. Reed, excuse me. We suspect that maybe he blames Mrs. Reed for not getting the ransom money so there is no telling to what extent he is willing to go for his vengeance. That is one of the reasons why we want Joey under surveillance.”

Eric and I nodded.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Reed, we will catch him. We would like you two to come down to the station in the morning to look at some of the items we found in his ‘living area’ in the attic. Come by and give a statement of what he did to torment you, Mrs. Reed.”

“We will be there in the morning,” I said.

“Mr. Eric Lowe, if you will join Officer Johnston and give him the information on where your little boy will be staying, we will send a unit out there immediately. We can also call his school and explain to them that he will be absent for a while. We want to find this person before Joey goes out into a public setting again. Since Andrew has been made, he might go to further extremes to get to Mrs. Reed.”

Eric nodded and Beth went to Eric’s side to talk to the officer.

Why did that bother me?

Berg came up to my side and patted my back.

“I hope Tate rots in hell for what he has done to your new family. All this is a backlash of what he had planned,” Berg spoke in my ear.

“But if you look at the irony of the situation, I wouldn’t have a family to worry about if it wasn’t for Tate,” I whispered.

“That’s just too deep for me, bud.”

I couldn’t agree more.

***

Beth, Berg, and I went to the hotel where Berg was staying. Beth and I went to our room while Berg went to his to make calls for me. I wanted around-the-clock security until Andrew was caught. I needed to go to the police station tomorrow, and afterward, I would go look for Beth and me a new house.

Fuck, if we would have stayed at her old house another minute… I still couldn’t believe he was there the whole time.

I opened the door with one hand while holding Beth’s hand with the other. I didn’t think I would ever be able not to touch her. This Andrew thing really set me off my game. I couldn’t believe this was happening to us, but on the other hand, Beth and I knew only chaos. We walked into the room and I locked the door.

“Do you want to go ahead and take a shower or do you just want to go to bed?” I was really worried about her. She looked so tired.

“Let’s just go to bed. This has been a long day. I know you have to be tired too.”

“I am. I’m just too wired right now.”

I knew she wanted to go home, but I couldn’t let her do that. If something happened to her, I just didn’t know what I would do with myself. I felt as though my world revolved around her.

Hell, she was my world.

I pulled her against me and kissed her as hard as I could. I poured all the frustration and fear I had into that kiss. I pulled away from her and looked into her eyes.

“Are you okay with this?” I asked. After all she’d been through, I couldn’t just take her. But I needed her. I wanted her. I had noticed that when she seemed to be in danger, I wanted to prove she was mine. I didn’t know why I had that feeling, but I did.

I walked her to stand in front of the mirror on the dresser. I turned her so both of us were facing our reflections. I stood behind her. I pulled up her T-shirt slowly. I could tell she was unsure about what I was doing, but she was willing to try for me. She knew from our time in the basement that I could get this way, possessive, needy. I stepped back, unhooked her bra, and let it fall to the floor. I pulled off my own T-shirt and threw it to the side. Then I proceeded to wrap my arms around her and my hands covered her breasts. My head gently moved her head to the side, and I kissed up and down her neck. I kneaded her breasts, worshiped them, all the while sucking and licking on her.