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RICK took a giant bite of his burrito. We sat in a police cruiser close to downtown. He had called me early that morning and told me he had something important to tell me then asked me to bring lunch.
As I ate my street tacos, I felt like a giant weight had been lifted off my chest. Whatever Rick had to tell me couldn’t have taken away that feeling. My mother knew the truth about Brooke. My dad had texted me this morning to see if I had time to look at an electrical problem in his office. It was his way of giving me a pat on the back.
The nagging hold that Brooke had on my life was gone. My family knew the truth and wouldn’t support her any longer. She wouldn’t be around to cause any more problems for me and definitely wouldn’t be able to verbally attack Kylie. Having the truth out meant I was free to go to family dinners on Sundays. And most importantly, it meant I was free to date Kylie. Nothing stood in the way now.
“Hagen, I didn’t want to have to tell you this,” Rick said slowly.
“What?”
“The guy we arrested for the break-ins wasn’t the man who sent the notes to Kylie.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, he told us that he saw another man taking pictures of her and following her the same time he was. He passed the polygraph.”
“Those things aren’t one hundred percent.”
“Yes, you’re right, but he also told us he wasn’t the one who broke into Kylie’s house.”
I slammed my fist against the dashboard. “How is that possible?”
“When he started casing out her house, he figured she was too young and healthy to have any prescription drugs in her place, and she always took her laptop with her. Figured it’d be a waste of time because she didn’t leave anything behind with any resale value. Said the TV was the size of my microwave.”
“Well, he was right about the TV size, but maybe he’s lying to have a lighter sentence.”
“He’s not. He had an alibi for that day, and it checks out. Someone else broke into Kylie’s house. This guy fessed up to all the other break-ins because it would lessen his sentence.”
“Have you called Kylie yet?”
“No.” He frowned. “I was hoping you could help me with that. I told her she could relax since we caught the guy, when really that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“What do you mean?”
Rick looked me in the eye. “She suspected she was being stalked. I’m sure she told you.”
“Yes, I saw the pictures.”
“Well, our perp didn’t take those. Like I said, he told us about noticing another guy hanging around.”
I sat back in the seat and ran a hand over my face. She’d been alone in her house for a couple days. I’d assumed the worst thing that could have happened to her was she could have dated me. Right now, I wished I hadn’t been so stubborn and warped with my thinking. Thank goodness nothing had happened. I’d pick her up from the office, and she would stay with me again.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to give her a call. There was already a text message from her. She’d sent it a couple hours ago. I hadn’t checked it since I’d left for work earlier that morning.
Kylie:
Hagen,
Even though you thought we’d be a couple, we won’t.
Lyle & I are together.
Please.
Move on for me.
Exactly how you should.
“Rick, look at this.” I passed him my phone.
“Hmm, looks like she doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“She put a fake spider in my truck this morning.”
“She’s vindictive?”
“Why would she text me? I told her we wouldn’t work out.”
“Call and make sure everything’s alright,” Rick suggested.
I had already dialed her number. It rang three times then went straight to voicemail. I left her a quick message urging her to call me back.
I looked at the message again. “Who the heck is Lyle?”
Rick crunched a chip loudly. “Maybe an old boyfriend. They’re usually the ones who turn into stalkers. But this just sounds like she’s tired of your crap.”
“No, she told me about her old boyfriends. Lyle wasn’t one of them. Something’s wrong; I can feel it. If only I could remember who Lyle was. Look at this. Look at the way she capitalized the message.”
Rick glanced over my shoulder. “Is she at work today?”
“She was supposed to be. I’ll call the office.” I quickly looked up the number for SV Marketing. I dialed and waited; someone finally answered. “Hello, I’m trying to reach Kylie Boone. Is she in the office right now?”
“No, I’m sorry. She didn’t come in today.”
“I thought she had a meeting today.”
There was a pause and rustling on the other end of the line. “Who is this?”
“My name is Hagen Raglund. I’m her neighbor.”
“Ah, the neighbor. Well, I’m Susan VandenMeyer, and I’m glad you called, because I was beginning to get a little worried for her. She’s never missed a meeting. Lyle was here too, but—”
“What was that name you said?”
That had to be the answer. “You mean Lyle?”
“Yes. Where does he live?”
“Well, I certainly can’t be giving out my employees’ addresses to strangers.”
Rick reached over and put my phone on speakerphone. “Hello, ma’am, this is detective Rick Wiggins, and I’m afraid we have a little bit of a situation. I would appreciate all the help you could give.”
We quickly explained what had been going on with Kylie getting stalked and her house being broken into. Susan searched through the files and told us Lyle’s address without hesitation. Her only request was that we made sure Kylie made it back to her whole and healthy.
“Let’s go check on this Lyle,” I told Rick as I buckled my seatbelt.
“Hold up there, Ranger Bill. We can’t just go barging into his house because we suspect something.”
“But it has to be him.”
“I agree with you, but the court of law wouldn’t look favorably on an officer barging into a house based only on a hunch.”
I cleared my throat. “You can’t. You’re right. Thank goodness I’m here.”