The phone rang on Nell’s nightstand in the middle of a dream which insured that she awoke fearfully with the universal plea of all mothers on her lips. Please, Lord, let Judson be alright.
“Hello?”
“Die, bitch!” Click.
Nell was horrified. She was shaking herself out of a deep sleep, but she heard those words loud and clear. “Die, bitch.” There was no mistake. Scrolling back on the caller ID, she saw “unknown caller.” Of course, no one would be foolish enough to use their real number.
Nell was so thankful the call had not been about anything that happened to Jud, but the call made her realize her situation was serious. Serious enough that she finally decided she needed to call her son. It wasn’t quite one in the morning, so in Alaska it would be a few hours earlier. Jud wouldn’t have gone to bed yet.
“Hello.” Nell heard her son’s voice and just started to sob. How she hated to be a blubbering old woman!
“Mom, what is it? Who died?” Jud gasped.
“No one. Me. I don’t know,” Nell muttered.
“What are you talking about?” She could hear real concern in his voice, the first time she’d heard that in a long time.
Nell tried to control her sobbing as she told Jud about her blog, the ugly posts, the murder, the chair moved on her patio, and now the threatening phone call. She didn’t share any of her personal feelings about Sam. She didn’t think Jud would understand, or even want to know.
“What did the police say?”
Silence.
“The police, Mom, what did they say?”
“I haven’t gone to the police. I wasn’t sure if I was making too much out of all this. And I didn’t want to seem like some foolish old woman that has nothing better to do than waste an officer’s time.”
“From what you have told me, it sounds like this has been going on for a couple of weeks.” Jud said. “The police should know what’s happening with you. Mom, you’ve lived in Bayshore for over thirty years. If you were prone to exaggeration, people would’ve known about it way before now. I have to admit that you’re quite grounded. If you say this is happening, it’s happening.” Jud paused and she heard the ruffling sounds of paper as he pulled out a calendar. “I would’ve appreciated a call when this first started, though. I don’t know how soon I can make arrangements to fly home.”
“Thank you, Jud, I appreciate it and I’d love to see you but you don’t need to come home. I can handle this on my own.”
“Like not calling the police?” Jud snapped. “That’s some way to handle the situation, Mother.”
“I’ll go down to the police station right away tomorrow,” promised Nell.
“Tomorrow? What about tonight?” Jud demanded with a bite in his voice.
“Right now I feel safer in the house than driving downtown. The doors and windows are all locked and I have two attack dogs here to protect me.”
“Come on, Mom. You know those little scoundrels would just lick an intruder to death, don’t you?” Jud challenged. “The police have squad cars. They could come to you.”
“They’d come down my street, sirens blaring and wake up my whole neighborhood. There’s no need for that.” Nell’s foot started tapping. “I’ll be fine tonight and tomorrow I’ll take care of it. I promise.”
“Be sure and tell the cops everything,” Jud relented. “I’ll call home in a few days to check on you. I’ve got to go. Bye, Mom.”
“I love you, Jud.”
Then his voice was gone and Nell was left holding a dead phone in her hand.