CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

 

Selene could barely believe her ears when Dennis Cramer called and said that Michel would be released on bail within the hour.

“I know that he’s basically been terrorizing you,” Cramer said. “Unfortunately, the most we can charge him with is trespassing. There’s no sign of forced entry into your residence or tampering with your power or security system. And you said yourself that he didn’t physically assault you. That doesn’t leave us much to work with.”

“What about the fire at S.A.W. House?” Selene protested. “Did you question him about that?”

“We did—and he denied knowing anything about it,” he said. “I understand that you have suspicions, and rightly so, but the one witness we had couldn’t positively identify him as the man she saw running from the scene. We simply didn’t have enough probable cause to go any further at this time.”

Selene thought about the disturbing phone call that she’d received the night of the fire. She suspected Michel had been behind that, too. What better way for him to drive a wedge between her and Quinn than by accusing him of being a serial killer? But she was reluctant to bring that up to Dennis or Quinn. What would it accomplish, other than cause grief and outrage unnecessarily?

But she could at least broach the subject of The Woods Strangler and Michel as a possible suspect.

“Do you think Michel could be involved in any way with the strangulation murders, Dennis?” Selene asked hesitantly, meeting Quinn’s steady gaze.

“That investigation is ongoing,” Cramer replied tersely. “Right now, there’s nothing we can hold Giovanni on related to that. But we’re not ruling anything out.”

I hope not. It pained her to think that he could be behind the killings. Still, Michel showing up as he had out of the blue and acting so strange regarding the case and reward money—not to mention him obsessing over her long after she should have been out of his system—left Selene fearful and uncertain about his motives and capabilities.

“But I do have some good news for you,” Cramer said. “While we had Giovanni in our custody, we arranged for a deputy with the county sheriff’s office to serve him the temporary restraining order. I personally gave Giovanni an explicit warning to stay the hell away from you. Hopefully he’ll comply until you can make it permanent.”

Selene concurred, though she had her reservations that Michel would abide by the law and leave her alone. “Thank you, Dennis.”

“No problem. I’ll be in touch.”

Selene hung up. She relayed the conversation to Quinn, ending with Michel being handed the restraining order.

“At least something good came out of it,” Quinn said. “That bastard had better keep his distance from you, Selene. I’m not going to let him hurt you.”

“I know,” she murmured. She felt safe in his strong arms, but was concerned about what might happen if Quinn and Michel met face to face. She feared the outcome, even as she contemplated the anonymous caller, arsonist, and serial killer while wondering if they could possibly be one and the same.