“Yeah, he said as much.” I wanted to ask him to come with me but I didn’t want to sound like a big black hole of need. So, I accepted the bottle of water he silently offered. “Last night was the first time I’d ever even come close to a criminal.”
“I feel responsible. I should have went ahead and had security installed while you were gone.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“And I should have checked your door myself.”
I laughed. “I do tend to define quite clearly where my guests are allowed to go in my home and where they aren’t. I get that from my grandmother. She could herd people through her house without them even realizing it.”
“How about I ride down the station with you?”
I should have said “no.” Grown, modern women don’t need a man to guide and protect them. Instead, I nodded and smiled. “Thanks.”
“I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.”
I glanced briefly at Shawn, who was leaning against the wall to my left. Detective Martin had showed us into a small private interrogation room. A camera was tucked discreetly into one corner.
“Okay, let’s go with the good news.”
“We caught the intruder. He left a few prints on your closet door and he popped in the system. His name is Peter Stevenson. He’s got a pretty extensive criminal background and was paroled recently.” He inclined his head. “Is the name familiar?”
“No, not at all.” If that was the good news, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the bad news. But, ignoring something horrible doesn’t make it go away. “And the bad news?”
“He was hired to do the job.”
My stomach dropped into my feet and Shawn immediately came to sit beside me. He tucked my left hand into both of his and they both sat there while I took several deep breaths.
“By whom?”
“He doesn’t know. They met in a chat room about three weeks ago. Once the deal was brokered, Stevenson received five thousand dollars in cash, a key to your apartment, and a vial of semen. He was instructed to put the semen on your bed and mess up your apartment.”
“I came home early.”
“Yes, Mr. Stevenson was very clear on the fact that he’d watched your routine carefully before you went on vacation and believed that he could get in and out without anyone seeing him.” Detective Martin checked his records. “So, after he got off work, he went to your apartment to do the job.”
“And I came home earlier than he expected.” I rubbed my face with both hands. Before I’d gone on vacation, it had been my habit to have an early dinner with Connor nearly every night after work. “So, he was hired to scare me?”
“Yes.”
“Any luck on tracing the people in that chat room?” Shawn asked.
“We’re waiting on a search warrant for the company’s records. It should come in today. But anyone who watches TV would know to use a public hot spot or a computer at the public library to avoid the activity being traced back to them.”
“Why didn’t he wait until I’d gone to sleep to leave?”
Detective Martin sat back in his chair. “I think he found being there a little too tempting, to be honest. Ms. Andrews, Peter Stevenson was in jail this last time for a sex crime.”
I curled my fingers against Shawn’s palm and bit down on my bottom lip. “He’ll go back to jail, right?”
“Yes, he’s violated the terms of his parole. Assault, home invasion, and conspiracy charges will also be filed against him.”
“He won’t get a deal for talking about the man who hired him?” I asked. I watched TV, too.
“Perhaps, but because he violated his parole he’s going to have to complete the twenty-five-year sentence he received for rape and attempted murder. Even if he gets a deal on your case, he won’t be out of jail until he’s a very old man.”
Rape and attempted murder. The words were like a knife in my chest and I took a deep breath. The fact that he would go back to jail was cold comfort, but it was something I could hold on to. “And the person who hired him?”
“We’ll do all we can to find him.”
The detective left us shortly after that. I sat in that little room for a few minutes, silent and thinking about the people in my life. Who would want to scare me like that?
“Come on, we’ll grab some sandwiches and go back to see what the security people are doing.”
I nodded and let Shawn guide me out of the police station and to his car. I was relieved, now, that I’d conceded when he’d asked to drive. The thought of maneuvering through traffic in my current state of mind wasn’t a very nice one.
4
The fifth time I got up out of bed to check the doors, I realized I wasn’t going to get much sleep. The events of the last twenty-four hours were crowded in my mind and they pushed sleep far from my reach. I’d taken all of my work clothes to a dry cleaner and spent most of the evening washing the casual stuff.
I was pacing back and forth down the hallway when I heard a knock on the front door. It could only be Shawn because no one had buzzed to get in the building itself. I peeked through the peephole and then unlocked it quickly.
“Hey.”
He looked me over. “You’ve been pacing for an hour.”
I blushed. “Sorry, I forgot how thin the walls are.” I stepped back to let him in. “I just can’t sleep.”
“I figured.” He held up his pillow. “Thought I could sleep on your couch.”
I smiled. “You’re very sweet.”
Shawn laughed. “I’m very tired.”
Blushing, I tucked my hands behind my back. “Sorry. Your grandmother slept like an old log and was mostly deaf. I had a huge Halloween party last year and she slept through every gin-soaked second of it.” I hurriedly flipped the lock and put the chain in place.
Having him on my couch dressed in a pair of pajama pants did not seem like a good idea if I planned on sleeping any at all, but I dutifully got him a light blanket and then toddled off to my room to lie down.
I threw myself down on the bed and stared at the ceiling for five long silent minutes before he appeared in the doorway of my bedroom.
“Did you need something?”
He laughed. “Do you?”
“No.”
“Then why were you tapping your headboard?”
I sat up and blushed. “God, I’m sorry. I’m just antsy and nervous.”
Shawn came in and sat down on the edge of my bed. “You’ve had a stressful couple of days. You got an ex-boyfriend with issues, your apartment was broken into, and you were assaulted. It’s fine if you are all bent out of shape.”
“A new guy moved into my building and dashed my expansion plans.”
He laughed. “Really?”
“Yeah, I’d hoped to buy the apartment from your grandmother’s estate.” I sighed. “But I was trying to be respectful and not ask until an appropriate time had expired.”
“Thank you. We had twenty offers for the place the day the obituary went into the papers.”
“Gross.”
“The real