When A Heart Stops - Part 17
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Part 17

Finally, after thirty minutes of agonizing, she decided there was nothing she could do at the moment. She'd offered Camille shelter in a secure place at Covenant House and Camille had chosen not to stay.

Still . . .

Serena pulled out her phone and texted, ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?

Relief filled her at the immediate reply. YES. HE'LL GO TO SLEEP AND IGNORE ME. I'M FINE. SORRY FOR THE TROUBLE.

YOU'RE NO TROUBLE. I PROMISE. CALL ME IF U NEED ME.

I WILL.

With a sigh and prayer for Camille's safety, Serena tucked her phone away and turned her mind back to her original plan, hoping to relax and forget her world for a few moments.

Which brought her attention back to the books.

A good suspense? She grimaced. No way, the last thing she needed was more suspense in her life. She needed some comic relief. Serena looked over at Yoda who still watched her. "How about some laughs?"

She wondered if she'd find any laughter, though. Camille's situation still weighed heavy on her heart even though the girl had promised she was all right and would call for help if she needed it.

Yoda c.o.c.ked her head and lifted an ear.

Serena reached for the pink covered book and froze as her gaze landed on the shelf above.

Her high school alb.u.ms.

She whispered aloud, "Eenie meenie miney moe, a killin' I will go. It's my game, it's my fun, the next to die is someone you know."

Someone you know.

First Devin, then Leslie.

Both from her high school graduating cla.s.s.

As though in a trance, she settled her hand on her senior year alb.u.m and pulled it from the shelf. As she walked to the couch, she opened the alb.u.m. Serena sat down and flipped to the first page of student photos. Not even Chewie's sudden appearance distracted her.

Frozen in time, the faces of smiling cla.s.smates from ten years ago stared up at her. One by one, she studied their faces, then turned the page. She'd graduated from a large high school with about five hundred students in her senior cla.s.s. But as her eyes ran over each face, memories washed over her.

And there was Jillian Carter. Blond curly hair and sky blue eyes. Her porcelain features always made her seem so fragile. Breakable. She and Alexia both had felt the need to protect her, shelter her whenever they could.

But they hadn't been able to protect her from whatever had sent her running from the graduation party.

Serena's eyes strayed to the mantel. To the three bricks just below the oak wood. "What are you hiding from, Jillian?" she whispered.

With a sigh, she went back to the alb.u.m, continuing her perusal of the faces. And then she stopped.

There she was. The one Serena had been searching for.

Patricia Morris.

The girl from the shed.

"And that makes three from my cla.s.s," Serena said aloud. Chewie stopped cleaning her front paw and c.o.c.ked her head at her. Yoda's ears perked and she gave a low woof before going back to her nap. "Devin, Leslie, and Patricia." But Devin's killer was dead. His death had nothing to do with these two girls. Did it?

She tossed the alb.u.m onto the couch beside her and hurried into the kitchen to grab her cell phone from her purse.

Punching in Dominic's number, impatience had her pacing the floor as she waited for him to pick up.

When it went to voice mail, she said, "Call me when you can. I know who our shed victim is. And I think I see a pattern emerging. The killer seems to be targeting my cla.s.smates from my senior year. We need to warn them."

Hanging up, she continued to pace, her thoughts whirling. Back and forth, back and forth.

At the next turn near the window, a masked face popped up. Serena screamed and stumbled back.

Dominic hung up the phone and dropped his head into his hands. Hunter was concerned about Chad and rightly so. G.o.d, help Chad. He's come a long way in a short time. Don't let him fall back on alcohol to numb the pain. Show me what to do to help him.

Hunter had talked with Dominic about Chad drinking himself into a mind-numbing stupor. Not because he wanted to make Chad look bad, but because he needed an extra pair of eyes on the man in case this car wreck involving his ex-wife and daughter sent him over the edge.

Dominic wasn't sure what else he could do except let Chad know he was there if he needed him. And he could pray.

The buzzing of his phone reminded him someone had beeped in while he was midconversation with Hunter.

Amen.

He entered the code to get his voice mail as he stood at the kitchen counter and sorted the day's mail. File folders awaited him in his den area, but he wanted to take a moment to unwind before he worked several more hours.

Dominic paused when Serena's voice filled his ear. He straightened as he listened, his full attention now on her message. When it finished, he hung up, then dialed her number.

She answered on the first ring, her voice breathless. Scared. "Someone's outside my house."

He grabbed his keys from the counter and headed for his car. "Where? What'd you see?"

"A face in the kitchen window. He has on a mask." He could hear the strain, the toll it was taking on her not to give in to the panic. He slid into the car, cranked it, and backed out of his drive.

"Did you call 9-1-1?"

A left turn and he was out of his subdivision, heading toward Serena's.

"Yes, I have them on the other line. My landline."

"I can be there in five minutes." Fortunately, he didn't live far.

No answer. He tensed as he made a right turn.

"Serena?"

"I'm here, I was just checking the locks again."

"Do you see anything else? Hear anything?"

"No, but the cops are here." Her relief echoed through the line.

"I'm almost there."

"I've got to go let them in. I'm fine now."

But I'm not, he wanted to say. Stay on the line with me until I get there. But he didn't. "Okay, I'll be another couple of minutes."

A small pause filled the line, then she said, "Thanks, Dominic."

A thought occurred to him. "Are you holding a gun? The one you shot your intruder with?"

"Yes."

"Go put it up before you answer the door, okay? Don't answer the door holding a weapon. Cops don't like that, all right?"

"Right. I knew that. The dispatcher said the same thing, but I wasn't ready to let go of it yet. I'll do that now." He heard her footsteps tap across what he a.s.sumed were hardwood floors. Then she came back on the line. "All put away."

"Good. Now hang up and talk to the officers. I'm thirty seconds away."

"See you in a few."

She hung up and Dominic turned into her subdivision, taking in the substantial homes and manicured lawns. He made his way to 104 Bennett Drive and pulled behind a cruiser. Making sure his badge was visible, he climbed out of his car and walked toward the front door.

If the cops did their job right, one officer would be inside, the other sweeping the perimeter of the house for the reported intruder.

Dominic knocked on the door and the officer inside opened it. With a glance at Dominic's badge, his brows raised. "FBI?"

"He's a friend," he heard Serena say as she stepped into the foyer.

The officer whose name tag read "Trask" stepped back and let him in.

Serena looked pale, drawn, and stressed. He walked up to her and pulled her into his arms. She melted against him and let him offer comfort in the only way he could right now. Then she gathered herself together and pulled back.

He glanced at Officer Trask. "What happened?"

"She was just getting ready to get into that."

Serena lifted her chin and motioned toward the den. "Let's go sit down, please."

Dominic and Officer Trask followed her into the tastefully decorated area. He took in the leather couch and matching love seat and recliner. The dog bed in front of the fireplace and the mantel full of photographs.

Homey. Comfortable. Welcoming. A pang hit him. Not for the first time, he wondered why he couldn't have grown up in a house like this with parents who loved him and- Shutting that line of thought off, he sat beside Serena on the couch. On the coffee table, he noticed the open high school alb.u.m.

She took a deep breath and said, "I was in the kitchen, and when I looked at the window, this face with a mask popped up." She shuddered. "Scared me to death."

The door opened and closed. The other officer entered the room. Tall with dark skin and hard eyes, he looked like he'd seen a few years with the force. His name tag read "Taylor." Dominic introduced himself and asked, "Find anything?"

"Footprints under the kitchen window. The ground is soft from the rain and it's obvious someone was out there. But he's gone now."

"Can you get a cast of one of the prints?"

"There wasn't a real clear one." Officer Taylor shrugged. "Probably someone looking to see if anyone was home before he broke in to rob the place."

Serena looked at him, her protest almost visible on her lips. Dominic gave a slight shake of his head and said, "It's possible Serena has a stalker. Do you think you guys could ride by a little more often tonight?"

The officers exchanged a glance. "Sure, we can do that, but it might be better if she finds another place to sleep tonight."

"No." Serena's voice was low and tight. She looked at the men in her den. "I'm not going anywhere. I may not sleep as well, but he's not chasing me out of my home."

"Serena-" Dominic started to protest and she cut him off with a shake of her head.

"I'm not doing it."

And the stubborn set of her chin said she wasn't. "What if you have someone come stay with you?"

Serena pinched the bridge of her nose, then rubbed her eyes. "Maybe."

"What about Alexia? Just for the night?"

"I suppose that would be all right." A ghost of a small smile appeared on her lips. "Actually, that would be nice. I'll call her in a minute." She bit her lip.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"I work with Adopt-a-Sis, and I had a rather scary confrontation with a girl's father tonight."

He frowned. "What? When?"

Officer Trask leaned in, his attention fully on Serena.

"Right before the person with the mask appeared in my window." She told them the rest of the story.

"You think it was him?" the officer asked.

She shrugged. "I have no way of knowing. I wouldn't think so, though. He strikes me as the type of man who wouldn't bother with a mask."

"We'll check it out," Officer Trask said. "You have his name and address?"

Serena gave it to him, glad someone would be going to Camille's house, but . . . "Can you be real subtle? I don't want him to think I sent you out there because of him coming to my house. I'm afraid he might take it out on Camille."

"Sure. I know this address. We get called out to that neighborhood on a regular basis. A cop car riding by won't set off any alarms."

"Okay, thanks." She looked at Dominic. "I want to show you something."

Dominic saw the officers to the door, then walked back into the den to see Serena holding her yearbook. "Look." She held it out to him and pointed to a picture. "Do you recognize her?"

His heart thumped as he s.n.a.t.c.hed the book for a closer look. "The woman in my shed."

"Yeah. She was in my graduating cla.s.s."