The One Who Watches by Emerald O'Brien

Author:Emerald O'Brien [O'Brien, Emerald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald O'Brien

Twenty-Four

Long after the last of the sun dipped behind the row of townhouses, a blue glow emanated from the top window of Paul Rothman’s home. Muted tones flashed against the walls and reflected off the windows by the light of the TV. Madigan hid behind a car parked on the other side of the road, hunkered down, pretending to search through her bag at any moment the neighbours came home, or walked down the street.

If he looked outside right now, and again at any time, he could see that I’m here—watching. There’s no place to hide.

A woman walked her terrier down the street, past Madigan as she dug through her purse and produced her phone.

I might as well check in on Raven.

She kept her attention on Paul’s home, watching through the car’s windows as she pressed her phone to her ear.

“Hey,” Raven said. “Still in Newport?”

“Yep,” Madigan whispered. “Watching his house right now. Light on upstairs and car parked out front.”

“Okay, good.”

“Has anything happened at all today?”

“No presents,” Raven said. “I don’t feel like I’m being watched.”

“Good. You’ve locked your doors and windows, though, right? With the door jams and everything?”

“I have, and listen, those gifts, maybe they’ve stopped now. Maybe he’s given up. I mean, if he’s there, he’s not watching me, right?”

If he’s the one who’s been leaving you things…

“Yeah.”

“You don’t sound confident in that… because you’re not sure if it’s Paul, are you?”

“No, we can’t be sure.”

“If you’d been on that date, and I hate calling it a date, you’d have seen how weird he was. I don’t know how someone can go from being so friendly, confident, and laidback to someone so forward and… just no chill. He had no chill. I even excused myself to go to the bathroom, and he had a bottle of the restaurant’s most expensive wine sitting at the table when I got back. He poured some in my glass, and I told him no thanks, that I had to drive, and he looked so disappointed. How is that my fault that he assumed it was something I wanted? I’m sorry, I’m getting upset all over again. This is what I don’t need. I don’t need to obsess over it.”

“I know it left you with a bad feeling, but I’m just telling you, you don’t know it’s him.”

The light in the kitchen turned on, and he walked by the window.

“You’re right,” Raven sighed. “I’m feeling better, though, or I was starting to. Oh, and I’m having a security system installed on Monday.”

Just a few more days and she’ll be properly protected.

“Good.”

“And I want you to take the day off tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Well, first of all, you deserve a break. I’ll be safe at work, and tomorrow night, I’m going out for some drinks.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I asked Melanie if she’d like to have a girl’s night out, and I wanted to invite you, too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, not as my bodyguard or anything. Just some friends hanging out.”

I haven’t made a new friend in a long time, and it sounds nice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.