Finding Jordie: Things aren't always what they seem. (The Love Lies Bleeding Series Book 1) (20 page)

“Damn, why is it so cold in here?” I chattered through my teeth as I locked the door. Nathan flipped the light on. We both stood there frozen in shock. My entire apartment had been ransacked. In what seemed to be one swift motion, Nathan unlocked the door, yanked my arm, and shoved me into the hallway. The door slammed shut behind him. He crammed his hand into his pocket and retrieved his phone.

“Frank, I have a situation. I’m calling the police now. Yes. All right. Thanks, Frank.” He hung up and I watched him dial nine-one-one. He put his free arm around my waist and pulled me in close. He had a death grip on me. I couldn’t have moved even if I wanted to. He impatiently growled at the operator while she took the necessary information. Clearly it wasn’t the pace he had hoped for. He hit another button with a frustrated groan and I heard the operator’s voice come through the speaker.

“Sir, are you still with me?” She sounded calm as could be.

He handed me the phone and I held it up for him as he ran his now free hand through his hair and wiped it hard against his jeans. He was so worked up. I could see the vein in his neck pumping. He still had his death hold around my waist and even though it wasn’t hurting right then, I’d bet the bar it would later.

“Yessssss, I am. What am I to do now?” He hissed through clenched teeth as he took the phone out of my hand.

“Stay on the line with me, sir, until the officers arrive.” She remained cool and calm.

“When the
fuck
would that be?” He held the phone close to his mouth and growled.

I knew there was danger, obviously, but I couldn’t help but feel bad for the woman taking the brunt of Nathan’s verbal assault.

“There are several units that are just about there, Mr. Harper. There have been several units parked on that street all evening.” She was remarkably unfazed.

“Well, they’ve done a wonderful fucking job, haven’t they?”

With that we heard the short
bwoop, bwoop
and several doors slamming at once.

“They’re here.” He hung up on her and turned to me. His grip loosened just a little bit and I could feel the blood rush back to the spot where he’d held me.

“Jordie, I’m so sorry. I never thought anyone would go to these lengths to get to me.” He spoke softly but his body went rigid.

“How do you know it has anything to do with you, Nathan? It could be random.” I tried to comfort him, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t buying it.

He leaned back, not letting go of me, and raised an eyebrow. “Nice try.” His voice sounded less tense, and then he gave me a soft peck.

“Hey, you never know.” I quirked the corner of my lip up slightly. My purse began to ring. I pulled my phone out and my mouth went dry and my stomach rolled with nausea. I held the display out for Nathan to see. He was just about to hit the first step to go let the officers in when I grabbed his arm to stop him.

“It’s that zero-zero-zero number again,” I managed to croak out.

He snatched the phone from my hand and hit the speaker button, forgetting all about the door. “I warned you,” he roared. “This time the police will be notified.”

The unsettling bad connection paired with crackle was present along with the heavy breathing.

“Do you understand?” Nathan’s voice was raised to the max. “I will find out who you are and not only press charges but I’ll make sure you’re somebody’s prison bitch for the rest of your sorry ass life.” His voice came down a few decibels. The police began to bang on the door.

I’d turned to go and let them in when Nathan’s arm reached out and yanked me close to him again. The breathing suddenly stopped and was replaced by a low rumbling noise. Panicked, I searched Nathan’s face just as I felt my nose sting and the tears prick at my eyes. I was beyond freaked out.

“Oh, you want to play telephone tough guy, do you?” Nathan yelled holding the phone out at arm’s length, max volume again. He was angry, so angry.

Hot. Oh my Jordan, focus! Hellooooo? Apartment trashed, creepy person on the phone.

“Well?” Nathan continued, breaking me from my highly inappropriate and horribly timed thoughts.

“Shut up! Shut your fucking mouth!” The voice hissed through the speaker. The echo filled the empty hallway. It was by any account the scariest male voice I had ever heard in my life. Again, Nathan and I stood frozen, mouths gaped open, staring wide-eyed at one another.

“Jorrrrr-daaaan, I’ve got you now,” the voice continued after a small pause.

I had to cover my mouth because I could feel the bile rise to my throat. Nathan hung up the phone, pressing the button like it was on fire, snatching his finger back quickly so he didn’t get burned. We stood there for a moment, both of us unable to speak. Tears were now streaming down my face in a constant quiet flow.

“What the fuck?” I whispered, dumbfounded and unable to pry my eyes off Nathan. His face was a cross between fury, fear, and confusion.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed my arm and jerked me down the steps with him towards the door. He flung it open and Frank was waiting on the other side.

“What the fuck happened?” he screamed when he saw our expressions. He snaked his one arm around me and pulled Nathan by his shirt out the door and to his truck.

“Get in,” he ordered. Once all three of us were in, he slammed the door shut behind him. “Nathan, talk to me. Explain from the beginning. Please, I can’t protect you without the details.”

After a moment Nathan composed himself again. “We came back from Jersey, and her apartment was ransacked.”

“Okay, that isn’t so bad,” Frank said. “Neither of you were hurt, items can be replaced,” He stopped mid sentence. “What am I missing here, Nate? Talk to me.”

Nathan handed Frank my phone. He cleared his throat. “The past few days she’s been getting these menacing phone calls. It was just a bad connection and some heavy breathing—no one ever spoke. I didn’t think anything of it, thought it was a tabloid trying to get a rise out of her for a story.” He shook his head as if he was disappointed. “She changed both her numbers and had them unlisted, but the calls continued on the new numbers. Just now before you got here, she got another one.” His stare shifted up to lock eyes with Frank, and he looked like he was going to be sick.

“Frank, this time he said something. I... I must have pissed him off when I threatened to—”

“Never mind that,” Frank interjected. “What did he say?” You could tell the lack of sleep was wearing Frank’s patience thin. “Was it a male? A female?”

I flinched. “It was a man. It was the single most terrifying voice I’ve ever heard, Frank,” I said softly.

“He was angry and he screamed shut up and then said, ‘Jorrrrrdaaaannn, I’ve got you now,’“ Nathan repeated.

Chills rocketed through me sending me into a tailspin of emotions. I put one hand over my face and began to sob. Frank leaned back on the door, his forehead hardened with creases, and blew out a sigh of irritation.

“I see. All right. Well, we’ll just get this fucker by the balls, Nate. Don’t worry, we’ll secure the apartment, tap the phones, install closed-circuit night-vision digital cams and double the manpower around here.”

“Emma. What about Emma?” I managed to rasp out between the sobs, and then I buried my face in Nathan’s chest.

“Jordie. Jordie, look at me,” Frank tugged at my chin lightly. “Look at me.”

My head snapped up automatically. He wasn’t asking, he was telling.

His lips formed a thin line. “Where is she?”

“She’s in Jersey, at my sister’s house.”

“Okay. Good. She’s nowhere near this mess, but just for peace of mind I’ll send four guys from my Middletown office over there. Three of them are state troopers and the other is an ex-SEAL. She’ll be safe. Give me the information so I can get that taken care of ASAP.”

“Here, type her info in here.” Nathan handed me his phone.

“I’m going to make arrangements now. You two go back upstairs with the police. I’ll be up when I’m finished.”

Twenty-five minutes into the investigation and my apartment looked like a police station or some shit. Suddenly, I heard Rachel’s mouth coming up the steps.

“I don’t give a fuck what you say. Let go of me. I’m going up there.”

Frank walked over to the door that was wide open and yelled down to the officer that she was permitted up. She was still muttering cuss words while she walked up the steps. That stopped when she entered the apartment. Rachel’s mouth hung open as if her jaw was locked in that position. She took a quick peek into the kitchen and Emma’s room after that.

“What the fuck?” she whispered, wide eyed. Every picture on the wall was smashed and broken. Some still hung on the wall, some were on the floor. Everything that was on my table was scattered on the floor. There were papers, various items, and broken pictures thrown everywhere. In the kitchen, broken dishes and glasses covered the tile floor.

“Thank god Emma’s room was left untouched. You should see upstairs. All of my clothing was torn up in shreds and strewn about the floor, my bed and pillows sliced up, feathers everywhere.” I hid my face in my hands.

“Is this because of you?” Rachel hissed at Nathan.

“Stop it. No, there’s more,” I shot back at her in Nathan’s defense. “You know those weird calls on the voicemail at the bar?”

“Yeah, fucking creepy. It’s connected to this somehow?”

“I had both numbers changed, but the calls continued. When we threatened to call the police, I guess it made him bat-shit crazy because he started screaming and stuff. He said, ‘I’ve got you now.’“

“What? That’s crazy,” she whispered. Her eyebrows were furrowed deep. Frank asked if the messages on the machine were new or old. I looked over. There were twenty-two.

“Um, all new.” My voice cracked a bit. I really didn’t want to know what was waiting for me on that machine.

Frank stepped into the other room, where several officers were working. “Get someone over here now. We need to listen to these and get what you can for evidence,” he demanded.

A young female detective came in and Frank pointed her to the flashing indicator light. She put the machine on play and let it run. All twenty-two messages were the same. The creepy crackle breathing, all minutes apart. The detective asked if she could take the machine, being it was digital.

“Go on,” I said. I’d be glad to see it gone, honestly. He couldn’t leave any more messages if there wasn’t anything to leave them on.

Frank walked over, his eyes locked with mine. “Can I speak to you privately, Nate?”

Nathan kissed me on the forehead and stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

“Are you all right?” Rachel plopped in the seat where he’d been and grabbed my hand.

“I will be once all these people get out of here and I can clean up.” My eyes scanned the room.

“I’ll stay and help. Mike is down there closing up now. I’m sure he’ll come help, too.”

“Closing up? What? Wait, what time is it?” I asked. Nathan and Frank were standing in the corner. I could see them talking but their voices were too quiet to hear.

“It’s almost three A.M., Jords.”

“Oh, okay, but no thank you, it’s okay. I don’t want everyone working all night because of this. You guys work so hard already.”

Nathan’s raised voice made me look over at them. “
How
do I tell her that, Frank?” Nathan spit the words out through clenched teeth.

Frank put his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “We’ll tell her together.” Frank was barely moving his mouth as he eyed me. “She
has
to know.”

“Tell me what?” I stood up and barged into the conversation.

Nathan’s eyes squinted as a warning to Frank.

“Nate, you can’t hide something like this from her. It’s her home. It’s—”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,
fine
. Can we at least wait until the place is cleared out?” Nathan growled, cutting Frank off mid sentence.

“Uh no, we can’t. Tell me,” I barked at him. Rachel had joined us.

“Jordie,” Nathan exhaled loudly and ran his fingers through his hair, then took both my hands in his. “The person who did this did something quite disturbing. I don’t want you to freak out, okay?” He was talking to me like I was a five-year-old. It pissed me off.