Free Falling (37 page)

My dad sat forward in his seat and placed a hand on my arm,
a silent warning to tell me to calm down. “I’m sure you can appreciate the
delicacy of the situation. Maisie is frustrated because Zach is a friend of
hers and she feels like this may be a mistake on your part.”

Hmm, he worded it better than me as usual.

“I assure you, we’re looking into everything thoroughly. I’m
aware that it may be frustrating for Maisie if they’re friends, but I’m sure
she would rather us treat her case seriously than gloss over leads and not
investigate them,” DI Neeson rebutted.

“Of course. We appreciate you doing your job to the best of
your ability.” Dad nodded, flashing his charming smile at her. Instantly, she
shifted in her seat, looking away from him and fiddling with the file. I tried
not to cringe because I knew in that moment she was thinking about him naked. I
guess my dad was considered good-looking to some, my friends certainly thought
so, but seeing a policewoman flustered by a smile made me cringe in my seat.
“The thing is, I thought Zach was a pretty decent kid. I mean, yes, he’s a
little troubled, and he has a
very
weird idea of what classes as a
sport, but other than that I genuinely liked him. It’s a little hard for me to
believe that he’s involved in this,” Dad continued.

DI Neeson looked up then. “There are things you aren’t aware
of, Mr Preston. I’m sure you’ve heard from Maisie that one of her fellow
students was murdered last night,” she asked, raising one eyebrow. Dad nodded
in confirmation, and I frowned instantly wondering where she was going with
this. “Well, we have reason to believe that the person behind the incidents
involving Maisie, is also the person who murdered Miss Watson.”

I almost choked on air. The same person? The person who was
harassing me had killed Sandy too? “What? Why do you think that?” I gasped.

She turned her eyes to me. “A call was made to Miss Watson’s
cell phone an hour before the estimated time of death. It’s from the same
number that made the calls to your cell phone. Miss Watson wasn’t at home when
she was found. We think that the person called her and lured her out with the
intention of killing her.”

“Oh God,” I muttered. Anguish and worry built up in my stomach.
If the person who was sending me that stuff had killed someone then what was to
stop them from killing me? Maybe they’d even been harassing Sandy too before
she died! Maybe I was next. Maybe I was in danger right now, and someone was
going to stab me so many times that it looked like I’d been gutted, just like
the witness said that Sandy had. I had to get out of here. I had to leave and…

“Maisie, sit down and breathe!” A hand closed over mine,
pulling me back to my seat. Until then I hadn’t even realised that I had moved.
I looked up into the concerned green eyes of my dad. “Just calm down.
Everything’s fine, I promise,” he cooed, squeezing my hand gently. He turned
back to the police officer. “So you’re now treating Maisie’s case as a possible
murder case too?”

DI Neeson thumbed the file on the table. “At this time we’re
still conducting investigations, but from here on out I’ll be sharing
information with the lead officer from our homicide department.”

I blinked a couple of times at that information. DI Neeson
was now obviously working with the officer I had spoken to this morning, the
one with the intimidating eyes.

Dad nodded, giving my hand another reassuring squeeze. “And
you believe this person is Zach? Have the phone records confirmed that?” he
asked curiously.

I looked at DI Neeson. That was a really good question and I
was incredibly glad that my dad was here with me. He always seemed to have the
right things to say in these situations. A muscle in her temple twitched as she
sat there, seeming to be choosing her words carefully. “His phone records show
nothing out of the ordinary. I have officers conducting a search of Mr
Anderson’s house right now; we believe that the calls are from a different
phone and number. Once we find the phone we’ll have more to go on.”

I cringed, thinking of poor Olivia having to watch as people
searched her house for the phone. No doubt Zach’s uncle Alan would be ranting
in the background about what a deadbeat kid he was. I felt a pang of guilt.
Zach would probably be in for a rough time when he got home because of all of
this.

Dad cocked his head to the side. “But at this time all you
have to go on are the fact that Zach’s prints were on my daughter’s bedroom
door and the collar of the dog?” he asked. DI Neeson gave a curt nod of
confirmation. “What was he arrested for before? You said he has previous
history with the police.”

DI Neeson cleared her throat and stood up. “I’m afraid I’m
not at liberty to discuss that information. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have
just under nineteen hours left to question Mr Anderson before I’m forced to
release him. I’ll call you with any news.” Her tone was final as she stuck out
her hand towards my father. “It was nice to meet you, Mr Preston.”

“You too. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us,” he
replied politely. She marched out of the room, closing the door firmly behind
her and my dad turned to me and smiled teasingly. “You need to work on your
people skills. You can’t just go off ranting at these people and then expect them
to help you. You have to know the right way to handle it. Politeness and
reasoning usually works best.”

I rolled my eyes. “And you’ve had a lot of dealings with the
police have you?” I joked.

A sad smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. “Let’s get
you home. We’re obviously not going to learn anything else here. Sounds to me
like they’re clutching at straws and hoping that it’s Zach. She knows it too.
She doesn’t believe it’s him any more than I do, but they have to go through
the motions, especially now that the same person apparently called Sandy’s
phone. They’ll release Zach tomorrow without charge,” he assured me, before
frowning and adding, “Well, unless they find something at his house.”

I gulped, not even wanting to think about it. I refused to
believe that someone I was close to would be capable of something like that.

I skipped school the following day, mainly because I didn’t
want everyone looking at me again, and also because I didn’t want people asking
me why Zach was led off in shackles the previous day. The only bad thing about
skipping school was that I was then home with my dad who still had time off
work because they thought he was still off taking care of my grandad. It wasn’t
that I minded hanging out with my dad – on a normal day I would actually love
it. But it was just that he was smothering me. I hadn’t really had a minute to
myself all day long because he was doing his overprotective caveman bit. It got
even worse when Alex came home from school because then I had two of them following
me around like little puppies asking if I was alright and if I needed anything.

Because my dad didn’t want me wallowing and thinking about
it all the time, he insisted that I stay downstairs and hang out with them
rather than be alone in my room. I knew they were only doing it because they
cared and were worried about me, but by dinnertime I was about ready to scream.
I felt trapped, and I needed a change of scenery before I went insane.

I excused myself from watching some car chase programme that
they were both engrossed in, and headed into the bathroom. As I closed the door
behind me, I leant against it and blew out a big breath. I needed air. It felt
like I was slowly suffocating, choking on the overprotective fumes that filled
my house. I needed out for a little while.

I looked around hopelessly, knowing that as soon as I said I
was leaving the house my dad and brother would insist that one of them came
with me. I fruitlessly tried to think of a plan that would give me a few
minutes on my own. All I could come up with was leaving without telling anyone,
but I wasn’t that desperate, or stupid. People in horror movies always did
stupid stuff like leaving without telling people where they were going so it
took ages for them to be missed. No, I wasn’t stupid enough for that. But I
needed to get out of the house.

Charlotte. A visit to Charlotte’s would calm my nerves; we
could talk about unimportant things and then maybe this nervous tension would
leave my body for a while. I grinned as I pulled my phone from my pocket,
dialling her number. 

She answered on the fifth ring. “Hey,” she chirped.

“Hi. Are you home? I need to get out of the house and just
do something normal. Want to hang out and watch a movie or something? I’ll
bring something sickeningly romantic,” I suggested hopefully.

She chuckled. “Sure. I’m home, come on over.”

I smiled gratefully. “Okay, see you in a bit.” 

After disconnecting the call, I flushed the toilet to keep
up with the act that I’d needed to go, then silently slipped out of the
bathroom and headed to the hallway closet, pulling on my jacket and grabbing my
purse. Once I said the words to my dad I knew I’d need to make a swift exit
before he changed his mind and refused to let me go. I stepped into the lounge,
seeing him and Alex sitting there still watching the same car chase programme.

“Dad, I’m going to Charlotte’s for a while.” I smiled
sweetly, hoping he wouldn’t refuse.

His head snapped up in my direction, his eyes narrowing
disapprovingly. “What, now?”

I nodded. “I’ve just called her. We’re going to watch a
movie. I just need to get out of here for a while and do something normal,” I
persuaded.

He nodded, pushing himself up and throwing the TV remote
control to Alex. “Okay. Let me just find my shoes,” he muttered, picking up his
coffee mug and downing the contents.

I shook my head, looking at him pleadingly. “Dad, I’ll just
drive. I’ll go straight there. No stopping. I’ll even call you when I arrive,”
I suggested. “I just need a few minutes alone. I’m going insane with all this
protective caveman stuff that you two have been subjecting me to lately,” I
whined, begging him with my eyes and sticking out my lip. “Please?”

He sighed, not looking happy about it in the slightest. “You
go straight there. No stopping at all, understand?” he instructed sternly. I
nodded, grinning now. “And you call me the minute you get there. It’s about a
ten minute drive. If you haven’t called me within fifteen minutes then I’m
coming looking for you and I’ll lock you in your room until they find the guy
who’s behind all of this.” His green eyes bore into mine and I could see the
seriousness of this now. If I didn’t call he would have no qualms in locking me
up forever, that much was obvious from his expression.

“Deal,” I agreed, stepping forward and going up on tiptoes
to kiss his cheek. “Can I borrow Mom’s car?” He grunted in agreement, nodding
towards the car keys that hung in the hallway on the key rack. “Thanks. I’ll
call you as soon as I get there,” I promised as I practically skipped out of
the room and grabbed the keys to my mom’s little red Rover.

As soon as I stepped out of the front door I sighed as the
fresh air hit me all at once. Seeing as it was already dark outside, I tilted
my head up, taking in the starry sky in all of its glory. Looking up at the
stars brought on a round of nostalgia as images of camping with Luke came
flooding back. I sighed sadly wondering if we would ever get back to that point
again where we would do that. Depressingly, I wasn’t sure of the answer still.

Knowing I was short on time and that if I stood there for
too long my dad would come out and insist that I not go at all; I quickly
headed to my mom’s car. Her remote central locking wasn’t working again it
seemed as I pressed the unlock button on the key. I smiled to myself as I
shoved the key in the lock instead, twisting and unlocking my door. I slid in,
cranking up the heater to full blast as I started the engine and pulled out,
heading down the road quickly.

By the time I got half way to Charlotte’s I remembered that,
in my haste to leave the house, I hadn’t picked up a movie like I said I would.
I groaned in frustration, hitting my hand on the steering wheel. Then a thought
occurred to me. Dad said that Charlotte’s house was a ten minute drive, but he
was wrong, she only lived five minutes’ drive. It was Beth who lived ten
minutes away. That would give me an extra five minutes before he was expecting
a call. That would give me time to stop at the movie rental store that was
around the corner from Charlotte’s. Pleased with my plan, I indicated off of
the main street and headed to the rental store.

By the time I got there I still had ten minutes before I had
to put in a call to my dad. Locking the car, I darted out into the store
heading for the rom com section at the back. Choosing the first Matthew
McConaughey movie I came across, I headed to the checkout to pay.

The bored looking cashier was just scanning my membership
card when my cell phone buzzed in my pocket announcing a new message. I frowned
and pulled it out.
Dad’s obviously jumping the gun
, I thought as I shook
my head, grinning as I opened the text message that had come through. Only it
wasn’t from him. It was from an unknown number.

‘What are you doing
out all alone?’

It felt like someone ran an icy finger down my spine as I
twisted, whipping my head from left to right, trying to see if some deranged
killer was there. All I saw though was an empty video store and rows and rows
of DVD cases. My heart was slamming in my chest as panic made my ears ring.

“Miss, that’ll be four bucks,” the assistant announced.

My phone buzzed again, another message. I gulped, looking
down at it with wide eyes as I tried to regulate my breathing.

‘I see you. Do you
see me?’

My feet were moving before I could even comprehend what I
was doing. I streaked across the store as fast as my legs would carry me,
ignoring the assistant shouting me. In my haste I practically ran into the
door, fighting with it for a second as I tried to push it even though it was a
pull. My whole body was shaking by the time I came to my senses enough to pull
the door.