Long, Lonely Nights (17 page)

“What’s your emergency?” the operator asked.

“There’s someone in my house,” Tina whispered.

“Give me your address, ma’am.”

Tina repeated her address and asked them to hurry. She heard another sound dulled by the closed bathroom door.

“Please hurry.”

“Someone is on the way. Stay on the line with me.”

Tina was shaking so badly, she could barely hold on to the phone. Tears slid down her face. Seconds passed with more creaks.

“Ma’am, are you still with me?”

“I’m here, but he’s coming up the stairs. Please,” Tina begged.

“They are on the way. Stay with me.”

The doorknob turned and then rattled. Tina held her breath. Then there was the weight of someone hitting the door. She screamed.

* * * *

Logan sat on the side of the bed and rubbed his face. He couldn’t sleep. Something was bothering him.
Like the woman next door. You’re jonesing for her.
He might as well sit outside for a while. He pulled on boxers and stopped by the kitchen for a beer. The air had cooled down some, and there wasn’t much humidity at all. He wandered around the deck outside, then sat on the top step. Shadows chased back and forth, as a light breeze played among the tree limbs.

He glanced towards Tina’s house, but it was dark. She hadn’t been out on her balcony once since he had told her he knew she had watched him. He realized he missed knowing she was there watching him. Other than the brief view of her when she came home from work each day, he hadn’t seen her in a week. He finished his beer and stood up to go inside. A scream pierced the night.

He dropped the beer can and ran across the deck and through the backyard. He jumped the fence in one bound. When he reached her back door, he found it ajar. Damn, he needed his gun. There was no time to go back and get it now. Logan crept into the kitchen then on into the hall. He stopped to get his bearings. The living room was too his left and the stairs to his right.

Another scream came from upstairs. He hit the stairs at a dead run. Someone raced down the stairs nearly knocking him back down. He made the split second decision not to pursue the intruder. Tina might be seriously hurt and need help. He raced up the stairs to her bedroom. She wasn’t in the bed or on the floor. He ran towards the bathroom and stopped just inside the doorway. The door was off the hinges and split near the doorknob where someone had hit it hard enough to break it.

Between the toilet and the bathtub, Tina sat curled up with a can of hairspray pointed at the door. When he stepped into the room, she raised it higher and pointed it.

“Easy, Tina. It’s okay now. It’s me, Logan.” He took another step into the room. She lowered the can, but not all the way.

“You’re all right. Calm down.” He managed to take the can from her shaking hands and set it on the counter.

Logan reached down and helped her stand up. As soon as she was up, she launched herself into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck squeezing the breath from him. He ran a soothing hand up and down her back telling her over and over again it was okay.

“Everything is going to be all right. You’re safe now.”

She continued holding onto him with her face against his neck crying.

Sirens from the approaching police cars could be heard in the distance.

“Ma’am, are you there? The police are outside your house now. Can you hear me?” came from the discarded phone on the floor of the bathroom.

Logan tried to peel Tina’s arms from around his neck

“Tina, let go now. Everything is fine.”

He heard feet pounding up the stairs and then out in the hall. He carried her out of the bathroom and reached the bedroom just as four policemen made it into the room with guns raised.

“Police, put your hands up.”

He obeyed raising his hands above his head. Tina remained glued to him.

“Let her go,” one of the policemen said.

“I don’t have her. She has me. I’m her next door neighbor,” he said.

One of the policemen holstered his weapon and pulled Logan’s hands behind his back where he secured them with plastic restraints. Another policeman worked at prying Tina off of him. Once she was off, she nearly collapsed. They helped her to the bed. One of the officers found her robe and put it over her. She pulled it around her. No one bothered to give Logan anything to cover him.

They dragged Logan outside the bedroom and down the hall to another room where they questioned him. It seemed that with him in his boxers and her in her negligee there was some speculation as to their relationship. They also still thought of him as a suspect since he was in his boxers with an erection.

“Hell, you have a nearly naked woman plastered all over you and not get a hard on.”

They took the restraints off and handed him a towel.

Finally, Tina managed to calm down and explain everything. Once they had the complete story from Tina three times, they called the crime scene technicians to come dust for prints. The policemen spread out and search the house and her yard, but came up with nothing out of the ordinary.

“Ma’am, he came prepared. He has to be damn good at picking locks, and he had to have had the security code,” one of them said.

“That’s not possible. I changed it the other day, and no one knows it.”

“What about the security company?”

“No one. I didn’t even tell them. I was worried after the last break in that one of them was who did it.

“Did you possibly forget to turn the system on?” Another one asked.

“No! I would never go to bed without turning it on, and I double checked everything before I came upstairs.”

Finally, the police left them alone. They promised to let her know anything they found out from the fingerprints, but warned her that the intruder had probably worn gloves.

It was nearly five o’clock in the morning. Logan could tell Tina was exhausted. He noticed her hands still trembled when she brushed the hair from her eyes. There were shadows under her eyes as well. She needed rest. He doubted she would sleep now. He sighed.

“We both need to dress. I know you’re not going to sleep now. Why don’t you come over to my house while I shower? You can shower at my place,” Logan suggested.

She hesitated, but finally nodded her head in agreement. He doubted she wanted to be alone in the house right now.

“I’ll go downstairs while you dress.”

“No! I mean, I don’t want to be alone right now. I’ll just pull on jeans and a shirt.”

He shrugged and leaned back against the doorjamb and watched her gather the jeans and T-shirt. She disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door the best she could. She was dressed and out in record time fully clothed. She slipped on sandals.

“I’m ready now.”

Logan nodded and followed her as she grabbed her purse by the back door and walked out. She didn’t bother locking it so he did. She was obviously distraught.

They circled around to his backyard since his front door was locked. He had come out his back door, so it was unlocked. She followed him into the house and through the kitchen. He continued down the hall to his bedroom. When he turned to close the door, he found Tina right there behind him.

“You can wait in the living room,” he said.

“I’m scared. I’ll sit right here and not touch anything.”

Logan started to protest, but her eyes plead with him to let her stay. He just shook his head and walked into the bathroom. Once the door was closed behind him, he leaned against the counter and rubbed his face. He stared into the mirror.

“What a fucking mess.”

He hoped to God she hadn’t noticed his erection when she was plastered to him earlier. Between the adrenalin rush and her nearly naked body in his arms, he couldn’t help the raging hard on by the time the police arrived. Naturally, they assumed the worse. They treated him as if he were the intruder at first. Then they speculated that they were lovers. He tried to explain the situation to them, but it did little good. He couldn’t give a rat’s ass what they thought about him, but he didn’t want Tina upset by their speculation.

As he showered, his thoughts were all about Tina and what might have happened if he hadn’t gotten there in time. He might have raped her or even worse, killed her. The idea turned his blood to ice. The son of a bitch would pay for scaring her as it was. He wished he had run after him now. Still, he hadn’t known if Tina had been hurt or not. He did the right thing in the long run.

Logan turned off the water and got out of the shower. He dried off and dressed quickly. When he walked back into the bedroom, he was amused to see her curled up on her side sound asleep. He pulled the covers off the opposite side of the bed and covered her. Then he stood there and watched her sleep, thankful he had been there to stop whatever might have happened to her. He left her to sleep while he made some phone calls.

Chapter Nine

By noon, Logan had the locks changed by another company; the bathroom door fixed; and soup on the stove heating for their dinner. He figured they could have sandwiches with it. He turned to go wake Tina up and found her standing in the doorway looking lost.

“Hi. How do you feel?” he asked.

“I’m okay. I’m sorry I fell asleep on your bed. I guess I was really tired.”

“Don’t worry about it. You needed the rest. I doubt you’ve had much sleep in the last few weeks.”

Tina nodded and took a step into the kitchen, but stopped.

“I’m warming up soup, and I thought we could have sandwiches with it. What would you like? I have peanut butter, turkey, and ham.”

“I’m really not very hungry. Maybe I’ll just have the soup,” Tina said.

“You need something substantial in your stomach besides soup. You’ve lost weight.”

“Not enough to notice,” she answered.

“I noticed,” he said.

She didn’t say anything, just looked down at her feet.

“Come and sit down. I have water, tea, or milk.”

“Water please.”

He poured a glass of ice water for her, and a glass of tea for himself. She sat down at the bar, but wouldn’t look at him. She looked everywhere but at him.

“Um, I’m really sorry about last night. I was so scared, and I guess I lost it.”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just glad I was up and outside to hear you scream,” he said.

“I am, too.”

Finally, she looked up into his eyes. “What am I going to do? He’s going to get me eventually, isn’t he?”

“No, he isn’t. I won’t let him.” He slid the glass of water towards her. “I had your locks changed again by a different company this time. I put your keys on your key ring and two extras by your purse. You’ll need to change your security code again.”

“Why bother. It didn’t do a bit of good to do it the other day,” she said.

“Well, you’re going to do it anyway. Plus, you’re not going to be staying alone anymore. I’m going to stay with you at night from now on until they catch the bastard.”

“You can’t do that! I mean, thank you and all, but you can’t stay with me.” She looked panicked at the thought.