Touch of Death (4 page)

“Jodi!” Mom yelled, bursting through the front door.

I jolted back in the seat, and Matt dropped his arms to his sides. “Mom.” I stood up and motioned toward Matt. “This is Matt. I’ve told you about him.”

She looked at Matt for a second before turning her attention back on me. “I was just stopped by a police officer. She said she was called here about a stalker.” She looked at Matt again. “What is going on?”

She’d given me an out for having a boy in the house when she wasn’t home. It was one of her rules. No Mom, no boys. “Matt and I grabbed some lunch because they let us out of school early. He brought me back here, and this guy was following us. Well, actually he’d been following me all day, starting with lit class and then again in the hallway after Ms. Steingall—Oh my God, did you hear about Ms. Steingall?” Yes, I was a babbling idiot, but Mom was looking at Matt like he was the one I’d called the cops on.

“Maybe I should go,” Matt said. “It’s been a crazy day, and you two probably need to talk.”

Mom looked at Matt and nodded. “I think that would be best. Thank you.”

Matt smiled at me and headed for the door. I followed him, with Mom glaring at me. “Sorry.”

“No problem. Stay safe, okay?” He squeezed my hand quickly before stepping through the door.

“Thanks for everything,” I called after him.

“Jodi?” Mom called.

I shut the door and plopped down on the couch.

Mom took her coat off and motioned to the iced tea on the coffee table. “How long was he here?”

Seriously? I’d hit a deer, wrecked my car, had my school nurse die moments after I was in her office, and been stalked by a creepy guy, and she was asking me about Matt? “Mom, Matt didn’t want to leave me home alone with that guy staring in the window. He was seriously creepy. Besides, I told you about Matt. You know we’re just starting to date.”

“Yes, I do know, and that’s what worries me.”

I sighed.

“But,” she paused and let out a long sigh, “given the circumstances, I guess I’m thankful you weren’t home alone.” She sat down and wrapped me in a hug.

“Thank you.”

“Do you have any idea who this guy is? The one who’s been following you?”

I took another sip of my tea and shook my head. “I saw him in class for the first time today, and he’s been following me ever since.”

Mom slumped back on the couch. “It’s been some day, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

“How about pizza and a movie? A quiet night at home.”

“Sounds good. I think I’ll go shower while we’re waiting for the pizza. I need to get the awfulness of the day off my skin.” I stood up and Mom did the same. She pulled me into another hug.

“You want to go back to homeschooling?”

“No,” I answered without any hesitation. “I like being around other people my own age. Sure, things are crazy in high school, but I’ll deal with it.”

She nodded and went for the phone. I climbed the stairs, heading for the bathroom. I took the hottest shower I could ever remember taking. I couldn’t seem to wash the events of the day off of me. Finally, I gave up and headed to my room. I listened to music while I slipped on my pajamas and combed my hair. As the song ended, I heard a thump outside my window. I froze with my comb halfway down my head and listened. Nothing. When the next song started, I put the comb down and slipped over to my window. I didn’t want to turn the music off in case Green Eyes was lurking. I wanted to catch him off-guard. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed the number on the card the officer had given me. I didn’t press send though. I just wanted to be prepared in case I had to make the call.

I stood to the side of the curtains, out of view. I didn’t really have much of a plan. Take a quick peek and hit send if I needed to. I counted to five and swung myself in front of the window. A brown bird was perched in the tree, looking dazed. It must have flown into the glass. I unlatched the window and raised it slightly. The cool air rushed into my room. I reached out toward the branch and shook it gently. The bird didn’t move. It had to be alive though. It couldn’t stay perched there if it were dead. I reached further and did something really stupid. I poked the bird with my finger.

That got a response. The bird flew right at me. I yanked my hand back in the window, cutting my finger on an exposed nail. “Ow!” I squeezed my finger to stop the bleeding. There was another thud. I looked down and saw the bird lying motionless on the ground. Shaking my head, I shut the window. I’d had enough dead things for one day.

After bandaging my finger, luckily on my left hand and not the one I write with, I headed downstairs. The doorbell rang as I was turning toward the kitchen. “I’ll get it,” I called to Mom, who was setting up plates at the coffee table.

“There’s money in my coat pocket.”

I stuck my hand in the left pocket of her coat and found a twenty. That would cover it. I swung open the door and, without even looking at the delivery guy, said, “How much do I owe you?”

“I’ll settle for twenty minutes of your time.”

I jerked my head up and saw Green Eyes. “You.” My first instinct was to slam the door in his face, but he was holding our pizza. “How did you manage this? Did you jump the pizza delivery guy?”

Green Eyes smirked. “I gave him a really good tip to let me deliver the pie to your house.”

“Well, I hope you tipped yourself, too.” I grabbed the pizza from him and slammed the door shut. I nearly dropped the pie, trying to lock the door.

“What was that all about?” Mom asked, steadying the pizza for me.

I didn’t want to freak her out any more than she already was, so I lied. “Nothing. I know that guy from school. He’s a real jerk.”

I shoved the twenty in the waistband of my pajama bottoms before she could notice I was still holding it.

We ate dinner and watched some sappy love story Mom had lying around. It was awful, but I didn’t care because I wasn’t really paying attention anyway. I kept sneaking glances out the window, looking for any sign of Green Eyes. How had he pulled off the pizza delivery? I mean, he didn’t even know we’d ordered pizza. Or did he? I got goose bumps. And where was the police officer? She said she was going to hang around tonight and keep an eye on things.

“Well, I’m beat.” Mom yawned as she turned off the movie.

“It’s over?” I asked.

“Yup, you missed the whole thing. You were in your own little world. You didn’t even hear your phone ring.” She patted my knee. “Is there anything you’d like to talk about before I go to bed?”

“No, I’m pretty tired, too.” I stood up, grabbing the pizza box from the coffee table. “I’ll clean up and then head to bed.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” She checked the lock on the front door. “I saw the police car go by a minute ago. That officer is still out there patrolling, so no need to worry, okay?”

“Great.” I gave Mom a smile. She said a quick goodnight and disappeared upstairs.

I brought the pizza into the kitchen and put it in the fridge. Then, I checked the back door. It was locked, and the deadbolt was in place. I wondered if that was enough.

I went upstairs and crawled into bed, placing my cell on the nightstand. It beeped to let me know I had new voice mail. The first one was from Melodie. “I heard you had lunch with Matt. I guess your day took a turn for the better. I want details tomorrow at school.” Melodie had a way of knowing everything. She probably had people texting her from Alberto’s while Matt and I ate.

The next message was from Matt. “I didn’t know if I should call. Your mom didn’t seem too happy to see me in your house today. I hope you didn’t get in too much trouble.” I smiled. It was sweet of him to call. I wasn’t sure he’d want to see me again after the day we’d had. I saved the message.

The mechanical voice told me I had one more message. “We need to talk. One way or another, you’ll listen to what I have to say.” The phone fell from my hand. How did he get my cell number? Had someone at school given it to him? I picked up my phone and went to my missed calls. The number he’d called from was blocked. I still didn’t have any leads on who he was or what he wanted from me. I put the phone on my nightstand and hugged my knees to my chest. Outside my window, I saw the flashing lights of the police car. Officer Whoever was still out there, yet I didn’t feel much better knowing that.

If Green Eyes had managed to get past the cop once, what was to stop him from doing it again and finding a way into the house while I slept?

Chapter 4

Mom drove me to school the next morning. She didn’t want me standing around at a bus stop with Green Eyes still on the loose. She was trying to pretend she wasn’t scared for me, but I could tell she was. She hadn’t even mentioned the incident with the nurse, but that didn’t really involve me. So what if I’d been one of the last people to see Ms. Steingall? It wasn’t as if I had anything to do with her death.

I walked into lit class and took a seat by Melodie. “Tell me everything!” She was so excited I thought she’d fall out of her seat. “I know you went to Alberto’s, but then what happened?”

I couldn’t resist. “I ordered a bagel and a milkshake, and he ordered a foot-long sub. It was pure magic.” I batted my eyelashes at her.

“Very funny,” she said. “Seriously though, did he kiss you yet? Tell me he kissed you.”

I shook my head. “He almost did, but my mom walked in on us.”

“Oh, ouch. You got caught with a boy in your house without your mom home.”

“We didn’t plan on going back to my house. He took me home after lunch and,” I lowered my voice, “this guy was there.” I looked over my shoulder one row and three seats back. The desk was empty. Where was Green Eyes today?

Melodie snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Who was there?”

“Sorry. A guy from this class. He was staring at me yesterday, and then he followed me down the hall after Nurse Steingall died, and then he showed up at Alberto’s.”

“Whoa, you have a stalker? And he’s in this class?” She looked around the room. “Well, who is he? I have a few things to say to this guy”

I shook my head. “He’s not here. But believe me, you don’t want to meet him. I had to call the cops on him, and an officer patrolled my street all night. But he still got past her. He conned the pizza delivery guy to let him deliver the pizza to my door. And he left a message on my cell. How did he get my number? It’s unlisted.” My voice was shaking.

“Calm down.” Melodie reached out and grabbed my hand. “If he’s in this class, then Mr. Quimby will know who he is. Let’s ask him.”

Mr. Quimby. He’d have a class roster. Even if Green Eyes was a transfer, Mr. Quimby must have some paperwork on him. A name at the very least. “I’ll go ask him.” I got up from my chair. Melodie nodded and let go of my hand.

Mr. Quimby was reading the paper at his desk when I approached. “Um, good morning, Mr. Quimby.”

He looked up briefly and then glanced at the clock as if to point out that he wasn’t on teacher duty until the bell rang.

“Sorry to bother you before class, but I was wondering if you knew the name of the new student. The guy who was in the back of the class yesterday.”

He met my eyes for a second before returning to the paper. I’d never noticed his eyes were green. I mean, who really looks at their teacher’s eyes? “I wasn’t told about a new student. You must be thinking about another class.”

“No, this was the only class we had yesterday. We were let go early because of…” my voice trailed off. I didn’t want to relive the other events that had happened. “He was sitting one row over and three seats back from me. He had dirty blonde hair and green eyes.”

The bell rang. “Sorry, Miss Marshall, but you must be mistaken. Now, if you’ll please take your seat, I need to begin my lesson.”

I scrunched my forehead. How could Mr. Quimby not know about Green Eyes? Teachers should know the students in their classes. I walked back to my seat. Mr. Quimby was already picking up with the lecture from yesterday, droning on and on about Hades and the underworld.

“Well?” Melodie asked.

“He said he didn’t have a new student. He didn’t know who I was talking about.”

The rest of the school day was a blur. Matt had a doctor appointment, so he missed the morning classes. I met up with him at lunch briefly before he had to take a make-up test. “Hey, we didn’t get to really say goodnight yesterday with everything that was going on. Think we could maybe try it again tonight?”

I smiled, and Melodie kicked me under the table. “Yeah, we could do that. What did you have in mind?”

He squatted next to me, giving us more privacy. “Let’s check out the new club in town. Serpentarius.”

Melodie leaned across the table, trying to hear.

“We’re not twenty-one. We’re not even eighteen.” Boy, did I sound like a big dork. Melodie must have heard because she kicked me again, but this time a lot harder. I widened my eyes at her, and she nodded toward Matt.

He laughed. “My cousin’s the bouncer. He just got hired about two months ago. We’ll get in.”

I shrugged. “Why not?”

He stood up and adjusted his backpack on his shoulder. “Great. I’ve got to run. Do you need a ride home after school?”