Point of Attraction (30 page)

She hit her pockets. “My cell phone!
Damn it. I must have left it at home.”

“Or in my car,” April said.

“You’re right. It slipped out of my
pocket and I shoved it back in. It must have fallen out again. All
I need is one of the kids to call home, not get an answer, and call
my cell.”

“But I, on the other hand, have mine,”
Cassie said, holding it up. She punched in the call. “Hey, Ryan,”
she said, after a few seconds. “This is Cassie. Can I talk to
Paula?”

When Georgie saw Cassie’s eyes shoot
up, meet hers, and turn away sharply, her stomach churned with
dread.

“What?” Cassie asked, her voice rising.
“No. Go out and stop her. Georgie’s with us. Go get her. I’ll stay
on the line.”

When Georgie reached for the phone
Cassie didn’t even try to keep it from her.

“He’s taking the phone with him out to
the garage,” Cassie said.

“What happened?” Georgie asked
Cassie.

“Paula received a text message from you
asking that she come to the house,” Cassie went on, her breathing
labored as though she’d been running.

Georgie leaned on the wall
for support while listening to Ryan’s feet hitting the floor as he
ran through the house. “Paula!” she heard him shout, then a little
clicking noise. The silence dragged on.
Not my Paula, please, God
. Mason
backed away from them and began punching in numbers on his cell
phone.

“I didn’t even know I had text
messaging,” Georgie murmured, more to herself than anyone else.
“Wouldn’t even know how to use it.”

“Mom?”

“Paula! Oh, Baby.” Georgie nearly
dropped with relief. “Thank God, Ryan caught you.”

“He flicked the outside lights,” Paula
said. “I was nearly out the driveway when I saw them flashing in my
rear view mirror.”

That was the clicking sound, Georgie
thought. Bless him. Smart. Very smart.

“Are you okay?” Paula asked. “Why did
you send me the Text Message?”

“Paula. Listen to me.”

“Mom, it was your phone on caller
ID.”

“My cell phone fell out of my pocket. I
don’t know how to use Text Message. Didn’t even know I had
it.”

“Oh, crap,” April said, once again
running a hand over her hair. “Well, good thing I have car
insurance, cause I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Oh, no,” Cassie said, her hand on
April’s shoulder.

Georgie couldn’t bring herself to meet
April’s eyes. She could only imagine how her cell phone had gotten
from the back seat of April’s BMW into the hands of this
maniac.

“Mom, what’s going on?”

“I’ll explain later. But under no
circumstances are you to go to the house or accept any messages
from me as truth unless you hear my voice.”

“Oh, my God. It wasn’t that Jeffrey
Sanders, was it? There’s still some crazy person out there. Mom,
we’re coming over.”

“No! Put Ryan on.”

“Mom,” Paula pleaded.

“Please, Paula, put Ryan
on.”

She looked to Mason. Was he talking to
Roberts? Tonie maybe? She could hear him giving her home address
and what had happened. Then, “Thanks, man. I owe you. No. No need
to mention it to her. I don’t want her calling every hour to see
where I’m at.” There was a pause, then, “I’m where I want to be.
Yeah. The Review Board said tomorrow morning at ten.” Georgie saw
Mason’s chest expand and relax as he rubbed a hand across the back
of his neck. “But I’ll tell you... honestly. I’d just as soon not
go back on duty until this is taken care of.” His mouth pulled up
at one corner. “Thanks for working with me on this. I owe you big.”
He flipped shut his cell.

“What’s going on, Mrs. G.?” Ryan’s
voice came through.

“Ryan, please...” Georgie started to
say.

“Can I talk to him?” Mason asked,
reaching for the phone and Georgie offered no argument. “Ryan, this
is Mason Montgomery. Convince Paula that her mom is fine.” A pause,
but Georgie could hear Ryan’s voice. “No, Nick left. She’s been
with Cassie and April.” He waited a moment, nodding, then broke in.
“Ryan, can you trust me here? Right now, the less I say to you, the
less jumping to conclusions there’ll be. Just tell Paula, her mom
wants her nowhere near her right now.”

Georgie nodded, and mouthed
a
Thank you
.

Mason smiled at her and touched the tip
of his finger to her nose. “Don’t let Paula get any more excited
than she already is. Her mom’s taken care of. Unless Nick comes
back,” he told Ryan, “I’ll be spending the night. She won’t be
alone. I called the police to check out the house and property.
They’ll be there well before we arrive giving the place a good
sweep. Would you call Steven and warn him?”

“Oh, my God, Steven.” Georgie’s head
was spinning, thankful for Mason’s quick thinking.

“Just in case he should get a similar
message,” Mason said into the phone.

Georgie could hear Ryan’s voice with
Paula’s mixed in. Mason’s grin widened as he wrapped a hand around
the back of her neck and drew her to him. “Believe me, she’s become
very important to me too. G‘nite.”

He flip-shut the phone and handed it
back to Cassie.

Cassie patted April on the chest, and
pointed at Mason. “You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.”

Mason’s cell phone rang and he flipped
it open, looked at the caller ID. Georgie saw the name, T. Clark,
pop up. He flipped it shut, put it back at his waist
holder.

“Come on,” he said. “Best go see what
we’re facing at your place.”

“I’ll go tell Dr. Kane we’re leaving,”
Cassie said. “He doesn’t want to leave Daisy or Max
alone.”

“Tell him thank you for coming in for
me,” Georgie said.

Mason tossed April his keys. “You take
my 4Runner. I’ll go with George.”

The early evening air felt cool and
soothing on Georgie’s face. The clouds had cleared away and the
stars were bright. As they started to split up to get into their
vehicles Mason’s phone went off again. Once more he opened it and
after looking at the caller ID, he flipped the lid back
down.

“Let’s go,” he said, and Georgie beeped
open the doors to her Subaru.

It was a quiet drive to the house.
Georgie wanted to ask Mason so many questions, but decided like so
many other things in their life, each one seemed to surface at its
appropriate time. When they pulled into her driveway and rounded
the small circle in the yard, there were three police cars parked.
Flashlight beams were moving about the shrubbery and
fencing.

Chapter twenty-five

The drive home erased none of what
happened, and reality was bustling about Georgie’s house. Police
were searching the area around her house and around April’s BMW. A
tall officer wearing a heavy jacket with POLICE in bright yellow
across the back turned at their approach and began walking toward
them. Georgie turned off the ignition. It was Officer
Roberts.

“Oh, no,” Georgie said, getting a good
look at April’s BMW. The back passenger window was broken, its door
left slightly ajar. Georgie and Mason got out of the car and went
to the BMW. An officer wearing CST across his back and chest held
out a hand to keep them away. He then motioned to another officer,
a woman, wearing the same letters. They began powdering the car
door inside and out. After running a blue light over the surface,
the policewoman shook her head and carefully opened the door to
begin inspection of the interior.

At the approaching headlights, both
Georgie and Mason turned. It was Mason’s 4Runner.

When April and Cassie got out, Georgie
swallowed hard. How was she to approach April? What could she say?
Cassie immediately rounded the front end of the car and went to
April, but April just stood there, taking in the scene before
closing the door. Georgie’s heart saddened, heavy with guilt, as
she watched April make her way closer with Cassie at her side
trying to buffer the moment.

“I’m so sorry,” Georgie finally managed
to say.

April raised a hand in that gentle way
of hers to shush her, and silently urged Cassie to stand aside.
Alone, April moved around the rear of the car to look at the other
side and back, making sure she kept out of the police’s way. Her
hands were in fists, now and then coming up slightly then back down
at her sides. Georgie saw the straight shoulders slump for only a
moment before April drew them back with a deep breath, her stance
now solid.

“I am so sorry,” Georgie said again,
knowing she couldn’t say it often enough.

“Don’t be sorry, Georgie.” April’s
voice was soft, no pretense in her manner... just thoughtful. “You
didn’t do it. It’s just a car. The window can be replaced. I’m
pissed. No question that I’m pissed, but it’s just a
car.”

“What was in there they wanted so
badly?”

They all turned at Officer Roberts’
question. Georgie looked about, wondering where Tonie was. Had she
and Roberts finally had their inevitable falling out?

“We think it was my cell phone,”
Georgie told Roberts. “It slips out of these pants’ pocket and I
guess with all the happenings, I must not have put it back in.
Anyway... he’s got it, whoever it is.”

Mason’s cell phone went off. Even in
the dark Georgie could see displeasure shadow his features. He took
the phone from his waist. It kept ringing as he flipped open its
lid. His mood changed as he turned it so she could see the caller
ID, then showed its face to Roberts. It displayed the name,
George.

“Now we’re being taunted,” Mason
said.

“Or he doesn’t know you’re here,”
Roberts said, “and he’s trying to lure you like he did Ms.
Gainsworth’s daughter.”

Mason nodded, let it ring once more,
before answering. “George? You okay? George?”

There was a audible fading
away of a, “
Beep, beep, beep.”
Mason shook his head and held out the open face
so they could see. It showed the caller had hung up; CALL ENDED. He
was about to place it back at his waist when it ping-pinged. “Text
message,” he told them, and once more held it up so they could see.
Still from Georgie’s cell phone, the text message read:
KISS HER GOOD-BYE
.

No one said anything before Officer
Roberts cleared his throat. “Ms. Gainsworth. We’d like to check out
the inside of your house, if it’s okay with you.”

Kiss her
good-bye
. The printout stayed in that wide
screen of her mind, the one that makes all things so much
bigger.

“Ms. Gainsworth?” Roberts
said.

“George?” Mason said.

Mason’s voice and the touch of Cassie’s
hand on her shoulder blanked out the screen in her head and pulled
her back to the moment.

“What?” she asked, still disoriented
and not sure what they wanted from her.

“They need to secure the inside of the
house,” Mason said.

Without answering, she pulled out her
remote to open the garage door and handed Roberts her house keys.
He nodded at her and turned to his team.

“Okay, guys,” he called out. “Every
nook and cranny. Nothing is left unturned. Seeking anything out of
the ordinary.”

They disappeared into her house, black
ravens swooping in through her kitchen door, and Georgie turned
away, totally at a loss as to what to do.

“You want to come home with us?” Cassie
asked.

Georgie shook her head. “Don’t you
think I’ve brought enough grief down onto your shoulders?” she
asked, motioning toward April who was still watching the police do
their work inside her BMW with the blue light and swirling dusting
brushes.

“Looks clean back here,” someone said
from the backseat.

“Too clean,” the policewoman said, and
the work continued. “Looks like a wipe-down.”

Georgie jerked away from Cassie’s
knuckles gently tapping at the side of her head for attention.
“Listen to me. April called it. The window is replaceable. You are
not. Come home with us.”

It took a while before
Georgie could turn and look at her home, a place she shared with
Sam. Somehow, the black clad figures, albeit police officers, had
shattered that Norman Rockwell painting. She wanted to run from it,
never return to this now desecrated place. Opening her mouth to say
yes to Cassie’s kind offer, Georgie shut it, her teeth clicking as
she clenched them. Is this what she was going to be? A
runaway-and-hide scaredy-cat? She had snubbed a
screw you
to the stalker. No way was
she going to back down and let this maniac drive her from this
house.

“No,” she told Cassie, then walked over
to April and inched up on her toes to wrap an arm about her
shoulders, for a patting hug. “Make sure you bill my insurance for
this.”

Georgie found the top of her head being
patted in return as April said, “Georgie, it’s just a car. I could
easily buy two BMWs with no dent in our bank account, but if
anything happened to you, Cassie would not survive. I,” tapping
herself on the chest, “couldn’t take that. Nick would follow. Three
people cannot be replaced.” She took a deep breath and looked down
at her. “You want to help me? Do whatever it takes to keep yourself
safe. That’s all I ask.”