Page 127 of A Home for Harmony
“Because I’m smarter than anyone gives me credit for.”
“We’ve always known you were smart,” Erica said.
“It’s not the time. I know you think it, but everyone else always worried. Even Micah hasn’t been a fan of my career and that is why I didn’t want to tell him this. I was waiting for him to tell me he told me so.”
“Did he?” Erica asked, frowning. “I’m going to be mad if he did.”
“He didn’t,” she said. “But he wanted to. I know it. He looked at it all like I was going to the police. There wasn’t anything that could be done. There is no threat. I didn’t know who they were. They’ve never come in contact with me that I knew of.”
No reason to say that Micah had yelled and then looked as if it was taking a Herculean effort to stop himself from doing it again.
“Are you sure it’s Danielle?” Erica said.
“It has to be. It’s all making sense. I started working with her one-on-one recently and the messages all but stopped. It’s as if she needed to talk to me or have my attention and once she got that she was good.”
“You’re making those assumptions,” Erica said.
“I know. But what I showed you is a fact. It can’t be a coincidence. They’re even lined up in the same order.”
“I’m not sure. Not unless you ask her. Are you going to?”
“I’m going to do something better. I feel it in my gut that it’s not a threat. I worked myself up because it was always in the back of my head that someone would comment how worried they were. I’m going to put a video out there and I need you to record it.”
“You’re joking,” Erica said. “You’re going to call her out in front of everyone? You never do anything like that.”
“I’m not going to do that,” she said, shaking her head. “But I’m not going to hide. This is a real thing. You and the rest of our family have been worried about it for years. Maybe it was innocent in Danielle’s eyes, but she has to see how it affects people. Others need to see it. I’ve got a platform to put these messages out there. It’s not the first time I’ve done it.”
“Not like this,” Erica said. “Are you sure it’s wise?”
“Trust me, please. I know what I’m doing. If Danielle is the person, in my heart, I know she’ll reach out and admit it and apologize. If she doesn’t, it’s still probably her, but I’ll have to call her out on it and then report it. I don’t want to go there and scare her.”
“You could be completely off base and it’s not her at all,” Erica said.
“I don’t think so. I need to do this. If you don’t want to help, that’s fine, but I want to do it outside sitting on the dock. The sun is shining and it always makes me feel good. I want the energy and vibe to be positive and not scary.”
Erica stood up and put her hand out to help her. “I want to see it before you post it, but I’m going to trust you.”
38
MY COMPLETE SUPPORT
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Micah shouted when Harmony opened the door to him five hours later.
The startled look on her face said he overstepped, but that wasn’t his concern.
The fact the woman he loved put herself out there and all but taunted the person frightening her, making her a bigger target and scaring his daughter in the process, was enough to have him racing over to make sure no one was holding her at gunpoint.
“Nice to see you too,” she said. “But if you’re going to talk to me like that, you can leave.” She crossed her arms and had the most serious expression he’d ever witnessed.
Erica showed up behind her sister and mimicked it. “I second that. Though Harmony scared me earlier and I didn’t want to help her, she has my complete support now. This is our house. Badge or not, you’re not stepping foot in it with that tone of voice.”
He took a deep breath. “I’m not apologizing for being upset. I shouldn’t have shouted and sworn at you though.”
“No,” Harmony said. “You shouldn’t have. You can come in if you’re going to have a mature conversation with me; otherwise go back to work and cool off.”
He moved past the two sisters. “We’ve got to talk about this. I don’t know why you did it and didn’t tell me, but you could have made yourself a bigger target for this person.”
“No,” she said. “I didn’t. I know who it is. I’m not in any danger and feel like a complete idiot for overreacting about this. For letting it control me for so long because I let other people’s influences get in my head.”
