Page 40 of Lost on Ice
“Uh, yes, it’s right…”
“Mommy!” Lilah shrieks as she begins to cry and Chase sniffs before he starts crying too.
I’m overwhelmed and starting to panic, wanting to soothe the kids but needing to pay attention to the officers. For the first time in a long time, I hate the fact that I’m on my own…
“Hello? Abbie?”
I frown at the sound of the deep voice coming from my doorway. The cops turn to see who it is as well, and to my shock, Jake is standing on my threshold.
I stare at him, stunned. “What are you doing here?”
Looking around, he takes in the scene, then immediately crosses to the fold out and picks up Lilah. She practically jumps into his arms and buries her face against his shoulder. The sight strikes me cold; it’s something I’ve imagined in my head, so many times, and it’s utterly surreal to see it happening for the first time in these circumstances. I’ll have lots of feelings about it later, I’m sure.
“Carter and Sophie called,” he explains. “They’re still thirty minutes out but asked if I’d come over and be with you and the kids.”
A rush of relief and gratitude crashes through me, and I have to stop myself from throwing my arms around him in a tight hug.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
He grabs my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“I’ll take care of the kids. You talk to the police.”
He moves toward a sobbing Chase and removes the pillow wall before sitting on the bed and gathering him in his arms with Lilah to comfort them. I watch them for several seconds, a tender feeling blooming in my chest.
“Ma’am?” the dark-haired cop says, jerking me out of my wandering thoughts.
“Oh, yes, sorry.” I hurry to show them the broken sliding door as well as my trashed room. They take pictures of everything, including the message on my closet wall.
“Any idea who could have done this?”
I wrap my arms around myself, feeling chilled as I explain, “Okay, so here’s the deal. Somebody… a stalker, followed me here from Harrisburg. I just moved back here and thought I’d left them behind, but they must have followed me, because I keep getting messages from them.”
“A stalker?” The cop pulls out a pad of paper and scribbles some notes. “Any clue who that could be?”
“No, I’m sorry. I haven’t been able to figure it out.”
“Okay. We’ll take a few more pictures and process the scene.”
I swallow and nod. “All right.”
I stand by the door as they poke around my room for a while longer, and when they’re done, we move back out to the living room.
“All right, so you thought this might have been a stalker?” the cop asks, scribbling notes on the pad of paper he’s been carrying around.
“Nomightthere. I know it is.” I steal a glance toward Jake. He’s got the kids calmed down and watching TV, but his gaze is locked on me as I continue, “I made a police report about it back in Harrisburg, but they weren’t able to do anything because he was just sending me messages. He hadn’t done anything to physically harm me. Not until now.”
The officer nods. “Well, we’re looking at a possible misdemeanor for stalking if this is a first time offender, and another few misdemeanors for criminal trespass and destruction of property, unless you can show that $5000 of damages has been done. Then we can bump it up to a felony. Granted, we need to identify this person before any of that can happen.”
My gut twists. “So, whoever this is could be punished more severely for ruining my clothes than for harassing me?”
The officer gives me a small shrug and a sympathetic look. “Like I said, it depends on the amount of damage done, and if he has a criminal record…but that’s the best we can do right now.”
“I see.” I let out a breath and shake my head. “Okay, well, it is what it is, I guess.”
Feeling eyes on me, I look back over at Jake again to see rage burning in his eyes, but he blinks and it vanishes before he turns his focus back on the kids.
Swallowing, I turn my attention back to the police.
