Page 18 of Something to Believe In
"Axel Peters?"
Axel's shoulders dropped. "Yeah. Sorry. Some jerk just sped down the street, and there are kids all over this neighborhood. I came out to bitch."
The man stretched out his hand. "I agree. I just saw it race past. I'm Mitch DeMario."
"Come on in, Mitch."
He let Mitch pass through the door, then he closed the door behind them. Mitch stopped and stared at the box on the coffee table.
"That's what I wanted to show you. Someone dropped it on my front porch about forty minutes ago. No handwritten note, just the printed postcard and the rose."
"Did you take it out of the box?"
"No."
Mitch nodded. He reached inside and lifted the tissue paper that the rose lay on. Pulling it from the box, he looked all around the box and the tissue paper. There wasn't anything else but the rose.
"So you don't know if it's from the same person who left the note in your mailbox?"
"No. I would suspect it is, but I don't have proof."
"Okay. We'll get the cameras set up tomorrow. You don't need to be here unless you want to be."
He shrugged, "We're off tomorrow. I'll be here, and some of the band may stop by. We're working on some songs."
"Okay. I won't be in your way. I'll just take a walk around right now and take notes. Do you mind showing me where you'd like to have the cameras?"
"Not at all." He turned to the front door. "Obviously there."
Mitch nodded and wrote in a notepad.
Axel stepped into the kitchen and motioned to the patio doors. "Out here for sure. One on the garage and one on the other side of the house where the bedroom windows are."
"All doable. I have plenty in stock. Do you have a name brand you're interested in?"
Axel shook his head. "I'll be honest, I have paid no attention to things like that. Tony set this all up for me, so I'd guess the same thing you're using for Jami's place and the Barn."
Tony nodded and jotted in his notepad. "Got it."
The racing of an engine grew loud, and Axel looked up to see the same car drive by again, only this time slower. "There's that car."
Mitch ran to the door and down the sidewalk, staring at the car. He jotted something in his notepad, and Axel's heartbeat sped up. Things were getting weird. It was a horrible time for this. He wanted to focus on Maddyn and himself, not some deranged individual with a fetish or unrealistic thoughts. And then again, it was always a horrible time for things like this.
Mitch turned to him. "It's up to you, but if you don't feel safe here, you could stay with a friend or in a hotel until tomorrow, when we'll have the cameras set up. After that, anyone approaching we'll get on video, and I can then run facial recognition, and we can identify the person. From there, police can talk to him or her, and if the behavior doesn't stop, a restraining order can be obtained."
"Okay. Let me think about it."
Mitch nodded. "Good. Okay, let me take some measurements, and I'll get out of your hair."
Axel paced the living room as Mitch moved silently around his house with a tape measure and his notepad. His back was tight, and he wasn't scared, but just the same, he wanted to be with Mads. He tapped her number on his phone.
"Hi."
He grinned. "Hi. How about I come to your place?"
She hesitated slightly. "Okay."
"I'll be there in about twenty minutes."
