Page 41 of Amore
There is motion at your Gate
I clicked on the backdoor notification because it was the most recent. On the live feed, I saw a man dressed in all black, a ski mask covering his face, fiddling with the doorknob. My heart rate shot up, and I pressed the button on the app to speak to him.
“Stop!”
He paused briefly but kept messing with the lock. A few seconds later, he went to the window above the kitchen sink and broke it.
“You son of a bitch!”
He hoisted himself up, and I exited out of the app and dialed Frankie as I crossed over a double yellow line and made a U-turn. Her phone rang several times as I raced toward her house. She’d said she was going to shower and was probably still taking one. I wasn’t too far away, but I was far enough to worry something would happen before I got there. I hung up and dialed dispatch. Once they answered, I gave them my badge number and Frankie’s address, telling them someone was breaking in and giving them the details I had.
My tires squealed as I raced down the neighborhood streets. When I got to Frankie’s, I slammed on the brakes and threw my car into park in front of the closed gate. I pulled out my gun and badge, put the brass insignia around my neck, and got out of my car. I could hear sirens in the background and knew backup was coming, but I’d beat them in the eight minutes it took to race over.
As I entered through the pedestrian gate along the fence, Amore came running from the side of the house toward me. I gave him a quick head pat before continuing to the backyard, checking in the windows for any movement as I went. The wooden gate that separated the front yard from the back was open, and I closed it, locking Amore in the backyard so he couldn’t escape when backup came. Moving to the back door, I twisted the knob and the closed door gave way. The guy had to have let Amore out once he’d entered so Frankie wouldn’t hear him bark. The alarm beeped, wanting me to put in the code to disable it, which gave me pause, given the perp was again in the house. I disabled it quickly, and with my gun aimed, finger ready to fire, I moved into the dark house.
“Stop!” Frankie screamed. “Let me go.”
I ran, going toward her voice.
“Get off of me!”
The bedroom door was open, and when I passed over the threshold, the man was on top of a naked Frankie in the middle of her bed, pinning her arms as she tried to wiggle free. My first instinct was to shoot, but instead, I quickly holstered my gun and charged him. Our bodies collided, sending us over the other edge of the bed. I ripped the cloth mask off, not focusing on the man himself, but wanting to have my fist connect with his skin.
“You think you can come into my girl’s home and attack her?” I pinned him to the ground with my forearm to his throat and raised my free arm before throwing my first blow at his cheek. “When you heard me on the camera, you should have stopped.” Another hit. “But you didn’t, and now …” I threw several more punches, not bothering to finish my sentence. His blood splattered across my fist as I connected with his nose.
“LAPD!” an officer shouted from down the hall. “Make yourself known.”
My arm was raised, ready to strike again, but I paused, looking over at Frankie where she cowered on the bed. Her knees were up, and her arms were around her legs as though to cover her naked body, shaking. I dropped the intruder, knowing he couldn’t go anywhere in the seconds it would take the officer to come into the room. I wrapped Frankie’s comforter around her and held her tight against me.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whispered. “I’ve got you.”
“LAPD, show me your hands,” the cop ordered, coming into the room with his gun hoisted.
Raising my badge with my free arm, I kept one wrapped around Frankie as she clung to me. “I’m LAPD. Who you want is on the floor.” I held onto a shaking Frankie as the man was arrested.
She gasped. “I think I know him from somewhere.”
“You do?”
She was silent for a few moments. “I swear he’s the guy who installed my alarms.”
“Really?”
It would explain how he could get around the alarms, even without knowing the codes. Anyone could get a jammer that would jam the frequency, making the alarm sensors unable to detect an interruption. I’d thought of the person using a jammer since the alarm had still been activated the first time, but I hadn’t wanted to freak Frankie out even more. I should have thought of something to prevent Frankie from being attacked, but a criminal would always find a way.
“I think so,” she said. “But I don’t know for sure.”
I knew the responding officers would figure it out. I was more focused on Frankie than finding out the hows and whys.
While Frankie got dressed, I gave my statement just outside her bedroom door. She was checked out by EMTs and then gave her statement from her living room while I made sure Amore was okay. The police gathered the evidence they needed and left.
“Can I get you anything?” I asked, coming to sit next to Frankie on her couch.
“Can you stay with me?”
“Of course.”
“Not just tonight.” She looked up at me.
