Page 58 of For Always
The words calmed Tyler momentarily.
“I talked to Mama and Daddy a couple of days ago,” Gabriella told Alex. “They knew where I was and what I was doing.”
Monica came to stand at the end of the couch. She wore navy blue form-fitting pants, a white blouse and a short blue jacket to match. Her black hair was held together by a band and left to hang over her shoulder. She had brown eyes, darker than Gabriella’s, and a cool stare.
“That was before the incident,” Monica announced.
“What incident?” Gabriella asked.
“Maybe we should give them some privacy,” Dessie suggested.
“No,” Gabriella said. “It’s okay. You’re like my family too, Dessie.”
Jagger cleared his throat.
“You too, Jagger,” Gabriella said staring somewhere over Tyler’s shoulder.
Tyler didn’t turn to look. He didn’t want to take his eyes off her, not again.
“At two-thirty yesterday afternoon Detective Cole Desdune was called to the scene of a vehicle fire,” Alex said.
Tyler’s heart sank as he thought of the last call he’d received about a vehicle fire.
Gabriella looked confused. “Cole’s a homicide detective.”
“He was called in because he’s related to the owner of the car that was set on fire,” Alex continued.
Gabriella gasped.
Monica reached down and touched her leg. “Nobody was in the car, Gabriella. It was in the parking garage where you parked it before you went out of town.”
“My car? You came all the way to Texas because my car was on fire and nobody was in it.”
“No,” Alex told her. “We came all the way to Texas because when Cole questioned the residents in the building about seeing any strange or suspicious people hanging around the building, they all gave the same description of a man. One woman even knew the man’s name.”
Gabriella shook her head. “No,” she whispered.
“Austin Sterner,” Alex stated.
Tyler stood. He dropped Gabriella’s hand and faced Alex. “Are you saying that her ex who has been stalking her for months set her car on fire yesterday?”
Alex raised a brow. “For months?” he asked and looked around Tyler to Gabriella. “This guy has been bothering you for months and you don’t tell anybody anything about it!”
“Wait a minute,” Gabriella said. “If Austin set my car on fire, he’s still in Connecticut. He’s not here in Hobbs Creek.”
Tyler turned back to her. “No, he’s not here, Gabriella. He’s nowhere near you. He’s never going to hurt you again.”
“He hurt you!” Alex roared. “Gabriella Joy Bennett you are going to have to tell me this whole story and right now or I’m packing you up and putting you on the first plane back home.”
“She’s an adult,” Tyler interjected.
“I wish one of you in this room would act like an adult, instead of school yard boys getting their briefs all in a bunch,” Dessie stated.
She walked over, pushing Tyler and Alex out of the way.
“Dr. Morrison just pulled up. So we’re all going to get out of this room and let the doctor have a look at her.”
When nobody dared to speak, Dessie continued.
