Except Melanie’s sense of security. But I didn’t voice those words. She was doing well, better than I could’ve expected. She’d roamed around town today alone, and now she was walking around her loft. I could tell she was frightened, the way she held on to my hand, the way she incessantly gnawed on her lower lip. But she was doing it, and I was so proud of her. Melanie Carmichael was the strongest woman I’d ever met.

The insurance adjuster arrived, and I stayed by Melanie’s side as she answered his questions and he, along with the officer, looked around the apartment, making notes and taking photos.

When the adjuster finally left, she fell against me.

I kissed the top of her head. “You okay?”

She nodded against my shirt. “Just…exhausted. And I suppose a little overdramatic.”

“Is there anything you need? Gather some stuff, and then let’s go home.”

“Home?”

“Well, my home.” But that wasn’t what I’d meant when I said home. I had meant our home. Melanie’s and mine. How I wished that could be. But once she was strong enough, I would have to tell her the truth.

“All right.” She unclamped herself from me and walked about the apartment, gathering things.

She went into her bedroom for a few moments, and I sat down on what was left of the couch. Her book was on the floor. I picked it up and gasped. The word “bitch” had been scrawled on the front cover in black permanent marker. Melanie didn’t need to see this. I shoved the book under a cushion. The officer, seated in a chair across from me, eyed me.

I quickly put the book back, hoping Melanie wouldn’t notice it.

“Jonah!”

I jerked upward, running into her bedroom. “Melanie? What’s wrong?”

I found her in her walk-in closet, sitting on the floor, holding a towel and shoe.

“This is the towel I was wearing when… And the shoe I tried to…”

I pulled her up and took the items from her. “We’ll throw them away. Or we’ll burn them if you want. Anything to cleanse this place of his evil.”

She chuckled nervously at that. “Now who’s being overdramatic?”

“I’ll take them to the dumpster downstairs. We don’t need to burn them. Will you be okay here for a few minutes?”

“Sorry,” Officer Loring said. “Those are evidence. They need to stay here.”

Melanie nodded. “Of course. I understand. I’ll be fine. I didn’t want to go in the closet, but most of my clothing is here. When we were here before, I just grabbed clothes out of my drawers so I wouldn’t have to come in here.”

“Look around, Melanie,” I said. “No one’s here. This is your closet. He had no right to be here, but you do.”

“I know.” She began pulling things off of the rack. “I’m okay now.”

“You need help?” the officer asked.

“No. Please, just take the towel and shoe”—she stooped down and grabbed the other of the pair—“shoes out of here.”

He took them from her and left the bedroom. Why they hadn’t been removed before now was a mystery to me.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yeah. I just need a minute in here. Alone.”

I nodded and walked out to join Loring. A few minutes later, my cell phone buzzed in my back pocket. A text from a number I didn’t recognize.

I read the words, and then read them again.

I will have you.

Chapter Twenty

Melanie

I was pacing around my bedroom when Jonah returned.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“I’m okay. It’s just… I don’t think I can live here anymore, you know? Even if I did live here, I’d have to get all new stuff. But I really don’t feel safe here.”

I stopped before clamping my hand to my mouth. I hoped he didn’t think I was inviting myself to stay at his home indefinitely.

“You don’t have to decide that right now. Who knows when the police will release the area, and it will take a few weeks for your insurance company to settle your loss anyway. But you do need to take some time to pick out all the stuff you want.”

“I don’t know if I have it in me to do that today.” I wasn’t lying. Just being in the loft made my skin crawl, and seeing the towel and shoe had almost sent me into hysteria. I was having symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, perfectly normal in my case. I did need to get out of here.

“That’s fine. Just find anything of value to take today, to keep it safe.”

I had very little of any value. I kept all my important documents in a safe deposit box at my bank, along with some jewelry from my grandmother. The few pieces of gold jewelry I kept here weren’t worth much. Pretty much everything I had was replaceable. That didn’t say very much for my life up to this point. Forty years, and what did I have to show for my life? No husband, no children, though I’d never thought I had it in me to be a mother. Sure, I’d helped some people but not all of them. One was haunting me still.

I covered my eyes with my hands.

“Melanie?” Jonah’s hands were warm on my shoulder.

“I’m all right,” I choked out, opening my eyes. “Give me about five minutes to gather up what I need.”

Jonah nodded. “Just tell me what you need. I’ll take it all down to the truck.”

I eyed my file cabinet in the corner of my bedroom. Gina’s file was in there, as well as encrypted on my computer and on the cloud. I turned to Jonah. “Just that,” I said, gesturing. “I’ll grab what clothes I want. Everything else can stay. I’ll follow you to your place in my car. That way, I’ll have it with me.”

I had some money saved up. I needed a change. I’d buy some new clothes. Some new furniture. And once this loft got back in shape after I got the insurance payment, it was going on the market. Would anyone buy a loft where a woman had been abducted?

Just what I didn’t need. Another loss.

 

When we returned to the ranch, Jonah carried the file cabinet into my bedroom as well as a couple of suitcases I’d filled with clothes and other things I wanted, which wasn’t much. It was nearing dinnertime, but I wasn’t very hungry, so I decided to go to bed.