Falling in Love Again: A Valentine's Day Proposal

“I argued with Abbi.” The tears stream down her cheeks. “She wanted me to go in. She told me that I was just being paranoid and that it wasn’t him, but it was. I’m sure of it. She fought me, telling me that I needed to go in, but I didn’t. I was too scared, so in the end I made her drive away.”

“Did she bring you here right away?”

Raelyn shakes her head. “No, we went back to mine for a while. We argued about it some more. She really doesn’t understand why I can’t speak to the police, but it doesn’t feel like the right thing to do. Not when I’m under threat.” She looks up at me pleadingly. “It was him, Carter, I’m sure of it. It was him.”

I believe her from the depth of my soul. I think that I would know if I saw him as well. “I understand. I get it.”

“You do? Because I keep thinking that I’ve been doing the wrong thing.”

I blame myself for this. I really do. I know that it wasn’t me who committed the murder, but I still feel like I need to sort it out. “You did the right thing. We don’t want to make this any worse than it is.”

“So, what do we do? How do we make sure this doesn’t happen again?”

I hold her head to my chest and let her cry against me while my mind rolls over and over trying to find a solution. If these guys are really watching the police station, making sure that we don’t go inside, then that’s out of the question. So is doing nothing. I’m going to have to take action somehow.

Lee. He’s the only person who can really help me with this. My private investigator with skills beyond belief. This is way out of the usual caliber of things that I ask him to do, but I’m sure he can do it. I hate to drag him in to this, it’s a big old mess, but I’ll pay him well for it. I’ll make sure it’s okay.

“I’m going to sort this,” I promise Raelyn. “I’m going to make some calls right now.”

“Calls to whom?” she asks me curiously. “The police?”

“People I know who can sort this out for us.” I remain tight lipped; I don’t want to give her more than she needs to know. “Or at least give me some information. We can work it out from there.”

“Information… right. Okay. I see. And you know someone who can help us?”

I nod. I’m not going to tell her that he researched her in the beginning. That might piss her off. I only did it to protect my own interests at the time, not that it worked out in the end since I didn’t want to work with a woman, but there’s no point in complicating it further. I need Lee right now, we both do.

“Yes, I will call him now. Sort this out. We can’t just do nothing anymore.”

She leans back in the couch as I step away from her, pulling out my cell phone. I don’t know how much she trusts me but I hope that it’s enough. If I can solve this, it will really help us.

I step into the kitchen, wanting to do this in private. I dial Lee’s number and listen to the incessant ringing which irritates the living hell out of me. He usually answers much quicker than this.

“Hello?” he answers, flooding me with relief. “Carter, is everything okay?”

“No, Lee, I really need your help. And with something that isn’t typical.”

He doesn’t answer me for a beat too long. “Something that isn’t typical?” He doesn’t sound too impressed by these words, and I can hardly blame him. I don’t feel good about it myself. I would much rather not stretch this mess out any further, but it’s gotten to the point where I really don’t have any choice in the matter.

“Yes. I… I had a situation last night. I saw something, and now I need to sort it out.”

“This sounds bad. It sounds dangerous, Carter. Do I need to be concerned?”

“I don’t know,” I reply honestly. “Possibly. I saw a crime committed last night.”

“A crime?” Lee’s tone is filled with concern. “What sort of crime?”

“A murder. And I’m concerned it might have to do with the serious criminals around here. You know, the organized crime groups that you’ve been telling me about. I don’t know who else would do this.”

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s anything to do with them…”

“I know. I do know that anyone can murder, but the fear that it’s them has stopped me from reporting it. I already know from everything that you’ve told me that I could be in danger for grassing. But I need to somehow put a stop to anyone coming after me. I think the guy saw me, and Raelyn as well.”

“Raelyn?” He jumps on that. “As in Raelyn Owens? You were with her?”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not about to get into that right now. This has to take priority.”

“Okay, tell me everything. I need all the details if I’m going to help you… but we will get back to that as soon as we can. As soon as all of this is over, I want to know what’s going on with Raelyn.”