Burn (Michael Bennett 7)

“When he woke the next morning, he said he had blacked out after partying with some old friends, and that they must have put something in his drink. He had some really great excuses, couldn’t stop apologizing. He cried. So I let him stay.”

She started crying then.

“After that—after he bloodied my face and my clothes—I let him stay. Imagine? He started hitting me pretty regularly then. I’m supposed to be this fashion guru, and I was so stupid.”

CHAPTER 24

ARTURO STOOD IMMEDIATELY AND gently held the woman’s elbow.

“No, Holly. It’s OK. Don’t do that. We’re here, OK? We’re going to help you now. This man tricked you. It could have happened to anyone. Don’t blame yourself. He’s in the wrong, not you.”

She sniffled, composed herself.

“Eventually, about a month later, I just woke up one morning and realized how crazy my life had become, and I threw him out. The super is a good friend of mine, and he and a couple of guys who work here came up and backed me up when I told Roger to get his stuff and get out.

“That very next night when I came home from work, I saw him through the glass of the front door, sitting in one of the lobby windows, holding a bulging laundry bag and a butcher knife. I ran back and got into my cab and called the cops, but he was gone by the time they showed up. He took everything. My jewelry, my computer, a bunch of my financial records.”

“When was this?” I said.

“About a month and a half ago,” she said. “I reported it to the precinct, canceled all my credit cards, changed the locks. I thought it was over until he started leaving all these anonymous threats on my social media page. He told me how he’s been following me, waiting for the right moment. Biding his time. ‘You can’t just throw me away,’ he said.

“He started calling my cell and landline in the middle of the night. Sometimes both at the same time. He’s even called and harassed some of my coworkers, people I introduced him to. The things he says.”

She shook her head rapidly.

&n

bsp; “It’s like a nightmare. I’ve been to court three times, but I still can’t get a restraining order because I don’t even know his real name.”

“Holly,” I said. “Do you have any time at work that you could take off? Maybe two weeks or so?”

“No,” she said. “We’re swamped with a new client, a celebrity fragrance that’s just getting ramped up. Why?”

“This guy seems pretty impulsive and obsessed. If you took a trip, if he noticed you weren’t around for a consistent stretch, it might take the thrill out of it for him, and he might move on.”

“But I can’t. I just told you,” Holly said as she started crying again.

While Arturo continued to comfort her, I took a cell phone photograph of the suspect and sent it to the local precinct captain’s e-mail address. Then I made an actual phone call to the precinct captain to fast-track the case.

He told me he’d let the shift commanders know what was up and gave me the desk number for Holly to call instead of 911 in case she spotted this wacko. I wrote the precinct number on the back of my card along with my cell phone.

“Holly, listen to me, OK?” I said. “I don’t care if it’s day or night. I live pretty close by downtown. You see Roger, you call the precinct, then you call me, and we’ll come running right away, OK? You have friends close by now. You don’t have to face this alone.”

Holly nodded. She finally looked relieved.

“Thank you so much for coming by and taking my situation seriously, Detectives,” she told us as she led us back out into the hallway.

CHAPTER 25

FOR THE NEXT HALF hour, we drove around the Morningside Park area, looking for Roger.

“Good work comforting that lady up there, Arturo. She was pretty shook up. You’re good with people,” I said as we circled the block.

“Poor lady,” Arturo said, shaking his head. “Least I could do. Imagine some fruitcake stalking you like that?”

“This guy is more than just a nut,” I said. “A lot of stalking cases are just bluff by spurned jerks, but Holly’s account is definitely concerning.”

“How can you tell the difference?”