“Callum Tate,” he purred. “I was so patient and now I’m one step closer to finding her.”
He was wrong. The address on that license was also hers but I wouldn’t be the one correcting him. The thought that he now knew our last name made me want to vomit for an entirely different reason. I shifted a knee up to have something to push on as I stood. I was beginning to gain control of myself again.
Once I was fully up, no longer needing to lean against the wall, I said, “John, you will never find her. Never.”
“But I already have. I promised her I’d come for her. She’s such a stupid girl. She never believes me.” He sighed as if exasperated. “She makes it so difficult for herself.”
“How?” Was all I could manage.
He knew I meant ‘how did you find us’. “The Ivories trailer. I knew they were friends of yours. I went to every single concert, waiting, biding my time. It took several months but it paid off. Tonight.”
The trailer.
“Well, I’ve got to go,” he said, tossing my wallet and license to the concrete. “I’ll be seeing you around. Trust me, you’ll be seeing a lot of me around. Tell Harper I look forward to seeing her again. Tell her,” he said, smiling wickedly, “I’ll enjoy every single minute.”
Then he ran. And I chased, tried my damnedest, but he was too fast and I was too hazy to keep up. I could hear people shouting behind me and turned just in time to see Harper with policemen in tow heading toward the alley.
“Over here!” I shouted. Harper turned direction toward me and the officers followed.
“Oh my God, Callum! You’re bleeding!” She shouted as she reached me, running her hands over my bloody face. Her hand went to her mouth in a gasp. “Your eyes! What happened?” She asked, tears streaming down her face.
I removed my t-shirt to hold over the bleeding wound.
“He got away,” I said stoically and in disbelief.
I had promised myself that if I ever saw that guy again it would be the last. I felt weak and pathetic. Next time, I’d be prepared. Harper and I gave statements over everything that happened. They took pictures of my head for evidence. I hadn’t glanced in a mirror since the attack and when I caught a glimpse of what he’d done in the photograph, I almost laughed. I looked like a hopped up serial killer. Blood ran down my face and my eyes were bloodshot, literally. Two red orbs stared back at me, letting me know just how serious John Bell really was.
“He...knows where we live,” I stated to the officer quietly, not wanting to alarm Harper any more than she already was.
“Do you have any other place to stay while we look for him?”
“We do but I believe we’ll be okay tonight. He knows we’d be waiting for him. He’ll be waiting for our guard to be down.”
The officer agreed.
Harper and I took a taxi home. It was three already and we both felt pretty beat up. I couldn’t help but feel incredible anxiety as I slid my key into our door. I turned the knob, throwing the door open fully before stepping over the threshold. I placed my hand on the jamb preventing Harper from going in and listened. Not a sound. We both entered and I closed and locked the door behind us.
“Stay here,” I ordered before examining every room for evidence he was there or had been there.
I came back out to a nervous, fidgety Harper.
“Do you think he’ll find us?”
“I’m sure of it,” I said, trying not to allude as to why.
“How...how did he find me?”
“The Ivories Trailer,” I told her honestly.
Her jaw quivered a bit before she smashed her teeth together to still it. “Okay,” she simply said, walking towards me with purpose and dragging me by the hand to our tiled bathroom.
She signaled for me sit on the toilet so she could tend to my wounds at eye level. My heart rate had steadied at that point and I was actually becoming very tired.
“Let’s just sleep,” I said.
“No, I won’t have you bloody my nice white sheets,” she said.
“You want me to sleep with you tonight?” I asked.