Pinch Me

Chapter Thirty-One

After Thomas and Hutchins left, Rob drove Laura to the dive shop, taking a long, winding route north off the key, then down 776 to the eastern end of Placida Road, and around the south end of the peninsula before heading north again to the shop.

Laura went straight to her office and worked on some accounting, Rob refusing to leave until he absolutely had to for work. Now the question of the missing current journals seemed more important than ever. She leafed through the last few books. There were almost daily entries, many quite detailed. It would stand to reason she wouldn’t change her habits.

An answer to this entire nightmare might be there if she could find them.

Sarah went out to pick up some office supplies and lunch for everyone when Steve put down his foot and refused to let Laura leave. When she returned an hour later, she raced into the shop. Steve was out back working on one of the boat engines. “Watch out, Laura, Mr. Green Eyes alert. He pulled in right behind me.”

“Damn.”

“What?” Rob looked like they were speaking a foreign language.

Laura whispered low enough Sarah couldn’t hear him. “Sir, that guy.”

His jaw tightened before he grinned from ear to ear. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle this. You both stay in here.” He stepped out into the shop, leaving the door cracked open enough the women could hear.

They heard the bell jingle on the front door as it opened, followed by Rob’s voice. “Hello! Can I help you with anything?”

Sarah and Laura looked at each other and tried not to laugh. The tone of Rob’s voice sounded so fakely cheerful it was almost comical.

Laura heard Don Kern’s voice. “Is Laura here?”

“Sure. Can I tell her who’s here?”

“Don Kern.”

“Hold on, I’ll get her.”

They expected Rob to open the office door, since it was located behind the counter. Instead, Rob bellowed as if she was outside on the dock. “Honey! There’s a Mr. Kern here to see you!”

The women almost lost it. Laura waited a moment before leaving the office, as if she had been outside. Sarah followed close behind, not wanting to miss the fun.

“Did you call me, sweetie?” She stretched up and kissed Rob, letting out a squeal when he reached around and goosed her ass.

“Yes. This gentleman here asked to see you.”

For a second, Don Kern wore a surprised expression. Then a mask slipped over his face and he was the model of professionalism. He asked about booking a dive trip. Laura gave him all the details before Sarah took over and finished the transaction. Rob followed Laura back to the office, goosing her again before she could get through the door.

With the door closed behind them Laura laughed. “You’re just plain mean, Sir!” she whispered.

He took her into his arms and kissed her before reaching up and getting a handful of her hair, pulling her head back and melting her. “No,” he said as he nibbled the base of her throat. “I’m protecting what’s rightfully mine.”

She wanted to lock the door and beg him to fuck her on her desk. “Are you jealous, Sir?”

“Oh, please. Of that guy? Not a chance. I just don’t trust anyone with an interest in you.” He sat down in her chair and pulled her into his lap. “Let me tell you something. I’m sure everyone we know will back me up on this. I’ve never been jealous. I trusted and I still trust you. I know it’s an occupational hazard that men are going to stare at you. I say let them eat their hearts out. But this guy just doesn’t seem to take a hint very well. Most men would have dropped it after the other day.”

“And how do you know he wasn’t just coming in here to book a dive trip and that’s all?”

“Because I saw the look on his face when I yelled for you. It was a look that said, ‘Crap! This is the boyfriend.’”

“And they say men aren’t psychic.”

Sarah opened the office door. “All clear.”

Rob’s curiosity got the best of him. “How did he act?”

“He didn’t say anything, if that’s what you mean. Seemed to have forgotten the entire thing.”

“That’s good.” He looked at Laura. “Are you ready to go? I want to take you home before I go to work. Thomas said a deputy will meet us there.”

Laura grabbed Doogie and her stuff and quickly loaded up into Carol’s car. She noticed Rob turned the wrong way when they left the shop’s driveway.

“Where are we going?”

He headed south around the point and back up the other side of the Cape Haze peninsula. “I’m taking the long way again. With a twist.”

Casting a glance behind them Laura realized what he was worried about. “Do you think we’re being followed?”

“Don’t know. Makes sense to not take chances though, doesn’t it?”

They rode in silence. When he hit the east side of Rotonda, he turned in and wove through side streets inside the circle.

“I guess that’s one good thing. You know your way around here.”

“Hey, any fireman or deputy who has to work this area knows these streets by heart.”

They emerged from the maze on the north side of Rotonda and took 776 all the way up to the north entrance to Manasota Key. Laura couldn’t help but notice Rob constantly checking traffic behind them.

“Did we give them the slip?”

“Not funny. I don’t see anyone, so I guess we did.”

The deputy arrived minutes after they did. Rob checked all the doors and windows to be on the safe side. Everything was still locked up tight.

After seeing Laura safely inside, he kissed her good-bye. “You get the deputy’s attention when you walk Doogie. Understand?”

She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“I only have to work a half shift tonight. I’ll be back early in the morning. You keep that gun on you, or in the drawer by the bed. Understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

He kissed her one more time before walking out. He waited until she locked the door behind him before heading downstairs. She watched through the window as he talked to the deputy for a minute before getting in Carol’s car and heading north.

She went to the couch and sat, depressed. She’d been run not only out of her life, but now out of the condo, and the house—their house—by this psycho.

Part of her did hope he showed up at the front door.

Just so I can blow the fucker’s head off and end this for good.

Laura startled awake before dawn. Doogie stood on his hind legs at the bedroom window, his front paws on the sill, looking out.

She glanced at her cell phone. It was only a little after five. She walked over and stood next to Doogie and looked out.

Nothing seemed out of place but she studied the dog. Doogie remained alert and frozen, his eyes fixed on a point out beyond the porch.

“What is it?” she whispered. The dog softly chuffed, as if in reply, and continued his vigil.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Something wasn’t right. Doogie was young, but he rarely alerted like this, and never at night.

It reminded her a lot of his reaction to finding the trail in the backyard at the house.

She slipped into shorts, grabbed the gun, and told Doogie to stay. Totally unnecessary, as it turned out. Whatever he was focused on, he wasn’t leaving that window. Without turning on any lights she moved into the living room. She couldn’t hear anything except the hum of the A/C air handler coming to life.

The front door was still locked. Outside, the screen door was still locked and intact. The light switch next to the front door turned on porch, stair, and walkway lights. She flipped it on and cautiously unlocked the door.

The deputy met her halfway up the stairs, his expression serious, his hand resting on the butt of his holstered gun.

“Go back inside, Laura.”

“What’s going on?”

The deputy’s radio came to life and he spoke into his shoulder mic. Then to her. “Go inside, lock the door, keep the lights on. We’ll be up in a little while.”

She looked around, felt her hackles rise again, and hurried back up the stairs. She locked the screen and front doors behind her. Doogie met her at the front door, then raced back to the bedroom. When she followed him, she found Doogie alerting at the same window.

This time the black Lab let out a low growl totally out of character for the gentle dog.

She screamed at the sound of someone pounding on the front door. “Laura! It’s me.”

She raced back to the living room to let Rob in, breathing a sigh of relief to have him in her arms. He kicked the door shut behind him and locked it. “What’s going on? The deputy sent me up here and there’s three more parked downstairs.”

“I don’t know. Doogie woke me up. When I went outside, he told me to get back in the house, lock the door, and leave the lights on. He said he’ll be up in a little while.”

She got dressed and made them a pot of coffee. They heard yet another car drive up and a dog barking. Laura hushed Doogie when he replied with barks of his own.

Rob looked out the front window. “It’s a K-9 unit.”

They watched the officer unload a large German shepherd and head around the back of the house. He circled around, came up the stairs, went back down again, and then into the woods behind the house.

Thomas arrived a moment later. The deputy in charge talked with him, pointed behind the house, and then they hurried off.

Twenty minutes after that, Thomas finally came upstairs and explained.

“The deputy heard a boat idling along the shore, then it stopped and there was a splash like someone got out in the water. He walked down there and found a little skiff. When he identified himself and told whoever it was to show themselves and come out, he heard someone take off running through the brush. That’s when you came out. He was calling for backup.”

“But he didn’t see anyone?”

“No.”

There was more. Rob was determined to hear it. “What did you find in the boat?”

Thomas looked at Laura, hesitant.

Laura spoke up. “Tell us. I want to know. This lunatic’s after me. I want to know what’s going on.”

“We found a bag, one of those cheap nylon backpacks, like a gym bag. Inside it was duct tape, a roll of rope, and a knife.”