She smiled at him and said, “I did. I’ll go have a shower now though, okay?”
He just nodded.
As she headed to the shower, she remembered the men asking about whether Annie’s car had been damaged as well. On a whim, Sammy texted her friend and asked if her vehicle’s tires were okay. Then she headed into the shower. As she was drying off, she heard her phone ringing. She picked it up to see Annie had tried twice already. When Sammy called her back, Annie answered right away.
“How did you know?”
“It just occurred to me that, if somebody had deliberately slashed my tire, then potentially they had also taken out yours.”
“Well, now I feel really terrified,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because my tires were also slashed, and I can’t go anywhere now.”
“You’ve got your home security system. Make sure to turn it on.”
“It is,” she said, “but remember. I couldn’t afford the full package, so I just got the basic coverage.”
“Right,” she said. “Thinking about that, you’ve never had any trouble before though, have you?”
“No, but I’ve never had my tires slashed either,” Annie said bitterly.
“Any idea who might do this?”
“I was thinking my ex,” she admitted. “You know how he is. He scares me sometimes.”
“True, but you haven’t had any contact with Jorge in weeks, have you?”
Annie hesitated and then said, “I didn’t tell you, but he got the divorce papers I sent him.”
“No, you didn’t tell me about that,” she said. “Damn.”
“I know, and, although I’m driving the vehicle, don’t forget it was ours. And now I own the car, and I get to stay in this rental.”
“Did you get a response on the divorce papers being served? Like, did he contact your lawyer at all?”
“No, not at all,” Annie said, “unless you want to take the tires as a response.”
“Were you ever in danger with him while married, even dating beforehand?” Sammy asked, with some urgency.
“You mean, did he ever beat me? No, he was rudely abusive, but he never hit me,” she said. “So I highly doubt that he would do that right now. But it’s also possible that something else is going on here and that the divorce has triggered violence that was undetected all that time.”
“And now you’re making me feel like shit,” she said. “I shouldn’t have texted you at nighttime.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” she said, “because now I won’t sleep at all.” And, with that, Annie hung up.
Sammy got dressed in her pajamas, grabbed her robe, and went downstairs. “You up for some hot chocolate, Dad?”
But, as she looked at her father in the den for an answer, he was sleeping gently in place. She walked over to the teakettle and put it on, and, through the kitchen window, she saw headlights from a car driving down from the houses up on the hillside. She guessed that maybe one of those houses was where Eton and his friend came from. She knew of one chalet out there that was often leased or rented out to visitors.
As she watched the twin beams, the vehicle took off past her own lone road and driveway, and all she could think of was, Where was it going at this time of night?
Then her phone rang again. It was Annie. “Can I come stay with you?”
“Yes, of course,” she said, her mind flipping immediately to whether the spare room bedding was clean and ready to go. “I didn’t mean to scare you earlier.”
“Too late,” she said. And then she stopped. “But I can’t come to you,” she added, “because I don’t have wheels.”
“I’ll come and pick you up,” Sammy said immediately. “I’m on my way,” she said, hanging up. She looked down at her pajamas, shrugged, turned the teakettle off, and walked back into her bedroom, where she quickly changed into a pair of leggings and a running tank. And she walked down the front steps and got into her vehicle, wondering where her keys were. In my hand. “Dammit,” she said, “now I can’t even think straight for worry.”
She tossed the phone on the seat beside her and turned on the engine and headed down the driveway to the main road. It wasn’t necessarily her driveway, but it was a small gravel road that four or five of them used and that connected to the main road. As soon as she turned onto it, her thoughts went to the vehicle ahead of her. It was long gone and out of sight, but still she couldn’t help by wonder. Was it Eton? And, if so, what was he up to? As she pulled in, she found Annie standing on the front porch, with a carry-on bag.
She raced to the car, opened it up, and hopped in. She was literally shivering.
“What happened?” Sammy asked.
Annie held out her phone and said, “This.” Then she tapped the surface, so Sammy saw the message underneath. It was a text message. Bitch, you won’t get away with this.
“Oh, shit,” Sammy said, shaking her head. “Did you send that to the lawyer?”
“I should have, shouldn’t I?” She quickly forwarded the message on to her attorney. “I don’t know whether it’s my ex,” she said, “but I don’t know who else it could have been.”
“You can’t jump to conclusions either,” Sammy said, “but that also doesn’t mean that he’s not already on his way here to take you out.”
“No, but most of the time, it’s too late for the woman to do anything, and the cops always say they can’t do anything until something happens.”
Sammy knew that all too well, having her own knowledge of a few cases around the world with similar issues of domestic violence. “Well, you’re coming back to stay with me tonight. Then tomorrow, in the light of day, we’ll figure out what to do. And you need to tell your lawyer that your tires were slashed too.”
“Right.”
While her friend’s fingers were busy, Sammy turned the car around, headed back to the main road, and then took the turn on up to her house. As she walked into the house with Annie at her side, Annie said quietly, “I forgot to ask. Will your dad mind?”
Sammy shook her head. “No,” she said, “and chances are he won’t even realize you’re here until morning.”
As it was, the guest bedroom was on the bottom floor, with the other bedrooms all on the second floor. Sammy settled her friend in and said, “I was just about to make hot chocolate when you called me.”
“That would be perfect,” Annie said, tossing her bag on the floor and taking off her sweater. “I’ll come with you.”
As they went into the kitchen, Sammy looked out the window and could swear somebody was in the trees, watching them. She froze, took a step toward the window, and the shadow broke its form and took off down the driveway. Only she saw it long enough to realize that it really was a man, before he disappeared into the tree line.
“What’s the matter?” Annie asked.
She looked at her friend, thought about the possible answers to give, smiled, and said, “I thought I saw a deer.”
“Deer are everywhere up here,” she said, with a wave of her hand.