Page 6 of Kiss Marry Kill
“I said I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances, Ms. Cruz. My name is Officer Kline. I need to ask you a few questions, okay?” She nodded and he continued. “First off, how are you hanging in there? You okay?”
“I’m shaken up, but I’m otherwise okay.” She could hear her own voice shake when she spoke. Clearing her throat, she continued. “I just want to get this over with.” It was true. She was okay, or at least she would be. The last five years had hardened her a bit, taught her independence, and she wasn’t going to let a crazy fan screw with all the progress she’d made. Meek, do-whatever-everyone-wants, people-pleasing Megan was long gone, and she was going to stay gone. Megan liked who’d she’d become and she wasn’t going to let anyone or anything change that.
“Good. Can you tell me your full name, please?”
“Megan Marie Cruz.”
“Ms. Cruz—”
“Please call me Megan.”
“Okay, Megan, can you tell me what happened?”
Chewing on her thumbnail, she began. “I was sitting on my bed writing some music. It was probably around ten when I heard a window break. I grabbed my phone, sent my parents a quick text to call 911, and ran to hide in the closet, which is where you guys found me. From the closet, I could hear the sounds of someone in the house, walking around the kitchen, coming up the stars. He talked to me, asking me to come out, and then he came into the closet.” Her voice broke in a soft sob before she could continue. “He told me he had a room ready for me at his home.” The officer scribbled notes on his pad and she took the opportunity to look up, finding Jax’s eyes narrowed on her trembling hands. Quickly, she sat on them and faced the officer again.
“Did you see the suspect?”
God, why was she so damn nervous? The threat was gone. She was safe. So why was her leg uncontrollably bobbing up and down? “I didn’t see his face. I only saw his shoes.”
“Any idea who it could be, or a motive of some sort?”
“I—I am pretty sure it’s this guy named Ryan. I don’t know his last name, he was someone I met a year and a half ago after a concert.”
“Pretty sure?”
“No, no, I’m sure,” she said, confidently. It was the first time tonight she’d said anything confidently. But she knew, without any hesitation, it was Ryan who was in her house tonight. Just thinking of him made her break out in goose bumps.
Two warm hands pressed against her shoulder, startling her. She was so damn wound up. Jax leaned down. “You okay?” he whispered by her ear. It was soft and thoughtful, like he’d been earlier today, and his beard tickled her cheek slightly. Now she wasn’t sure if the goose bumps were from fear or from his mouth so close to her ear.
“I—I’m fine.”
He stood back up, eyeing her warily before returning to his bodyguard stance.
“How can you be so sure, Ms. Cruz? You said you didn’t see him.” Megan’s head whipped back to the officer, surprised by his accusatory tone.
Jax picked up on the tone immediately, and spoke first, his voice hard with warning. “She’s the victim here, not a suspect. Do I need to call Chief Martinez to handle this?”
The officer seemed taken aback by Jax’s interruption and turned his attention back to Megan. She was so thankful Jax was there. She needed someone on her side. Someone she trusted, someone who would want to see her safe. At that moment she realized that no matter how much time they’d been apart, there was still a friendship between them, some kind of unbreakable bond. They cared about each other, that much was obvious.
“I’m not accusing you of anything, ma’am. What you went through is horrible, and you’re clearly shaken, as is expected. I’m just trying to get all the facts so we can find whoever was here and gather enough evidence to make an arrest.”
“I don’t appreciate the way you’re speaking to me, quite honestly.” She was still shaken, but it didn’t matter. This line of questioning was unacceptable. The night had sucked, and he was adding to it, and she was done. This night needed to end. “A man broke into my house, walked into my closet, asked me to sing a song. He’s deranged. I know it was Ryan. I’m sure of it.” She felt Jax’s hand squeeze her shoulder, nudging her on, proudly.
She cleared her throat before continuing. “I’ve reported two separate instances where a fan named Ryan communicated with me. First with a letter and then with a text to my private cell phone, both alluding to some sort of twisted cat-and-mouse game. The letter and email called me his ‘little Mouse,’ always his little Mouse.” She paused and looked back at Jax. For some reason, even his scowl was reassuring. “Both were . . . threatening, more so than the normal fan mail, so I reported them. But there was no way of tracing them back to Ryan. The email and letter were a dead end, and because I don’t know his last name, where he lives . . . nothing happened.”
Thinking about the letter, the intimate way the creep had written about her, the way he had said he’d been watching her all night and how it made him hard, made her want to run back upstairs and hide away in her closet again. Shut out the world and curl into herself. He was singing her song, he wanted her to go to his home with him. . . .
“Megan.” Jax’s hand brushed lightly over her hair before she’d even realized he’d moved from his post behind her. “What about tonight? What did you notice about the intruder?”
“I know it was Ryan, I heard him,” she repeated almost petulantly. Her fists clenched shut in frustration. Jax kneeled, his large frame right next to her, and took her hand in his. Eye to eye, he spoke softly to her. “I believe you. I’m not questioning you because I don’t believe you. I just need you to think real hard, Megan. What did he say? What did you hear? Tell the officer as much as you can remember so they can catch the asshole.”
* * *
She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes, trying to calm down. “As I said, even if I couldn’t see him I recognized Ryan by his voice, by the things he was saying. He was talking to me the whole time, signing my songs back to me. He kept calling me Meggy, his little Mouse, saying he wanted to play, asking me if I liked the chase. Ryan is the only person to ever call me Meggy.”
“Good girl.” Jax patted her knee before standing up and looking back at the officer, pinning him to his seat with his gaze.
The officer diverted his eyes quickly from Jax back to Megan. “Did you see anything about him? Anything at all? Any identifying information? A tattoo, a birthmark, anything?”
