Page 37 of Kidnapped in Dark Waters
Who would be so cruel as to kill that poor bird? What kind of a monster would wring the neck of an innocent creature? After several moments she finally felt steady enough to read what was written on the paper.
STOP SEEING THE LAWMAN. YOU BELONG TO ME.
The words seemed to jump off the page and once again her heart began to beat frantically as she dropped the note down on the coffee table.
She remained sitting on the sofa for several long minutes as she tried to get her fear under control. She didn’t intend to call Luke. There was nothing he could do. Besides, he’d be here later and hopefully he could take care of the dead bird.
Stop seeing the lawman.
There was no way that was going to happen. Nobody and nothing was going to make her stop seeing Luke. She definitely didn’t intend to obey some creep who had killed a poor bird andleft her the note. Still, a new fear rushed through her. Did this mean Luke might be in danger?
Apparently, the person had been watching them to know she and Luke were spending a lot of time together. Dammit, who was doing this to her? Luke had told her Daniel had interviewed all the men who she’d named. None of them had a real solid alibi for the time of the last attack on her so any one of them could be guilty or all of them could be innocent.
She finally got up from the sofa and grabbed her groceries. She needed to get the ice and pork chops into the cooler. Once she’d taken care of that, she carried her clothing bag into her bedroom.
It was time for her to get her clothes changed and start cooking. She pulled on the new loungewear and then brushed her hair and put on a little mascara and then went out the back door to start her generator.
She stood for a few minutes on her deck, trying not to think about the note and the poor dead bird. Somehow in her mind, since over a week had passed with nothing happening, she’d hoped the person who’d tried to kidnap her had given up.
However, now she knew he hadn’t given up. He’d been watching her movements, and apparently, he felt threatened by Luke’s presence in her life.
She’d been afraid before. Now she was even more frightened. There was no question somebody was still after her, now making demands and watching her and waiting…waiting for the perfect opportunity to make her his own.
ASLUKE DROVEtoward the swamp’s entrance, he felt great. Tonight, he’d decided to wear a pair of black dress slacks with a green-and-black short-sleeved dress shirt. He had his surveillance clothes in a bag to change into later.
He’d decided to dress up a little because tonight was a special occasion—Dominique was cooking for him and she was even feeding him on his time, at six o’clock. Oh, she’d cooked bacon and eggs for him, but this just felt special and so he’d decided to dress up a bit.
The past week and a half had flown by. They’d gone out every night to follow Pierre. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t dug up the missing client book.
Equally frustrating was the fact that Daniel and his men hadn’t been able to pin down the man who had left the note and tried to kidnap Dominique. Still, he was grateful that no other attempts had been made on her and in that it had been a fairly peaceful ten days.
After today, his vacation time was over. He’d spoken with Daniel earlier in the day and they had decided he’d come in to work at nine-thirty in the mornings and work until four-thirty.
It was going to be difficult to work and still be there for Dominique during the nights, but he was really hoping he could talk her into stopping the nightly trips through the swamp. They’d been surveilling for over two weeks now without any success.
He reached the swamp’s entrance and parked. He had stopped by the café earlier and had picked up a peach pie for dessert. In one of their many conversations she had mentioned she loved peach pie.
He grabbed the pie from the passenger seat and then picked up the bag containing his black jeans and black T-shirt. He then headed in, a rich anticipation rushing through him.
He was now quite familiar with the paths that would take him to her shanty. He walked quickly and it didn’t take him long to reach her place.
He stopped short at the sight of a dead bird in front of her door. What the hell? Had the poor thing flown into the doorand broke its neck? He knew occasionally birds might fly into a window, but a door?
A sense of dread filled him as he stepped over the bird and knocked on the door. “Dominique, it’s me,” he called out.
The lock disengaged and she opened the door. She looked positively stunning in a red outfit. The top hugged her breasts and showed off her slender build while the pants swirled around her long, shapely legs. Her hair was loose, but the smile she offered him appeared a bit forced.
“You look absolutely beautiful,” he said.
“Thanks, you clean up nicely yourself,” she replied. She opened the door wider to allow him entry and then closed and locked the door behind them.
“I come bearing a gift. It’s a peach pie.” He held it out to her.
“Thank you. This is very thoughtful of you.” She took it from him and then led him to the kitchen, where she placed it in the center of the table.
“I couldn’t help but notice the poor bird,” he said as he sat in one of the chairs at the table.
“Yeah, I’m hoping maybe you could get rid of it for me, but we can talk about all that after dinner,” she replied.
