“Let’s start from the beginning,” I offer. I launch into my life, what I know about how our parents came to know each other and any other detail I can think of as we sip beer. Jason tells me about growing up with his mom. My dad apparently gave her quite a bit of money to “disappear.” He grew up in a quiet suburb and led a normal life. When his mom died, he moved back to the city but kept a small cabin his grandparents had at a lake not too far from here.
We order burgers and continue data dumping for several hours. I find out that my brother loves race cars and even went to a concert of mine once. We are only two years apart in age and have a lot in common. By the time we finish talking, I’m so stoked about having a brother that I want to jump up and hug him. Which I do as we go to leave, promising to see each other soon.
As soon as I’m in my car, I call the one person I really want to talk to, which surprises me since it’s not my mom, but Emma.
“Hello?” she answers. She knows where I’ve been, and I can tell by her voice she’s anxious to hear how it went.
“It went well, really, really well. He’s a great guy and we’re going to meet up again soon. He wants to stay out of the limelight, so we are going with a low-key approach.”
“That’s great, Grady! I’m so happy for you!”
“I’m happy too, really fucking happy. We should do something to celebrate, you think you could get away for a night?” I ask.
“Uh, maybe?”
“I’ll take care of everything. This Saturday, be ready at nine and pack for the night.”
“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” she asks with a laugh.
“Nope, get all your work done this week because you are not going to spend a minute of the weekend on your computer.”
“You know that I’m in the middle of filming and editing a documentary, right?” she says, and I know she has one of those perfectly sculpted eyebrows raised.
“You need a night off. You’ve been working like crazy.”
She sighs. “Fine, but the following weekend, I’m working the whole damn weekend.”
“OK, fair enough.”
I hear a chime in the background.
“Shit, I have a video call, I’ll talk to you later. I’m so glad that everything went well.”
“Thanks, I’ll talk to you later.” I hang up and call my mom to share the news with her. She doesn’t pick up, so I leave a message and spend the rest of the drive home thinking things over. It is a lot to take in, but I’m feeling really great about everything.
Once I get home, I call Max and Rhett to tell them the news and we decide to have a pizza and beer night to celebrate. I have the greatest friends in the world.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I roll over and groan. Pounding beers with the guys last night was a mistake because I feel like total shit and the window guy should be here any minute to start work on installing the new one.
I grab the world’s fastest shower and get myself some coffee. I hear the annoying barking and yelping of Muffin next door. Fuck, that’s probably what woke me up. She seems extra riled this morning, so I walk over to the fence. As I look down, I hear her whining and I frown.
“Muffin?” I call out.
I frown realizing that Barb and Wayne’s car is gone. Not unusual since they do tend to go out for doctors’ appointments and such, but they typically don’t leave Muffin outside. I glance over the fence and I see that she’s tied up and trying to get to what looks like a food bowl set along the edge of the house.
“Muffin?” I yell again and am greeted with more whining as she pulls on the lead. I frown as concern overtakes me. I’m about to open the fence when the window guy pulls into the driveway.
“Hold on, Muffin. I’ll be right back,” I say as though she can understand me.
I head to the truck and talk briefly with the man before returning to the fence and opening the gate.
“Hey,” I say in my most soothing voice as I approach her. I pick her up and undo a rope tied around her collar, which seems very strange. The Johnsons would never tie her up with a rope and leave her out here. Holding on to her, I walk over to the food, thinking she might be hungry. I glance at it just as I go to set her down. Glass. There is glass mixed in with the food and a note sits next to it. I quickly pick her back up and grab the note.
“Revenge should have no bounds.”
It’s another Shakespeare quote. However, the note also contains a second line. It’s the first note I’ve ever seen with something other than a quote.
“This is just a preview of what I’m capable of. Imagine what I could do to the people you love.”
I shudder and quickly look at Muffin. “You didn’t eat any of it, right? Oh, God. Let’s go get you checked out.” My heart pounds in my chest as I look at the rope. I’m almost certain that she couldn’t reach the bowl, but I’m not taking any chances. I carry her back to my yard where the contractor is pulling things out of his truck.
“Hey, my neighbors’ dog needs to go to the vet. Mind if I get you to move your car? It shouldn’t take me long. I’m just worried she ate something she shouldn’t, and my neighbors aren’t home.”
“Sure. No problem. I’ll move the truck. I’m good here. My assistant should be here shortly to help with the install. If we finish before you get back, I’ll leave the bill for you. I hope the dog is OK,” he says, nodding to Muffin who is yelping.
“Yeah, I think she is. I just want to be sure. Thanks again for your help,” I reply as I go back and grab the food bowl, tossing it in my trash so no animal eats it. Once he moves his car, I get in mine, racing to the vet’s office. I call them on the way. Glad that Barb once made me add them to my contacts list in case I needed to take Muffin there when they were gone on vacation. Fortunately, I know where they are located and it’s only five minutes away.
I pull into their parking lot and carry Muffin, handing her off to the vet who meets me in the front lobby.
“We got her from here, you better call Barb and Wayne,” she says as she hurries with Muffin to the back.
I sink into a seat as my shaking hand pulls out my phone. Thankfully the waiting room is empty. I decide to make a more important call first.
“Detective Benson,” he answers.
“We have a major situation,” I say, my voice low in case anyone is listening.
“What’s wrong?”
I explain what just happened.
“Fuck. I’m heading over there now. Is the dog going to be OK?”
I nod. “Yeah, I think so. It’s fucked up, Benson. And that note is what has me freaking out. It’s never been anything but a quote. I mean that broken window and light is one thing, but fucking threatening to hurt an animal and threatening people…” I trail off because I don’t know what to say.
“When you get back from the vet, I’ll be at your house. When’s that meeting with the security people?” he asks, referring to the meeting with our new security team that got moved to this afternoon.
“Today.”
“Good. I’m going to get some cops assigned to pass by your house routinely during the day for the foreseeable future.”