Prologue ~
The
cell phone vibrated again and danced across the smooth surface of the work
table.
Kaily
bit her lip and ignored it. She was almost
done with the little dress. If she could
just get this button to stay put…
The
phone vibrated again and jigged close to the edge of the table. Kaily made a grab for it and caught it just
before it plunged to the floor.
“Hello?” The button on the dress that she’d been
having trouble with slipped out from under the pressure foot of her sewing
machine with enough force that it shot across the room and bounced off the
wall. She followed it with her eyes so
she’d be able to find it once she got off the phone.
Speaking
of which…
“Hello?”
she said again. There was some sound on
the other end of the line, a breath or a movement or something, so she was certain
someone was there. But only silence met
her second salutation. Deciding that the
call was probably just some sort of recorded political message, Kaily started
to shut it off.
“Kaaaai…
llly….” a ghostly voice whispered.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Don’t
you recognize me, bitch?”
Kaily felt
all the blood drain from her, replaced by ice.
The hand holding the cell phone shook so hard she nearly dropped it.
“Steve? Why are you calling me? You shouldn’t call me.” She tried to sound authoritative,
confident. But her voice trembled and
she knew he heard it.
“I’m
coming for you, bitch, and you’re going to pay.
You put me in jail for nine fuckin’ months, bitch! You’re gonna pay!”
“Leave
me alone!” Kaily shouted, but her voice wobbled with tears and her heart
pounded in her chest so hard she thought it would burst. “I didn’t put you in jail! The court decided that and you killed
Bree. I know you killed her! Leave me alone!”
He
ignored her shout. “You shouldn’t have
picked an apartment on the ground floor.
It makes it too easy.
Kaily
gasped. He knew where she was! He knew where her apartment was!
She
ended the call and was in motion before the cell phone finished falling to the
carpet. She slapped at the wall switch
to shut off the lights and yanked the curtains closed so hard she nearly tore
them from the rods. Racing into her tiny
kitchenette, she hit the light switches there too and moved for the window over
the sink.
How did he find her? Where was he?
Was he here?
She grabbed the pull cord on
the shade over the sink, but it slipped from her grasp when she saw the face
outside the window.
She saw the baseball bat too,
just before it smashed the glass.
