Page 69 of Chasing Blue

“I’m worried, Scar. If Matt did do this, I’m worried he’s gonna come after you. The bloke’s got a screw loose. You need to say something. Let the copper know what’s gone on.”

“I will,” I say quietly as I try to see what’s going on inside.

“Ladies, would you step in here?” Mike the cop calls to us. “Just watch where you tread and don’t touch anything.”

Zoe once again grabs my hand, and together we step over the frame of where our front window used to be, and crunch through the glass towards where the cops have gathered.

Someone finally switches the lights on in time for me to see Mike point at the whiteboard that’s still on the wall. I stop in my tracks as I take in what’s been written in black Texta across it.

I KNOW WHERE HE LIVES!

Again,my hand covers my mouth as it falls open.

“Shit,” Zoe hisses from beside me.

“Do you know who might’ve done this?” Mike asks.

“I need to call Jack,” I say to anyone who wants to listen. “Tell him about Matt, what’s happened this week, last night,” I prompt Zoe as I pull my phone from the front pocket of my hoodie and call Jack. I try three times, and three times it rings out and goes to voicemail. Remembering Shannon gave me his number last night, I call him. Again, I’m sent straight to voicemail.

My head spins, and my gut churns as panic builds inside me.

“I can’t get a hold of him,” I interrupt Zoe’s conversation with Mike. “I don’t understand when he could’ve done this,” I look around at the destruction and say.

Mike looks at me with a frown and a head shake. “Who? Who do you think did this?”

“I didn’t get a chance to explain,” Zoe adds.

“The same man who attacked us last night, but he was arrested. Early this morning, he was arrested,” I explain.

Then it hits me, and I can barely get my words out through my panic.

“Please tell me you kept him locked up and didn’t let him go after what he did to Jack last night?” I hear the tremble of fear in my voice as I speak, and attempt to take in a few breaths and hold them to calm myself down.

Mike holds his finger up as he presses his phone to his ear.

“What’s his surname?” he asks me.

“Jack?” I question, totally confused.

“The bloke you think did this. The one you said was arrested.”

“Newcombe. Matthew Newcombe.”

“Newcombe?” Mike questions with a frown. I nod. “Fuck,” he hisses out before turning his back to us.

“I can’t get Jack on the phone; I need to go to his house and let him know what’s happened. Do you know where he lives?”

It hits me then, this man has been inside me, more than once, and I don’t even know where he lives. I don’t have time to deal with the shame that brings me right now, so save it for later to add to the guilt that will inevitably keep me awake at three a.m. on multiple random mornings in the future.

“I’ll have to pull up an invoice, but I’m pretty sure it’s an old place he’s fixing up just off the esplanade.”

Zoe starts tapping on her phone while I vibrate with anxiety.

“He made bail,” Mike turns back towards us and says. I open my mouth to question how, when he cuts me off and continues, “His dad is Senior Sergeant David Newcombe and his uncle is Judge Malcolm Newcombe. He was bailed out this afternoon.”

“I didn’t know they held bail hearings on a weekend,” I say mostly to myself.

“Unless it’s exceptional circumstances, they don’t, but a high-ranking officer can agree to bail, and strings were obviously pulled to make that happen.”