Page 43 of Last Chance Christmas

“It’s him. It’s Vaynes. I don’t know how, but he’s been here. He’s messing with me. It’s all part of the game.”

Della paced, desperately trying to get ahold of herself. She couldn’t let him get away with this.

But Officer Thomas did not look convinced. He stood and pulled out his phone. “I don’t know that Vaynes was here, but I’ll request his case file and see what I can find. I’ll be here for the rest of your shift. You’re safe. So try to relax.” He flashed a condescending smile at her. “Where can I get some coffee around here?”

Sheesh, be a little more convincing, why dontcha? “The break room.”

Bryce Crawford stuck his head in the door. “Hey, Della. Patterson is asking for you. She’s in the storage room.”

Officer Thomas stood. “Yo, Crawford, what’s the coffee situation here? Decent?”

Bryce smirked. “Guess it’s your lucky day, ’cuz I just brewed a new pot.”

The guys walked off in the opposite direction. Della marched back toward the storage room. Basically, she was on her own. The police department had sent their token officer and figured that was enough.

Clearly, they didn’t understand the threat.

Amelia Patterson looked over from the fire extinguishers that lined the top shelf when Della walked in. “Did you find what you needed in the surveillance footage? Alice told me you were reviewing this morning’s recordings.”

Should she say something? She was still new to the job—the rookie, despite the fact she’d been here for months. She didn’t want to come across as a weakling. And chances were, if Officer Thomas didn’t believe Della, neither would Amelia.

Besides, if Vaynes was here, it was obvious who he was after. And if he wasn’t, she didn’t want to put everyone on their guard only to be the girl who cried wolf.

“It wasn’t what I thought, but it’s fine.”

“Okay…” Amelia paused, studying her for a moment. “So is everything still set for the toy drive next week?”

“Everything’s going as planned.”

“Good. We got another box of donations.” She pulled out a big cardboard box, a couple Nerf guns and Barbie dolls sticking out of the top. “They still need to be wrapped.”

“I’ll get to it.”

“Let me know if you need help. With anything.”

Della nodded.

“I mean it, Nixon. We’re here for you. If you’re having a problem, I want to help.” She paused, as if waiting for a response. “So, what’s going on that has you so jumpy? Is it something to do with the letter you had a few weeks ago?”

“It’s the whole escaped convict thing. It’s got me on edge.”

Understanding flickered in her lieutenant’s eyes. “Vaynes. I remember that case. I never put it together. But you were one of his victims, weren’t you? That’s why you have police protection?”

“Yeah. Though I’m not sure Officer Thomas is taking me seriously. We didn’t see anything on the surveillance, but I know someone was messing with my locker.”

“Have you talked with Penny Mitchell?”

“Bryce Crawford’s fiancée?”

“She was on the Sosa case last spring and almost died trying to capture him. Why don’t we bring her in? An extra pair of eyes couldn’t hurt. And if something is going down in our firehouse, I wanna know. We can put her private investigating skills to work.”

“Sure.”

They found Penny and Bryce in his office. As the captain for the firehouse, the guy who reported directly to the chief, it was probably best Crawford was on board and informed about what was happening. Della explained the situation to them, and Bryce bristled when she mentioned the missing items from her locker.

Penny’s usual smile fell into a tight-lipped grimace. “Well, he’s not going to take anything else. You don’t go anywhere alone, ’kay? Not even in this building. Is this why Tony is here?”

“Officer Thomas?” Della asked. “He’s my police protection, but I don’t think he’s convinced.”