Page 63 of Secrets Beneath the Waves (Beach Read Thrillers #2)

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

Jules was desperate to get to the hospital.

Every time she thought about that cold-blooded murderer being in her mother’s room, touching her even if his hands were gloved, Jules’ blood ran cold.

Although she hadn’t heard otherwise from the hospital, she still needed to see for herself that her mom was okay.

The smell of chlorine drifted from her hair and skin, so she took a quick shower before changing into black dress pants and a pale green blouse that her mother had always told her brought out the color in her eyes.

Grabbing her bag, she stepped out onto the porch and, while sticking the key into the lock and turning it, made a mental note to stop at a hardware store to pick up a deadbolt. Even if this threat had been neutralized, it wouldn’t hurt to take precautions.

Although she tried desperately to rein them in as she walked to her car, her thoughts insisted on returning again and again to Dante.

Absentmindedly, she slid behind the wheel and leaned forward to insert the key.

Air whooshed through the vents, directed at the front windshield.

Odd, since she usually turned off the fan before she left the vehicle.

No doubt she’d been distracted the last time, with everything going on.

As she waited for the air to cool, Jules checked the messages on her phone.

As expected, a litany of texts from Kelli and Brie.

The car had started to feel comfortable, so before responding to their messages, she reached for the knob to turn down the fan.

And let out a sharp cry. Inches from her eyes, words were scrawled in the condensation covering the windshield.

I am coming for you .

Shock jolting through her, Jules yanked on the knobs to turn off the noise and blasting air so she could think. Almost immediately, the letters disintegrated at the edges, fading rapidly until she was staring at clear glass.

He’s in jail. He’s in jail. He’s in jail .

Despite the frantic reminder scrolling on repeat in her mind, her heart thumped a wild, unstable beat.

Knuckles rapped against her window, and she jumped, only managing to avoid crying out again by clamping her lips together as she rolled it down. “Hey, Scott.”

“You okay, Jules? I thought I heard a scream.”

From inside his house? The man missed nothing. “I’m all right. I just… saw a spider.”

“Oh. You want me to kill it for you?”

Jules forced a shaky grin. “No, that’s okay. I got it. Thanks for checking, though.” Although it was rude, she couldn’t get into a lengthy conversation right now. She started to close the window.

Scott didn’t take the hint, only curled his fingers around the top of the glass so she had to stop. “No problem. I thought I’d check in case it had anything to do with that guy who was skulking around here two nights ago.”

He’d seen her stalker? “A guy? Did you get a good look at him?”

“I mean, I was in our house at the time, so I didn’t see…

” He offered her a sheepish look. “All right, I confess I used binoculars so I could zoom in. I don’t usually do that, and I’ve never used them on you, so you know.

Lisa and I only keep them on hand in case we think someone might be up to no good at a neighbor’s house when they’re away. ”

Jules gave that an impatient wave. “Can you tell me what you saw?”

“Not much. It was late, maybe three in the morning. I was passing by a window and caught sight of a man dressed all in black on the sidewalk in front of your house. Although he wasn’t technically on your property, I thought it was weird that he was just standing there, especially when I knew you weren’t home.

I grabbed the binoculars to check it out.

I’d just returned to the window when he turned around and I caught a glimpse of his face in the light from the streetlamp. ”

“Do you remember what he looked like?”

“I couldn’t see much, and it was only for a couple of seconds.

I do remember that his nose was a little larger than average and slightly crooked, off to the left, as though he’d been punched or had it broken at some point.

I thought about calling the police, but then he walked away, and I figured that was the end of it. ”

The nose. The missing piece of the puzzle. Even though it was no longer relevant, Jules logged every word into the file in her mind reserved for the killer. “That’s really helpful, Scott. Thanks.”

“Anything we should be worried about?”

She shook her head. “A guy has been harassing me, but I’m working with the police on it. In fact, I heard from them a little while ago that they have him in custody, so the threat should be over.”

“Good to hear. You ever have trouble like that again, don’t hesitate to ask for help, okay?”

At the earnestness in his voice, she craned her neck to look up at him. “Thanks. I appreciate it. You and Lisa are good neighbors.” Which she had never truly realized or been grateful enough for until this moment.

He straightened his fingers and tapped his palms on the top of the glass a couple of times. “We try.”

“I’m off to visit my mom. I’ll see you later.”

Scott stepped back. “All right. Drive safe.”

“I will. Thanks.” Jules rolled the window the rest of the way up, watching in the rearview mirror as her neighbor strolled down the driveway and crossed the street.

Her gaze lowered to the spot on the window where the words had appeared, completely clear now. The guy must have written that message on the glass before he followed the tracker on Dante’s car up to the cottage.

Speaking of which…

Jules checked the mirror. Scott had disappeared inside his house.

Which didn’t mean he wasn’t still watching.

She would check later for the tracker the killer had no doubt hidden somewhere on her car.

In the meantime, she’d call an Uber. No way she was taking this vehicle—one the guy had clearly touched, maybe even gotten inside of.

Violated, as he had done so many other things and people and spaces she cared about.

Tomorrow she would use that number Dante had put in her phone to ask him to come over and check it out for her.

Which meant she would see him again.

Ignoring the thrill that shot through her at the thought, driving out a little of the shock of the killer’s ominous words, she pulled out her phone and ordered a ride.

As she waited, she ran through the notes Scott had given her.

Not that it mattered anymore, since the suspect would have already had a mugshot taken and his face entered into the permanent records.

Still, the OCD in her had been driven crazy by the fact that she had nearly but not quite given Dante enough information to complete his sketch.

To scratch that mental itch, she’d describe the nose to him next time she saw him so he could finish what the two of them had started.

A silver SUV pulled up to the curb. Clutching her bag, Jules exited her vehicle. Her legs were a little shaky, but she made it to the end of the driveway and climbed into the back seat.

Although she muttered a quick, “Hey,” she didn’t want to encourage conversation with the driver any more than she had wanted to with Scott, so she pulled her new phone out of her bag.

As the driver already had the address of the hospital, she tucked herself into the corner of the back seat and focused on the screen.

Her friends were demanding to know everything.

Where she had been. How they had captured the guy who had been tormenting her.

If she knew anything about him. And, of course, what was happening between her and the gorgeous cop .

Their texts neutralized the last of the electrical currents—not the good kind she got with Dante—that had been zapping through her since the words appeared on her window.

Jules fielded the first few questions, although she didn’t get into any details of her conversations with Dante.

For some reason, she felt the need to hold the last couple of days close, at least for a little while.

She promised to fill them in when they got together the next evening at Brie’s place for a girls’ night.

Jules had just hit send on her last message when the device vibrated in her hand. A text from Dante. The heart rate that had finally settled ratcheted up again. Jules touched his name to open the message.

At the station and wanted to let you know the perpetrator has been brought in. Attaching the mug shot to set your mind at ease. He is now behind bars where he belongs.

It did make her feel better to know that Dante had seen the killer and confirmed that he was in custody. Jules inhaled and exhaled, the knots in her stomach easing as she hit the file to open it up. A hard, angry face gazed back at her from the screen.

A face she had never seen in her life.

Her throat tightened until it hurt to swallow. Too distraught to even bother with punctuation, she typed:

thats not him

She sent the text, all the possible repercussions of that truth whirling and crashing in her mind like parts of a trailer torn apart by a direct hit from a tornado.

The nose. She had to get the description to Dante so he could finish the sketch.

She started typing again, autocorrect fighting her every step of the way until she was ready to smash the device against the window in frustration. Finally, she got out:

neighbor saw suspect says his nose a little larger than average slightly crooked to the left like it had been broken

Anything else? With her thoughts whirling so frantically through her mind, Jules struggled to concentrate, to pull everything she had noted from her addled brain.

Nothing she could think of. Hopefully that would be enough.

She hit send before slumping against the seat.

Was it safe to go to her mother’s? Likely not, although they had to be getting close.

She glanced out the side window. Dusk was falling, but through the murky twilight none of the landmarks they passed looked familiar.

She frowned. This wasn’t the way to the hospital.

Was there an accident or construction or something?

The houses they were passing were getting pretty far apart, as though they were leaving the city. Why would the driver?—

A creepy, discordant ring tone shattered the silence of the car.

Jules froze, as though her entire body had been encased in ice. No .

The driver lifted his phone from the cupholder. As he had done in the alley that night, he hit the side button to silence the ring. Then he pulled off his sunglasses and met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Hello, Jules Adler.”

Her mouth went bone dry. Barely glancing at the phone, she typed:

the uber driver

Before she could get out any more, the man twisted a little to show her the pistol he held in his left hand. “Toss your phone over the seat.”

When she didn’t move, he cocked the weapon. “Now.”

Would he shoot her if she threw it directly in his face? Quite possibly. With few options, Jules hit send with her thumb and then did as he had asked. The phone landed on the passenger seat. Likely her final message would mean nothing to Dante, but it had been the best she could do.

“Good girl.”

She gritted her teeth. “What do you want?”

He shook his head, a mocking smile twisting across his features. “Always asking me that. Isn’t it obvious? I want you.”

The extreme heat this man had an uncanny ability to ignite deep in her core flared to life now, spreading through her chest and down her arms and legs. Jules lunged for the door handle. Nothing happened when she yanked on it. Jamming a thumb against the window button didn’t move the glass either.

The man’s strange, amber eyes remained locked on hers in the mirror, taunting her. “Childproof. So helpful.”

Jules was a prisoner then. Completely at the mercy of a deranged man who had zero qualms about wrapping his hands around the neck of a woman and watching as the life drained from her.

She pressed her fingers to her throat. Well, as long as she was breathing, she wouldn’t make that easy for him.

If the people she loved were safe, Jules had little to lose. She would not go down without a fight.

Hope flickered. Dante could trace her phone, right? He had her number. That brief hope sputtered and died when, as though he could read her mind, the man lowered the glass on the passenger side, picked up her device with gloved fingers, and heaved the phone out onto the shoulder of the road.

Jules briefly considered screaming or yelling while the window was down, but they had left the outskirts of Calgary and nothing but fields stretched out on either side of the car.

The killer’s eyes met hers again as he slowly rolled the glass up. “Just you and me now.”

The words sent more chills rippling through her. He wasn’t wrong. She was locked in this vehicle, speeding away from every person who meant anything to her, heading for an unknown destination with a psychopath.

The worst part was, he had told her he was coming for her. And, when he had, she had opened the door to her worst nightmare and climbed right in.