Authors: Christa Lynn
“It’s Ally, and no. I have to get to the office. It was very nice meeting you,” I say as I turn towards the door and see Jackson stand up.
“I’ll walk you down,
” And I nod back at him, I can at least give him that.
After he shows me how to use the Bluetooth again, I give him what he needs and talk to him the whole way. When I pull in to the parking garage, Tim is already there, waiting for me. He comes towards the car, as I disconnect the call from Jackson. “Good morning, Ally. Are you okay? Jackson called and told me all about what happened yesterday.”
“Yes, I’m fine. Just a freak thing
, I guess,” I grab my purse out of the back seat and close the door, clicking the fob. Then I wonder how Jackson called him, if I was on the phone with him, the entire trip in.
“Nice car.”
“Thanks,” I say, as we both stare at the shiny black Maxima parked in my reserved spot, another perk of my promotion.
I tell him about yesterday
, as we travel up the elevator and to the office.
“Jesus, Ally. Do the police think the break in is related to.....the situation you were in a few weeks ago?”
“I was kidnapped, Tim. You can say it. No need to dodge around it. I know what happened and I’m okay, you don’t need to be so sensitive,” I say, as he flinches. “I’m sorry, I know you’re just concerned, I shouldn’t be so snippy about it,” I say, as I press my hand against his shoulder.
“You’ve been through a lot lately. It’s ok
ay to be snippy once in a while,” he smiles back at me sympathetically.
“I don’t need sympathy, Tim. I’m fine really. It’ll all blow over in a day or so and I can get back to my life
, without worrying.”
Yes, I just admitted that I am worried. I hide it in front of Jackson, cause if he knows I’m worried, my life will be nothing
, but miserable and I need to be myself. Tim is different since he’s just my boss and not my lover. Tim has been more like a father figure to me over the years, helping me grow in my job and as a person, so I feel I can be honest with him.
He nods
his head and goes to his office. I go to mine. Work is what I need today, to get my mind off of everything. Pulling up my email, I scan through them, reading what I need to and deleting what I don’t. Amazing how much spam comes in to my work email. As I get ready to press delete on one, I decide to take a look at it. I don’t recognize the email address, and I realize I may be downloading a virus to the corporate network, but it’s intriguing so to speak.
I open the email and suck in a breath.
My, aren’t you a brave little woman? Don’t you know it’s dangerous in this world and a pretty little thing like you isn’t safe? Watch your back!
Shit! This person knows where I work. I immediately pick up my phone and dial Chase. I know I should
call Jackson, but he would be here in a second, yanking me out of my chair and hiding me away. “Detective Rowland,” he says as, he answers his phone.
“Chase? It’s Ally Sanders,
” My voice trembling, as I speak.
“Hey Ally, what’s wrong?”
I know he can tell that something is wrong, but I try to remain calm.
“I just received a strange email at the office.”
“Forward it to me and stay there, I’m on my way,” He hangs up. I realize I don’t have his email address, so I can’t forward it. I leave the message open and head to Tim’s office TO fill him in on the strange email.
“Stay her
e, do not leave the office Ally,” he says, as he picks up his phone.
“Greg, its Tim Fraker. I need a scan of Alexandra Sanders’ computer done immediately. Please scan internet content, cookies and her email. I need it now.”
I stay seated as he picks up his cell phone, sending a text to someone.
“I called Detective Chase Rowland
, with APD before I came in here. He said he’s on his way.”
“Good. I’ll walk down to the parking garage and walk him up
, so he doesn’t have to go through the security desk. We don’t need others knowing we’ve had a security breach.”
“A what? A security breach? Is that all you can think about? The email was to me, threatening ME! And you’re worried about a security breach?” I stand up to leave his office.
“Relax, Ally. I’m just trying to find out where that email came from. Please sit down, I’ll be right back,” he says, as he exits his office.
I lean back in
the chair, my chest heaving, my heart racing and my fingers twisting together, in a frantic puzzle. I stay seated, because I’m not sure my legs will work at this point. This is all Jackson’s fault. My life was peaceful and calm before he barged in to my life. I shake my head, no no....this can’t be his fault, he would never do this on purpose. Maybe it’s Heather’s fault, cause it damn sure ain’t mine and I feel the need to blame someone.
Tim’s office door opens and I look back to see Chase and I jump to my feet and wrap my arms around his waist. He hugs me in return and softly kisses the top of my head. “Shhhh, it’s
going to be okay Ally. We’ll figure out who this is,” He whispers, as I hear a dark voice clearing his throat. I turn my head away from his chest and look back at the door, to see Jackson standing there, his arms crossed and an angry look in his eyes. Or is it jealousy, I can’t be sure. I step out of Chase’s arms and my eyes flick back and forth between him and Jackson. Tim is lurking behind him, with a guilty look on his face.
“You called Jackson? Tim, how could you?” I scream, turning to walk towards the window
, overlooking Centennial Olympic Park.
“He asked me to call him
, if anything out of the ordinary happened.”
“Alexandra, you should have known
, I’d be keeping an eye on you, if you came to work,” Jackson says, as he comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around me. “Don’t be mad at Tim, he only did as I asked. But why didn’t you call me?”
“Cause I knew you’d blow right in here and try to save the day. You’d demand that I leave the office and be hidden away until this shit blows over. I want to be here....I need to be here, work is the only thing that keeps me sane right now. Plus, Chase is a cop and I figured he needed to know before you, so I called him.”
“You did the right thing, calling Chase, but next time I expect a call too.”
“Next time? You think there’s going to be a next time? Damn it, what is going on? Somebody fill me in
, please.”
“Have a seat, Ally,
” Chase says, as he motions for me to sit in the chair across from Tim’s desk. Jackson sits down beside me and Tim takes his place, in his chair. “We reviewed the footage from the camera at your apartment. About ten o’clock that morning, a man, and what appears to be a woman, walked under the security arm and entered the apartment complex on foot. The both had on ball caps, sunglasses and dark clothing.”
“A guy and a girl? I don’t understand. I don’t have any enemies, why am I being targeted?” I ask, tears threatening to spill from my eyes.
“We don’t know yet, but since you got an email here at work, we think it might be related to this office.”
Tim stood up, pushing his chair back so hard
, it slammed against the credenza behind his desk. “Are you trying to tell me one of my employees is doing this?”
“Not necessarily, maybe a former employee.”
“Sally,” I whisper, under my breath.
“What did you say, Al?” Tim asks, his eyes boring in to me.
“Sally,” I say a bit louder. “She got fired the other day because of an argument she and I had in the bathroom. But I don’t think she’d do anything like this, she was just being nosey and I wouldn’t feed her addiction.”
“We need you to review the video feed and tell us if it looks like her, can you do that?” Chase asks
, as Jackson’s arms squeeze a little tighter.
“Yeah, I’ll do anything to stop this.”
“Let’s head over to Gwinnett PD and view that tape,” he says, as he heads out the door. Jackson urges me forward and we all head down to Chase’s car. Tim climbs in the front and Jackson and I get in the back seat. It feels weird being in a police car, though thankfully, it’s unmarked. People in the parking garage are looking at us, people I work with. Great, now they think I’m some sort of criminal.
After traveling up I85
, and then Highway 316, we arrive at the police station. Chase calls someone and lets them know we’re here. We are led immediately to a square concrete room, with a small TV on the table. I feel like a criminal now, because this is just like a scene from a movie. I know I am not the one under scrutiny, but I can’t help but feel this way.
“I’m Detective James Anderson, thank you for coming down today. Ms. Sanders, we need you to review the feed and
tell us if you recognize either individual,” I nod, but my eyes are hazed over and I blink a few times, to clear the fuzz.
He presses play on an old fashioned VCR and I lean in to get a better view. The video isn’t very clear and it’s hard to see, but after a few minutes
, I see the two people ducking under the arm and walking on to the property. I squint to focus and I can tell one is a guy and one is a girl, just by the way they move. It doesn’t look like Sally. Sally was taller and not as skinny as this girl, but it’s hard to tell.
“Do you recognize either person, Ms. Sanders?”
I shake my head. “No. I mean...I don’t know. I think Sally is taller than this girl and not as thin. I don’t think it’s her, but I can’t be sure,” I look up at Jackson and he’s staring at the screen, rage filling his eyes. “Jackson, what’s wrong?” I ask, placing my hand on his knees.
“Nothing, just watching. You don’t think this is that girl Sally?”
“No, but again, I can’t be sure,” I say, as Tim is whispering to another detective in the corner, who then turns and leaves.
“We are going to pay her a visit anyway and see what she knows. In the meantime, APD is trying to track where the email came from and see if we can get a hit. Go home and just wait this out, Ms. Sanders.”
“No, she won’t be going home. Her place was broken into last night, she’ll be staying at my place in Buckhead,” Jackson says, as he stands up.
After all of this, I’ll be glad to be at Jackson’s, because I don’t want to go home now. This email has spooked me more than anything and I really don’t want to be alone. “Can I go back by the apartment first and get some more things?” I ask Jackson.
“Sure thing, sweet girl. Let’s go.”
Chase drives us there, since we came in his car. All of us walk inside and find the disarray left from last night. I need to get in here and clean this up, but I just don’t have the energy right now. My body is tense and I’ve been fighting tears for hours now, trying hard not to break down in front of everyone.
“Damn, Ally,” is all Tim can say. “They really tore through here, didn’t they?”
“Yeah, but they didn’t take anything that I am aware of. Just destroyed everything. Almost
, as if they were just here to make a mess.”
“You are correct, Ally,
” Chase says. “Nothing taken means this wasn’t a random burglary. They would have taken the television, instead of shattering it,” He continues as he looks around the room.
I dig through the kitchen drawers and locate my renter’s insurance policy. Scanning it
, I say, “I need to call them and file a claim, since everything needs to be replaced.”
I gather up some things and grab my phone, taking a few pictures of the apartment for the insurance company, and for my memory.
The ride back to the office is quiet, even though there are four people in the car. No one speaks, and all you hear is Chase’s radio spit off stuff every few minutes. Jackson is holding my hand and rubbing his thumb across my knuckles in a futile attempt to keep me calm. But I am far from calm.
I keep running through the footage, trying to place Sally’s face on the female,
but it just isn’t fitting. Who else could it be?
We walk in to the building, Jackson with me and Chase follows Tim down to the IT department
, to see if anything was located on my computer. I walk in to my office, to shut everything down and Jackson looks at the email, which is still pulled up and open on the monitor.
“Ally, come here. Look at this,
” He says as he pulls his phone out.
Another email. I look at it and my stomach flips.
You think you have it all figured out huh? Fancy job, fancy boyfriend and all that. Well guess what? You have no idea. It will all be over soon enough.
I’ve just finished reading the email
, when Carly lightly taps on the open door. “Ally, this came for you while you were gone.” She steps in and sets a long white box on my desk. I look at Jackson and he shrugs his shoulders, telling me he didn’t send it.
“Don’t touch it, Ally. Wait until Chase gets up here.”
I sit down in my chair and scan the rest of my emails, but the remainder look like work stuff. I lean back and close my eyes, trying to make some sense out of all this. Maybe it is Sally, mad that I got promoted and mad that she got fired. I always thought she was a little off center, but harmless. Maybe I was wrong, because she is the only person that might be angry enough at me to do something like this.