Karen Rose - I’m Watching You

He’d lost all track of time when a knock on his window nearly scared him to death.

Sean stood there scowling. „What the hell are you doing here? You had us worried sick.“

Abe glanced at his watch in amazement. „I didn’t realize I’d been here so long.“

„Where’s your damn phone? We’ve been calling you for an hour and a half.“

Abe fished it out of his pocket and frowned. „No battery bars.“ It was the first time he’d been so careless. He plugged it into his cigarette lighter.

„Kristen’s in the car.“

His gaze snapped to Sean’s car where Kristen sat staring at her hands. „Why?“

„She’s been climbing the walls, afraid you’d been hurt by Conti’s men.“

Suddenly so weary, Abe dropped his head back against the seat „I didn’t think.“

„Well, tell it to her yourself. I got to get back to my own woman.“

A minute later Sean roared away and Kristen climbed up into the cab. She immediately dropped her eyes and he felt the pang of guilt. He’d been thoughtless.

„I’m sorry, Kristen. I didn’t think you’d be worried.“

„Well, I was, but it’s all right.“ Her chin was practically digging into her chest.

„Can you look at me?“

She complied, twisting her neck at an odd angle and looking up from the corner of her eye, but still not meeting his gaze. She looked… strange.

„What’s wrong?“

She closed her eyes, drew a strangled breath. „Can you please take me home?“

„Not until you tell me what this is all about. Open your eyes.“

She shrank back in the seat, her eyes clenched shut „Abe, please.“

Suddenly alarmed, he pulled the SUV out of the parking place. „What’s happened? Dammit, Kristen, if you’re trying to get back at me for scaring you, it’s working.“

„I’m not. Just drive.“

He started driving. „Is it Vincent?“

„No, he’s unchanged. Owen called to tell me when I was in the car with Sean.“

„Has that Timothy come back to see Vincent?“

„I didn’t ask. I was too worried about you.“ He saw her open one eye, look in the passenger-side mirror, then shut her eyes again.

He looked in the rearview mirror and saw nothing but the blazing lights of the Navy Pier’s Ferris wheel. „When we get to your house, you’ll tell me?“

She nodded once. „Yes.“

Thursday, February 26,

10:45 P.M.

He was relieved when Reagan’s SUV pulled into her driveway. He could see between the houses from his position on the next block and watched as Reagan got out and crossed around to her side of the vehicle. Reagan was a gentleman. He approved.

He was glad they were home safely. He couldn’t have forgiven himself if anything had happened to anyone else she cared about. He hadn’t meant it to spiral out of control this way. He’d meant her to be comforted, knowing he was eliminating evil from the world, but instead her life had been turned upside down. She’d been threatened in her own home. He would have to find a way to make sure everyone knew she was uninvolved, that she knew nothing. He would write her no more letters.

He frowned. She should have been out of the car a long time ago. It was cold tonight. She’d get sick. Reagan needed to get her into the house, but he just stood there. Something was wrong. Finally, she climbed down and Reagan put his arm around her and walked her into the house through the kitchen door. She appeared unhurt. But he needed to be certain.

Thursday, February 26,

10:45 p.m.

Kristen stopped short at the sight of her kitchen, visions of Ferris wheels temporarily dismissed. „It’s clean. All the plaster dust is gone.“ So was the far wall. She and Abe hadn’t finished ripping it down the night before, but now it was totally gone. As was the refrigerator, the sink, and the linoleum. The only thing remaining was her table, which was covered with magazines opened to layouts of beautiful kitchens. „Annie’s magazines,“ she said, then understood. „Aidan and Annie were here. Did you know they were going to do this?“

Abe was grinning. „Where do you think they got the key?“

„Where did you get the key?“

„Mia stole it from your purse and I had a copy made. Are you surprised?“

She sank down into a chair and covered her mouth with her hand. Tears sprang to her eyes as Abe knelt beside her on one knee and pulled her into his arms.

„They wanted to do something for you. It was Aidan’s idea.“

„It’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me. Oh, Abe.“

His hands rubbed her back, great soothing circles. „Are you ready to talk now?“

She wiped her eyes on his coat. „I think so.“

He pulled away, lifted her chin, kissed her mouth. Then took the chair next to her and unbuttoned his coat. „I’m ready whenever you are.“

It was time, she knew. Time to tell the story she’d told only once before. This time she’d be believed. Still… She’d harbored the secret for so long. Too long. It was time to let it go.

„I was twenty,“ she began with a sigh. „A sophomore at the University of Kansas. I’d spent a year in Italy and I was behind, so I was taking some summer classes so I could catch up. He was a guy in my statistics class. I was an art major, so he helped me with my homework. I didn’t have a head for statistics.“ She smiled sadly. „And then I became one.“

Abe’s face was calm, but his blue eyes were turbulent. „You knew him, then.“

„I thought I did. We’d gone out a few times, burger joints, pizza places. He’d have a few beers, I’d abstain. He’d tease me about being a prude, I’d just smile. Then one night we went to the county fair. It was a summer night. He wanted to walk, so we left the group we’d come with and walked out past the livestock barns. He kissed me, not for the first time. But then he wanted to…“ She faltered, her throat closing.

„He wanted sex,“ Abe said flatly.

She nodded, relieved he’d said it for her. „Which was the first time.“

„The first time he’d wanted to or the first time for you?“

„Both.“

His eyes closed, his throat working behind the knotted tie. „You were a virgin.“

„Probably the only one in my class. My father forbade drinking, dancing, rock and roll, card-playing, but sex was the epitome of sin. So I was waiting, but not for this guy.“

„But he didn’t take no for an answer.“

„No. I fought and scratched, but he was too big. He overpowered me like I was nothing. Told me I wanted it, that I’d been asking for it. I told him I’d never… but he laughed. Said I’d been to Italy, I was a woman of the world. He pushed me to the ground and covered my mouth…“ She lifted her eyes to the ceiling, unable to look at him as she said the words. „He raped me. I just kept thinking it would be over soon, it had to be over soon. I looked up and saw the Ferris wheel in the sky and watched it spin, counted the cars. And finally it was over.“ She dropped her eyes back to him and saw his hands fisted on the table. She covered one of his fists with her hand, realizing for all his insistence on hearing the truth, it might be harder for him to hear than for her to tell. „He left me there, in the dirt behind the barns.“

„Did you tell anyone?“

„Eventually.“

„The police?“ he asked tightly.

„No.“ She sighed. „We tell these girls to come forward, to tell the authorities, but they’re scared. I was scared. I was afraid nobody would believe me. He told me he’d say it was consensual. We’d been dating for two months. Nobody would have doubted him. He wasn’t a jock. He was a normal regular guy who always went to class and turned his homework in on time. He was no womanizer. That was the reason I trusted him in the first place.“