Chapter Thirty-Four
Monday morning, after Rob gave her a quick maintenance spanking, Rob, Laura, and Bill went out to eat breakfast before they filed the marriage certificate.
“So when do you want me back in Florida?” Bill asked with a smile. “I don’t want to miss the reception.”
“Anytime you want, for as long as you want,” Rob said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all you’ve done for us.”
“Hey, family’s family. I tell you what, when they catch that psycho, you and me are going to save the State of Florida the cost of a trial.”
Rob stuck out his hand. “Agreed, brother.”
Laura looked at her “boys.” “Well ain’t the testosterone thick this morning?” It was gratifying they cared that much about her, even though she knew most of it was bravado.
She hoped. She didn’t want either of them in jail.
And truth be told, she wanted the first shot at MedicineMan.
After breakfast, Laura and Rob filed their certificate and spent the morning touring the town. Laura enjoyed playing guide and they finally made their way back to the house for lunch in the afternoon. Rob fixed them some sandwiches while Laura checked her email.
She spotted it sitting in her inbox and called out to Rob. He reached out and clicked on it to read it.
Apparently your boyfriend’s disappeared, too. Come out, come out, wherever you are. Let’s play hide and seek. I’m It.
You can’t hide forever.
I’ll still be waiting.
Rob handled the call to Thomas. Thomas put Rob on hold while he contacted Hutchinson.
When Thomas returned to the line, Rob asked, “Where the hell are these emails coming from?”
“We haven’t been able to track this guy. He’s masking his MAC address in addition to his IP.”
“I don’t understand what that means. What about the email account he’s using? You can’t track it?”
“He’s using a free server but gave totally false information when he opened it. The server offered to block the account, but he’ll just open another one under another name. This way at least it’s easier to track him down. He has to know we’re trying to track him and thinks we can’t.”
“Easier? You don’t even know who he is yet.”
“It’s easier to keep track of one persona versus four or five.”
Laura felt her confidence slip as she listened in on the speaker call. Maybe Montana wasn’t such a bad place after all. Talking tough was one thing. The constant worry was almost too much for her to take. The hypervigilance she would need upon returning to Florida intimidated her, to say the least. All it would take was one wrong move, one minute of inattention, and she could die.
Maybe her decision the night before hadn’t been the right one. She didn’t think it was the right time of the month for her to get pregnant, but anything was possible. Perhaps it would be best to take precautions.
Then again, it was her life. If she could figure out what she did with the other journals, maybe something in them would solve this whole problem.
If they even existed. Unfortunately, she was beginning to doubt they did.
Laura found it hard to believe some random psycho managed to target her in Englewood. It was a sleepy retirement town filled mostly with snowbirds and fishermen. While it was true the population was growing quickly and new people were moving into the area, it still wasn’t the kind of place that spawned stalkers.
She hoped.
While on the phone with Rob, Thomas told him they had an FBI profiler working on the case since he was linked to the other killings. Hopefully that would give them a lead to work with, or at least a way to eliminate people from the suspect list.
Not that they had any suspects to begin with.
Once Rob was off the phone, she spoke up. “I want to leave tomorrow, Sir,” Laura said. “I can’t live like this anymore. I want it over with, one way or another. Either this son of a bitch is going to come after me or he’s full of hot air and gets off by sending me messages. I don’t care anymore. I want it settled. Please, Sir?”
“We could be talking your life here.” He looked at her belly and laid his hand on it. “Or more.”
“Sir, I promise, I’ll carry that gun twenty-four-seven. If he’s stupid enough to try something, I won’t hesitate to blow his friggin’ head off. You know I can do it, too.” While in Montana, she’d started practicing with Bill’s guns.
She’d gotten good. Damn good.
They spent the afternoon packing. Laura took one last short ride on the horses while Rob changed the oil in the Explorer.
She hoped she’d be around to visit next summer. It was very chilly now, totally unlike what she was used to in Florida. At home she would still be in shorts and tank tops and sweating to death in the humidity. The AC would be running full blast, with no relief in sight for at least a month.
But she loved it. And she would remember how much she loved it while Bill regaled her of stories over the winter of Montana’s frigid temperatures.
Tuesday morning, Bill had breakfast ready for them by the time they’d finished their shower. After eating, they loaded up the last of their belongings and Doogie.
Laura hated saying good-bye and watched Bill disappear in the distance through the rear window.
Rob reached over and patted her on the thigh. “It’s okay. He’ll be back down in a few weeks.”
“I know.” She watched the landscape pass outside the window. “I want to go home. I just wish they’d catch him.”
No need to clarify.
They took their time. Rob had vacation time to spare and felt no rush to return to Florida. Neither did Laura. With maintenance spankings every morning, they took a leisurely route and made a point of stopping at places of interest along the way.
Two days later, Laura’s period started, effectively deciding that concern.
Rob hugged her. “You know, when it happens, it happens.”
The trip wasn’t difficult physically. Mentally was a different matter. The closer they got to Florida the larger the knot in her stomach grew. Traveling made her feel vulnerable even though she knew there was no way MedicineMan could possibly know where they were.
This ought to be the easy part. Still, she found it difficult to relax.
She did, however, enjoy their hours together. They talked and she even read to him from the journals while he drove. More memories returned, mostly from several years prior. Every day drew her closer to Rob, and despite her missing memories she knew deep inside her decision to marry him was the right one.
The decision to give herself to him as his slave even more so.
They stopped one last time, their ninth day, in the Florida Panhandle, near Apalachicola. Laura had amassed a bag full of postcards and refrigerator magnets from stops along the way. Even Doogie sensed how close they were to home. It could have been the smell of the Gulf or just a feel in the air, but the Lab acted tense and on alert most of the evening.
Steve called them later the next day when they were just north of Tampa. “You planning on coming home any time soon?”
“We should be home in a few hours.” The sun sank low in the west. She wasn’t sure what time it really was because she hadn’t reset her watch. Her body tried to stay on Montana time, but her brain was wide awake.
“We’ll have the troops waiting.”
Laura wondered if he was kidding.
There were two unfamiliar trucks parked in Rob’s driveway when they arrived. Laura tensed until Steve emerged from behind the house, waving. She laughed and jumped out, running into his arms and letting him swing her around like she was ten again.