I lift the phone off my ear and shake it.
When I return it to my ear, John is saying, “The officer we sent didn’t find out anything useful from your neighbors. No suspect person wandering close to the house, no suspect activity in the area.”
Figures.
“That doesn’t mean much, of course,” John goes on. “Someone obviously stuck those messages to your door. We got some partial fingerprints from this last knife, but nothing conclusive. Most probably the perp isn’t in our system.”
Yeah, he said that before.
“What about Ross Jones?”
“The garage owner’s son you told us about?”
“No,” I snap. “Some other random Ross Jones. What do you think?”
“I think that you have quite a temper, Hansen.”
Unruffled. You got to hand it to John. He’s cool as shit.
And he’s right about the temper. I think of how I went off the rails with Octavia the other day when she said she knew about Emma, and wince.
I hear myself telling her to get out.
Rubbing at my eyes, I glance at where my kids are watching cartoons on TV. Octavia left without a word when I let myself inside, and I didn’t tell her about the message.
She didn’t ask. She didn’t ask how I am, didn’t even look at me as she kissed the kids goodbye, gathered her things and left.
I shouldn’t give a fuck.
I don’t, okay?
“Mr. Hansen. Are you still there?” John asks in my ear, and I clench my jaw.
“Yeah.”
“Maybe you should get a security system for your house. A camera will catch whoever is doing this, or at the very least make them think twice about doing it again.”
That’s an idea. I wonder why I didn’t think of it. “I’ll do that.”
“Good. You take care now, and be sure to lock the house at night.”
I grunt in agreement, and disconnect the call.
Security systems. Cameras.
What the fuck.
Or I just shake goddamn Ross until his teeth fall out and get him to stop harassing my family.
Ross isn’t at the garage when I arrive the next day, and asking around I find out he’s off today.
Goddammit.
I’m already in a foul mood, because Octavia didn’t say a single word to me this morning, and how pathetic is it that I’d been hoping to hear her voice?
Fucking pathetic, that’s how.
And it has to stop, this… need. Right the hell now.