And I won’t be happy with you,
I’ve been watching you, it’s all I do,
Little birdie, I’m coming for you . . .”
She swallowed heavilyagainst the nausea in her gut.
“Motherfucker,” Sampson said. “I take it you don’t have the note.”
“No. I packed them in my backpack. I left immediately, but when I was returning the key under the door of the building manager’s apartment, someone attacked me. It had to have been my stalker. He called me Little Birdie, and said how he was disappointed that I’d decided to run.”
“Motherfucker,” Jenner muttered.
“Did you see him?” Isaiah asked urgently. “Do you have any idea who it was?”
“No, I didn’t. It was dark down there and he wrapped his arms around me. When I fought back, he punched me in the stomach and slammed my face into the wall. I took off running after I stabbed him with my knife. Oh no! Sampson, I lost the knife.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Sampson said grimly. “I’ll get you another one.”
“But I liked that one.”
“I vote she’s never put in a position where she has to use another knife,” Jenner said with a grumble.
Immy nodded in agreement.
It was a nice thought, but sometimes it seemed like trouble followed her around.
“What happened next?” Alejandro said.
“I took off without my duffle. I’m really going to miss my stuff. My velvet jacket and shoes. My bedspread.”
“I promise we’ll replace them,” Immy told her. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”
Maeve hated relying on other people. But what was important was that she and Squish were safe.
“I ran outside, trying to get away even though my body hurt and I was terrified.”
“No one saw you?” Jenner asked. “Stopped to help you?”
“Ah, no.” She didn’t want to tell him that the sort of neighborhood she lived in didn’t lend itself to good Samaritan types.
There was a buzzing noise and Isaiah glanced up from his laptop. “Eric’s here. I’m letting him in the gate.”
“He knows how to get in,” Jenner said. “Keep going, Maeve.”
“As I was running, I was trying to use my phone and I tripped up on the pavement. That’s how I scraped my hands and knees.” She’d cleaned them as best she could in the bus station. “My backpack burst open and everything fell out. I only had time to pick up Squish and my wallet. I just kept running and got on a bus.”
“You couldn’t use someone else’s phone?” Alejandro asked.
She grimaced. “I could have asked. People were giving me worried looks, but I, uh, I couldn’t remember anyone’s numbers.”
“Your notebook?” Sampson asked gently. He’d helped her prepare her notebook with all the numbers she needed.
“It was in the backpack,” she said miserably.
“Oh, Maevie-baby,” Immy said quietly.
Damn it. She hated people’s sympathy. She was not an idiot. She would not be a burden.