Chapter 29: Ben
My mind races as I lick my lips and try to decide where to start. This went from being a minor confession to a tangled shit-heap of secrets in just a couple of hours. Lilah looks like she's debating the best way to get me committed to a mental facility. To be fair, I probably looked a little crazy when I shoved her laptop and phone between the milk and a bottle of ketchup.
"I know from experience how easy it is to use a phone or laptop as a listening device or to log keystrokes. They both need to be bricked until I can go through them and make sure there's no malware."
"What are you talking about?" Lilah laughs, a hysterical edge creeping into her voice.
"The phone calls. The ones from unknown numbers. Did you ever answer them?" I ask her.
Lilah looks exasperated, her green eyes flashing. "I did. Once or twice when they started... but there was nobody on the other end." I can just see her picking up the call and shrugging it off when no one answered. Didn't I do the same thing the first time?
"There was," I say. My jaw clenching in anger. "Your phone was going off in the middle of the night last night. I answered it." Rage seeps through my body at the memory of the breathing and the grunt I heard. "I heard a man breathing and when I said 'hello' it startled him like he wasn't expecting me."
Lilah squints at me, confusion, disbelief and anger competing for control of her delicate features.
"Lilah, someone is stalking you. The calls and my car, that's not a coincidence."
Tears fill her eyes. "Oh shit," she whispers. "This is my fault." All the emotions I've been watching her battle disappear.
"No, Princess. It's not your fault. You didn't know."
Her face crumples. "No, but my brothers said they thought someone tampered with my Jeep battery. I didn't take it seriously. I thought they were just being paranoid. If I had listened..."
"Stop," I tell her firmly. I pull her into my arms. "There's nothing you could have done."
That's not entirely true. Had I known about the Jeep I would have gotten to the bottom of the phone calls right away but telling her that won't change our situation.
"Look, I need to check some things in my office..." I pause because there's no way around telling her the truth, even if this isn't how I wanted to do it. "Can you please come sit with me?"
I bring one of my kitchen chairs to the office and set it in front of my computer, pushing my comfy leather chair to the side for Lilah to sit in. She eyes me warily, and the sight of her distrust hits me right in the gut.
I sign in and pull up my security camera. The current feed shows a grainy image of Lilah's front yard, driveway, and front stoop. It only takes a second before it clicks and she opens her mouth, no doubt ready to unleash hell on me.
"Before you get mad," I say holding up a hand, begging for a little patience. "I had these before you moved in. I only use them to keep an eye on my own property, but after we found your door open, I moved them to watch your house. Just in case."
Lilah's looks at the screen through narrowed eyes, lips parted. Her cheeks are flushed and blotchy, anger practically seeping out of her. She takes a deep breath and says, "You've been watching me. For weeks." Her voice is almost calm, but I can hear the anger bubbling just beneath the surface.
"No, I had the cameras on your house in case something happened. I've been with you every night, here and over there. Since nothing else unusual happened, I never looked at the footage, I swear. I just didn't want someone hurting you."
Lilah looks placated but not happy, and she speaks through gritted teeth when she says, "You should have told me. If you'd been honest about it, I wouldn't have minded so much. Besides, if you'd kept them facing your own property, like you should have, we'd be able to see who vandalized your car."
She still won't look at me as I try to apologize. "I know. And I'm sorry." I really am. I know I should have told her before now but trying to explain the cameras was going to bring up more questions. I click through the timeline as she sits next to me in silence.
"Stop!" she yells, smacking me on the arm. I stop the footage and back up slowly. A shadow crosses the bottom of the frame at 3:18am. The shadow moves on and off frame for several minutes. I think we can be reasonably certain that's the jackass who destroyed my car. We watch as the shadow moves until suddenly a figure dressed in black steps into the frame. The only thing that's clear is they have a black hoodie pulled up over their head. It looks like they have a slim build, but it's hard to judge height or anything else.
I'm livid. The thought of this piece of shit walking around my property, close enough to hurt Lilah, has me shaking with rage. Lilah places a hand on my arm, and her gentle touch is enough to calm my thunderous thoughts.
That is, until the figure crosses the yard and peeks in Lilah's front kitchen window before skulking around to the back.
Leave, I pray silently. Please, just leave.
But he doesn't leave. A minute later, a flashlight beam flashes from behind the blinds inside her bedroom window. Lilah gasps and grips my forearm, her fingernails digging into my skin as she covers her mouth with her other hand.
"Oh my god," she whispers.
Despite her frustration and anger with me, she lets me pull her into my lap. I wrap my arms around her as we silently watch the little light dim and move to another room.
After a couple minutes, the figure reappears outside, slinking back around the side of the house, disappearing towards the street. I fast forward a couple seconds at a time, but there's nothing else. I turn off the video, saving the clip to my hard drive and cloud storage. I don't know how much it will help, but I'll look through it again later.