Winter's Role, page 31
The moment Jessie hung up the phone, she began bombarding her with questions. “Jess? What happened? Is it one of your grandparents?” When Jessie didn’t answer right away, she tried again. “Jess, you’re worrying me. What is it? What’s happened?”
Jessie thought she was going to be sick. Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, almost gasping for air, she finally turned to look at Stephanie. “That was Detective Davies, from the Sheriff’s Department. He called to inform me that Bob’s escaped.”
Stephanie’s brow furrowed. “Bob? You mean…the Bob that tried to rape me last summer?” She had worked hard to push any thoughts of Bob and what he’d done out of her mind. It had been one of the most traumatic events in her life. Most of the time, she was successful. But now…
“Yeah.” Jessie grabbed her hand. She could tell Stephanie was nearing panic. “Apparently, there was some kind of medical emergency and he was being moved to another facility. There was an accident…” She swallowed hard and forced herself to go on. “He’s on the run and they wanted to warn me.”
“Warn you? Why?”
She took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady. “According to the Sheriff, Bob’s therapist seems to think that he’s coming after me.”
“What!”
Jessie squeezed her hand, pulling her close. “It’s okay. We’ll be okay.”
Stephanie shook her head. “Jess, no. This isn’t okay. First the phone calls, then the break-in and now this? What the Hell’s going on? Why would he come after you? You didn’t do anything to him.”
“I don’t know, Baby. I guess he blames me for getting caught.” She twisted around to lean back against the headboard, putting an arm around Stephanie’s shoulders and pulling her in close.
“It was his fault, not yours.”
“I know.” Jessie held her tighter. “Let’s just try to relax.”
“How? I’m terrified. What if he shows up here? What if…”
“Shh.” She kissed Stephanie on the head. “That’s not gonna happen. They’ll catch him.”
Stephanie sniffed back tears. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because I love you and I’m going to marry you. And that’s all that matters.” She squeezed her tighter. “Let’s just get some sleep, okay?”
Stephanie nodded, not wholly convinced that things would be okay. Snuggling closer, she closed her eyes and sighed. “Can you just hold me tonight?”
Jessie closed her eyes to hold back tears before answering, “I’m never gonna let you go, Sweetheart. Never.”
Alex Riordan, Winter's Role
