Chapter 14

Stalker

Friday

Almost an hour later, Lucas arrived at Chelsea’s. He’d gone home to shower and change first, and had deliberated over what to wear for far too long. As he stood at her door, he realised how nervous he was about seeing her again. He took a deep breath and rang the bell. He heard a voice call out that wasn’t Chelsea’s, “I’ll get it.”

The door opened to reveal a stunning leggy strawberry blonde, giving him the once over. If his mind hadn’t been so preoccupied with Chelsea, he would have welcomed her in a shot.

“Well, hello there, handsome,” she said in a deep flirty tone. “You must be Detective Hudson.”

“And you must be Charlotte.”

“That I am. Aren’t you just good enough to eat?”

“Charlotte,” Sarah scolded as she came up behind her. “Stop flirting with the man and let him in.”

“Of course, silly me, come in, Detective.”

“Lucas, please.”

“Well you’ve obviously met Charlotte. I’m Sarah Summerville.”.

A beautiful short petite woman with striking green eyes and strawberry blonde hair extended her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Ma’am.”

“Please, call me Sarah, Lucas.” She smiled. “Chelsea is just upstairs. She’ll be down in a moment.”

As she spoke, he noticed Chelsea descending the stairs. Her jeans hugged her petite curves and her legs were covered to her calf with brown boots. Her deep green flowing shirt brought out the rose in her cheeks and lips. Her long hair was loose and shone under the overhead lights and he felt a compelling need to touch it. Her pure sexiness erased all rational thought from his mind. Desire overcame him as her scent filled the air. As she approached, his eyes locked on hers and he couldn’t pull them away.

Chelsea saw Charlotte mouth ‘wow’ behind Lucas’s shoulder as she walked towards them. She kept her face even as she looked at him and instantaneously her eyes became glued to his. They all just stood there for a moment as the electricity passed between Chelsea and Lucas.

“Chelsea,” said Sarah breaking the silence, “do you have your list there for Lucas?”

She nodded and handed him the list. He scanned down the page reading her small neat writing and then locked eyes with her again.

“I wasn’t sure how seriously to take them but by the look on your face, I’m now assuming I should be.”

He nodded.

“Is this because I resemble the other girls?”

He nodded again, not breaking eye contact.

“Why would someone want to hurt Chelsea?” said Charlotte.

He cleared his throat and dragged his eyes from Chelsea’s and put on his Detective face.

“That’s what I’m here to find out.”

“Charlotte,” said Sarah turning to her daughter, “we should get going if we don’t want to miss the start of the movie.” She dragged Charlotte towards the door.

“Ok, ok,” Charlotte replied before giving Chelsea a wink over Lucas’ shoulder. “I guess you’re not coming then, Chelsea?”

“No, I guess not, Charlotte,” she replied glaring at her sister before returning her eyes to Lucas.

“We’ll be back in a few hours, Chelsea. Can we get anything for you while we’re out?” Sarah asked.

“No thanks, Mum,” she said. “I don’t think we need anything.”

“We’ll see you later then. Say goodbye, Charlotte.”

“Good bye Charlotte,” she said with a smirk and followed Sarah out to the car.

“Can I get you anything?” Chelsea asked him.

“No thanks. Can we sit down so I can ask you some questions?”

“Sure,” she said leading him to the couch. It was as comfortable as he imagined it would be.

“Do you have any ex-boyfriends who might want to hurt you?” Lucas asked getting straight into it, even though he did not want to hear about her relationships with other men.

“I’ve only ever had one serious boyfriend - well fiancé actually - but I can’t imagine why he would want to hurt me,” she told him. “Wesley left me about a year ago and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

He noticed the hurt in her eyes and felt a stab of jealousy. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I thought we were happy, but he simply disappeared and I never saw him again.”

“Were you living together?” he asked.

“Yes, we were living here and then, after he left, Elle moved in,” she said.

“Did you go to the police?”

“Yes, but they didn’t seem very interested in finding him. They said his father was dead and that his mother had left her husband many years ago. They didn’t think anything had happened to him, just that he must have just taken off. They seemed to think I was better off without him.”

“And his friends?”

“I didn’t know any of his friends. I don’t think he had many, he was pretty shy.” This piqued Lucas interest but he had to be thorough.

“Have you had any other boyfriends or high school sweethearts?”

“No, I don’t really date much,” she said, blushing. “At school I wasn’t very popular.”

“Why’s that?”

“In Tidwell, about a quarter of the families are what some people would call well off and ours is one of them. As I told you last night, my family worked very hard to get where they are. We were the minority, so we were singled out.”

“So you’re rich then?”

“Um, if you want to call it that, my family has money,” she said. Her face became guarded and Lucas knew he’d hit a nerve.

“Would you say you’re spoilt?”

“No!” she said indignantly. Her eyes became cool and a flush filled her cheeks. “I have never taken anything for granted. Sure I didn’t want for anything but I am not the spoilt brat I was often referred to as. I have made my own way and bought my own business and do not in any way accept anything from my parents. They own this house but I pay half the rent, well now the full rent. My parents don’t want me to but I do, I would never rely on them for money.”

“Was Wesley – what’s his surname?”

“Robinson.”

“Was he envious of you or your family, or did he ever give you any indication he thought you were spoilt?’

“Not that I was ever aware of. He did seem a little awestruck by our family’s house but he never indicated he was jealous. Why are you asking me about this? How is it relevant?”

“Hey, I’m not having a dig at you. I didn’t really want to have to tell you this but—“

“What? I can handle it,” she cut in and set her chin.

“The words ‘spoilt bitch’ were cut into the chests of all three girls before their throats were slit.”

An expression of horror emerged on her beautiful face and her eyes dropped to her shaking hands. He mentally kicked himself. What made him tell her that?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to tell you but there is a reason I’m asking you about this,” he said softly as he took her small hands in his.

“These murders,” she said with a catch in her voice, “you think they could be because of me? Elle is dead because of me?”

“This is not your fault. It’s this sick bastard’s fault, whoever he is.”

“I hope I don’t know anyone that would do this,” she said in a small voice.

“Me too, I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he assured her, a lump rising in his throat. “We have to be realistic and look at the connections, try to work out who it could be. You only knew Elle and you don’t seem connected in any other way to the others besides your resemblance to them, except via the café. Now that you are getting calls we have to work out why you may be a target.”

She looked up at him. “I really don’t know, Lucas.”

The forlorn expression in her amazing green eyes was too much. He lifted a hand from hers and lightly ran it over her hair and down to stroke her face. Pink rose in her cheeks as he leant forward to kiss her gently on the lips.

His tenderness surprised her and the intensity in his eyes caused her to blush. The touch of his lips sent an instant fire through her body. Wanting more, she threw her arms around his neck and brought his mouth back to hers.

He groaned and intensified the kiss, pulling her up with him as he stood. He hoped she would wrap her legs around him again and she didn’t disappoint. His groin tightened and he knew tonight he was not going to be able to stop.