Pinch Me

Chapter Fourteen

Thomas personally responded to the call, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt with his badge hanging from a lanyard around his neck. Rob finally got Laura calmed down and asleep in bed with the aid of the anti-anxiety medication Dr. Simpson had prescribed for her, and a dose of the painkillers, with Doogie protectively curled next to her.

He stood in the living room and talked with Thomas in low tones so as not to disturb her. “So we’re looking for someone who’s not only psychotic and vicious, but also a computer expert?” Rob felt disgusted by the lack of answers and compounding questions.

He also fought his own rising panic that he might not be able to protect Laura from her attacker. He couldn’t quit work to watch over her twenty-four-seven.

“Not necessarily,” Thomas said. “There’s readily available information out there about concealing your identity on the Internet. Whoever sent her that message knew how to mask his IP address, but it wasn’t foolproof. It came up as a computer in a public library in Vancouver, Washington.”

“You don’t look convinced.”

“I’m not. It’s going to take some digging to determine if we can locate his true location.”

“Aren’t there people who can track freaks like this?”

“We’ve forwarded the information to the FDLE and they’re working on it.”

“That’s not good enough. This guy’s still out there getting his jollies tormenting her. Who knows if he’s going to come back to finish the job?”

From the grim look on the detective’s face, Rob knew he’d hit the nail on the head. “You’re sure he’ll come back, aren’t you?”

“I’ve already spoken my piece that it might not be a bad idea to invest in an alarm system and get her a concealed carry permit as soon as possible.”

“This is an active threat. Can’t we get a deputy assigned to her again?”

“We don’t have concrete proof it was from her attacker, for starters, even though it certainly looks like it. Our department is overworked and understaffed. There’s no way they’ll approve someone sitting on her now that she’s home. Not unless you pay an off-duty officer. I had to pull strings as it was to keep an officer on her in the hospital.”

Rob ran a hand through his hair. “We can’t afford that.”

Thomas looked at the wall of pictures in the entry way. He pointed to the one of Laura and her brother. “Didn’t you say her brother lives out west? Send her out there for a while.”

“She’ll never go for it. And she just got out of the hospital. How am I supposed to help her get her memory back if she’s out there?”

“I don’t have any good answers for you. I’m sorry.”

Rob managed to fight the urge to punch his fist through the wall in frustration. Finally, he turned to Thomas. “You find that fucker,” he warned. “You find him before I do, because I’ll kill him if he comes near her. There won’t be a fucking trial, because I’ll put a bullet in his goddamned brain.”

The detective nodded. “I hear you. I also want to warn you that’s not something you should be saying to me. Don’t go off on a vigilante kick and hurt the wrong person.”

“The only person I’ll hurt is anyone who tries to hurt her.”

After seeing Thomas out, he locked the door behind him and went to check on Laura again.

Despite his love for her, he also felt the most un-Domly of his life, considering his helplessness to protect her.

Laura was still sound asleep when Bill called after midnight. He was in the car with Steve and heading back from the airport.

Rob closed the bedroom door so Laura couldn’t hear. “I’ll wait up for you.” After hanging up, Rob settled on the couch to watch TV and await their arrival. He didn’t dare leave the condo unlocked. That’d be stupid, considering what happened.

When Rob had finally talked to Bill, he’d broken down on the phone as he told Bill what happened. Both men agreed if they ever got their hands on the guy who did this to Laura, they’d take care of him themselves without help from law enforcement.

It was nearly one thirty in the morning when Rob heard a car pull up outside. He looked through the front window to see Steve parked there.

Stepping outside, Bill gave him a huge hug. “Sorry I wasn’t here earlier,” Bill said, his voice thick with emotion.

“It’s okay. You’re here now.”

Steve and Rob helped him get his bags inside to the guest room before Steve took off for home.

“How’s she doing?” Bill asked him.

Rob shook his head and filled him in on the evening’s events. “Thank god the meds knocked her out.”

“Jeez, they can’t track the fucker?”

“It’s complicated. And…don’t get upset when you see her in the morning. She still looks pretty bad.”

“How bad? Steve said he wanted me to talk to you about her condition.”

“Bad. Just don’t get all choked up or anything. I’m having a hard enough time keeping it together.” They said good-night and Rob gently closed the bedroom door behind him.

Laura lay curled on her left side, on the left side of the bed. Normally he slept there and she slept on the right, but he wasn’t about to disturb her.

Doogie, however, he had no qualms about evicting. He tapped the dog on the head and quietly snapped his fingers before pointing at the floor.

The Lab raised his head to look at him, thumped his tail, then plopped his head down again.

Suppressing the urge to make noise, Rob tapped him on the head again and pointed at the floor, more forcefully this time.

Doogie once again raised his head and must have realized Rob really meant it. With a disgusted sigh of his own, the dog slowly sat up and yawned before taking his sweet time jumping down onto the floor.

If it wasn’t for the other circumstances, Rob would have laughed over it. But he carefully slid under the covers next to her. He’d opted to sleep in shorts, considering she’d gone to bed in an oversized T-shirt and underwear.

If it took time for her to get back to where they used to be, he’d wait. He’d do anything she needed.

Anything to prove to her how much he loved her.

He reached out and touched a strand of her hair. I love you, baby girl. I love you so much it hurts. I just want you back, however I can get you.

The dream happened again, almost exactly as it’d started in the hospital. Sitting at the computer. The blinking skull.

The pounding on the door.

This time, she walked farther into the living room, knowing if she opened the door a large, black shadow would fill the doorway.

Fear filled her, along with anger. Whoever it was, they’d taken her life away from her. They hadn’t killed her, but worse, they’d stolen the very core of her personality.

She started to reach for the door when she started awake, gasping as her heart thundered in her chest.

Next to her, Rob soundly slept.

Reassured by his warm presence, she reached behind her and put a hand on his hip before crashing back into sleep.

When the alarm on his phone went off at five, Rob contemplated calling in for a moment. Laura slept through it, and he stared at her in the dim light cast by the nightlight in the master bathroom.

Doogie had crawled back up on the bed at some point and was curled at her feet.

The Lab looked at him but didn’t move, apparently hoping he was invisible.

Rob got up and pulled on a T-shirt before moving to the door. With another quiet snap of his fingers, he motioned to the dog to come.

Reluctantly, after giving Laura and the now-empty real estate on her other side a longing glance, he jumped from the bed and padded after Rob.

Rob waited until he had the bedroom door closed to look down at the dog. “You’re a mooch, you know that?”

Doogie wagged his tail.

He followed Rob into the kitchen and waited while he made the coffee before heading for the front door. Rob had just snapped the leash to the dog’s collar when the door to the guest bedroom opened and Bill emerged.

“Please tell me that’s coffee I smell,” he mumbled.

“Yeah. I’ll be right back.”

Bill waved at him and headed toward the guest bathroom while Rob took the dog out. When he returned, Bill was standing in the kitchen with an empty mug in front of him on the counter and waiting for enough coffee to brew that he could pour a mug.

“You didn’t have to get up this early,” Rob said.

Bill nodded. “Yeah, I did. I think it’ll be best if you wake her up before you leave.”

“Why? I want her to sleep.”

Bill sleepily arched an eyebrow at him. “I don’t want to freak her out, her waking up to find you gone and someone she doesn’t recognize here instead.”

“Oh. Good point.” He thought about it. “She recognized Steve. Maybe she’ll remember you. And she’s seen your picture.”

“That’s not the same.” He grew tired of waiting and pulled the carafe out to pour himself half a cup. “You said she didn’t recognize Carol and she’s known her as long.”

“True.” Rob grabbed the mug he usually used and tried not to look at Laura’s mug, which sat next to it. Oversized, it was bright lime green and bore the picture of Scooby-Doo. He’d given it to her two birthdays ago after finding out how much she loved the cartoon dog.

“She’s tough,” Bill insisted. “She’ll get her memories back.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Rob grabbed his things and took a shower in the guest bathroom so he didn’t wake Laura too soon. But as it drew close to time for him to leave, he knew he had to wake her.

He returned to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed after turning on one of the bedside lamps. “Laura, hon? I need to leave for work.”

She mumbled something and tried to roll over, but then apparently the pain in her still-tender ribs jolted her from sleep.

Rob helped her sit up. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Bill’s here. I wanted to make sure I…” He swallowed back the hitch in his throat and tried again. “He’s awake. I wanted to make sure you were okay before I go.”

“Bill?”

“Your brother.”

“Oh.” She slowly nodded, sleep still obviously in charge. “Okay.”

She let him help her up and to the bathroom. He waited outside the door until she was done, then gave her his arm to hold onto as he walked her out to the living room, where he settled her on the couch. “I’ll get you some coffee and your pain meds.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Bill stepped into the living room. “Hi, sis.”

Rob watched her brow furrow, her focus going from Bill to the picture of her with him on the wall and back again.

“Do you recognize me?” Bill asked.

She shook her head, staring at him. Eventually she spoke. “I’ve seen pictures of you. Rob and Carol and the others have told me about you.”

Bill’s eyes flicked toward Rob, then back to Laura. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.” He walked over to sit next to her on the couch.

She studied his hands and he finally held them up for her. While tough and rugged, they were uninjured. “I’ve got an alibi.” He smiled, and then when she looked away, he put them down. “Sorry, Laur. I guess that wasn’t funny.”

“It’s okay.” She finally looked at him again. “I don’t have very many memories. I’m sorry.”

Rob watched as Bill tried to smile, tried not to stare at her bruises. “I understand.” Bill looked at him and met his gaze before returning his attention to her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner, sis. I should have been here for you. I’m staying two weeks. A friend of mine is helping me out with my charters.”

She nodded and looked away from him, as if afraid to meet his glance.

Laura normally would have been staring Bill right in the eyes and met him with a huge, friendly hug. She sat with her shoulders slumped, pulled in, trying to shrink away. Like a beat dog.

Then again, she looked like a beat dog.

Rob brought her a glass of water, a cup of coffee, and her meds. “It’s getting late. I really need to go. Sweetheart, are you going to be okay?”

She glanced at Bill as she took the meds from Rob and swallowed them with a drink from the water. “I’m okay,” she softly said.

Her weak tone of voice nearly broke his heart.

“I have to work a full twenty-four,” Rob said. “But Bill’s going to be with you. He’ll take you to the shop later, if you want, and stay there with you. And the captain said as long as we’re not on a call, I can take a long break and come home to have dinner with you.”

“Okay.” Doogie had rested his head on her lap and she reached out to stroke his head. “Can Doogie come to work with me?” she tentatively asked.

Rob had to swallow back another hitch in his throat. “He always goes to work with you, sweetheart.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

He took the water from her and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “And you can call me. If you get my voice mail, leave me a message and I’ll call you back as soon as I can. Or you can text me.”

“Okay.”

He took the glass of water back to the kitchen and went to grab the bag he normally took with him to work, with spare clothes and shower stuff.

Bill followed him. “My god,” he whispered. “She looks awful.”

Rob nodded. “I know. I warned you.”

“It’s like I’m a stranger to her.”

Rob nodded again. “I know.”

“This is horrible—”

“You don’t have to tell me that, Bill.”

Bill stopped. “I’m sorry. I know you love her. I know this is rough on you.”

“I almost lost her,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “She almost died. And now she doesn’t even know me. That first day in the hospital when she woke up, she was afraid of me.”

Bill reached out and touched Rob’s shoulder. “She’ll come back. She’s tough. She’ll get her memories back. I know it.”

“I wish I was that sure. She can remember the dog, but she can’t remember me.” He glanced toward the living room. “I called her ‘baby girl’ in the hospital and it was like I’d insulted her. I can’t even talk to her the same way. I don’t know what to do for her, how to help her.”

“Just love her, man. She’ll come back.”