Chapter Ten
By the time Farkle arrived at the station, both Maya and Riley had already given their statements to the cops and were sitting in the hallway, Riley with a cup of tea and Maya with her coffee.
"Riley!" Farkle cried when he saw them and Riley's face immediately flooded with relief.
"Oh, Sweet!" she raced into his arms and all her fears began to melt. "Did you hear what happened?"
"They told me the gist of it." He led Riley back over to the chair and sat down with them. "You ok, Maya?" he asked. She nodded stiffly and pulled her jacket sleeve down. Riley frowned and turned to Maya.
"Maya sprained her wrist driving like a madwoman." Riley explained.
"It's just a bruise." Maya mumbled.
"Yeah, unless you actually saw a medical person who would tell you it's sprained at least." Riley retorted.
"Don't they have someone here who can check her out?" Farkle asked.
"I'm fine!" Maya exploded as she stormed to her feet, her empty paper cup falling to the floor. "Don't you see that?"
"Maya, we-"
"Stop!" Maya cut Riley off. "Why are you all so worried about me?! I'm worried about you guys! Riley, you're pregnant and every minute you two spend with me could be putting you in some sort of danger!"
"Maya, don't talk like that." Farkle shook his head. "We're not in danger."
"Yes, you are!" Maya insisted. "I don't care what anyone says anymore! I know someone is after me!"
"You're just paranoid from this whole thing." Riley explained, rubbing a hand over Maya's shoulder. "You should go home and rest."
"I'm not going back home, no way. And before you offer, no I can't go to your place either. Don't you see? Anywhere I go could result in me or whoever I'm with ending up dead!"
"Miss Hart?" a voice called from the end of the hall. The group looked up and saw Tim, the officer, walking toward them. "If you could lower your voice, we'd appreciate it. Hello Mr. Minkus." He shook hands with Farkle. "Your wife and friend were very good detectives and took down the license plate. Unfortunately, the car was scanned and was found to be stolen." Tim sighed.
"Perfect." Maya muttered and crossed her arms.
"But, it's a good start. I can pursue the stolen car case and that might lead me to finding more information on whoever has been making these attempts on Maya's life."
"So it's true then?" Farkle couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're saying that Maya isn't overreacting? Someone actually has been trying to kill her?"
"Well, if you have any other ideas I'd love to hear them, but as of now, I'm pursuing the most promising lead and this one seems to make the most sense at the moment." Tim replied. "Miss Hart has had some legitimate concerns." When he said that, Maya instantly forgave Tim for treating her like she was stupid the last time she had been in.
"So then what does that mean?" Riley asked, her brows furrowed in concern and concentration. "What do we need to do?"
"Well I've pondered this problem for the past few days and have thought of a few options." Tim proposed. "Would you like to come to my office and we can discuss them?" They followed him to a conference room and he closed the door behind them. Maya noticed a few pairs of eyes trained on them as they entered the room. She suspected that a lot of the staff had heard of her predicament. Tim had mentioned that not all the staff believed her that it was a serious problem, so she glared daggers back at them. "Now, I don't expect any of these options to be convenient or pleasurable." Tim began as soon as they were all seated.
"As long as no creep is following me." Maya folded her hands.
"Then let's begin." Tim opened a folder he had been holding and began to read down the page. "First option we have is setting up a hotel for you, nothing very fancy, but a nice enough room for you to live in until the situation seems safe enough for you to return to your apartment."
"That's not so bad." Riley nodded at Maya.
"What else you got?" Maya turned back to Tim.
"Second option is to return you to your apartment, but add our own security measures to the systems. More cameras, more locks on your doors, even direct 911 cords in your house if you wanted it."
"But I'd still live there?" Maya clarified.
"Yes." Tim nodded.
"Any other options?"
"Last one. Every now and then in rare circumstances, we can assign a personal officer to you that would live with you and instigate every safety measure that we approved to make sure everywhere you went and every person you came in contact with was good and clear." Tim explained.
"Like a bodyguard?" Maya raised her eyebrows and snorted slightly.
"Well, if you want to think of it like that…" Tim shrugged. "We call them witness-protectors but…"
"Don't you think having someone with me constantly is a little extreme?" Maya asked Riley and Farkle. "Besides, I can't afford to feed another."
"No cost, they would be sponsored through the station. Usually we assign one of our own cops that's either about to retire or new to the job. Gets them some experience."
"Mmmm." Maya frowned. She hated her personal space being invaded. She hated people watching her and copying her. She didn't like the sound of someone following her, even it was with good intentions. And living with her? On her couch? No way. "I think the hotel will work fine for now." Maya decided. "How long will I stay there?"
"I think the station agreed to pay for three nights to start with." Tim flipped through more of the papers. "Then we'd reevaluate and take it from there."
"I can work with that." Maya nodded and pulled her purse out. "When do I move in?"
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"He followed her?" Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"At first I didn't believe her." Tim propped his feet up on his desk and switched the phone to his other ear. "But for one, Riley agreed that the situation was out of hand. And then when I found out it was a stolen car, things began to add up." Tim shook his head. "I just don't know what to do about this, Lucas. The chief doesn't want me to get hung up on this, I want to make sure nothing hurts that girl, and that girl of yours is a handful."
"Yeah, no kidding." Lucas chuckled.
"I didn't tell them, but that same car was spotted several times by different people around her flat at different times. It could be a coincidence, maybe a mix up of cars, but more than likely your friend is in some form of problem."
"I get it, man." Lucas sighed and waved goodnight to one of his fellow officers as he stepped out into the cold night air and walked to his car. "It's a tough position to be in. But from a personal standpoint, I want to thank you for watching over my friend. I don't care what the chief says. I'm worried about her. I tried to call her landline the other day but her answering machine was full."
"Yeah, she's not the most organized." Tim laughed. "Even I could figure that out."
"So she moved to the hotel huh?" Lucas started his car up and backed out of the precinct.
"Yeah. Ramada Inn, three days, two nights to start with. We'll see if the chief will allow anything else after that."
"Just take it a day at a time." Lucas advised. "Have you found anything more out about the car?"
"Nothing. Just keep turning up dead ends." Tim sighed in frustration. "I feel like I'm just scraping the surface of something big, I just can't sink my claws into the middle of it."
"All cops get that feeling at least once in the business." Lucas admitted.
"Great so I hit cop-puberty." Tim laughed and Lucas snickered. The two of them always knew how to cheer the other one up. "How's your mom?" Tim asked after their laughter died down.
"She's doing well." Lucas nodded to himself. "Battling, but still content. She gets out maybe twice a week and other than that is usually in bed or in her wheelchair in the living room. Now that Charlotte has come to work for her, she's cheered up and she keeps badgering me about getting married."
"Well hey, a mom's gotta do what she's gotta do. I didn't understand it until I met Amy. When I met her, I suddenly understood why my mom had been so adamant about me not missing out on married life. It's great. Especially in this business."
"How's that?" Lucas turned onto the main road out to the ranch.
"It's a built in best friend that never can say no to another cop talk." Tim chuckled to himself. "I can run every case by her, get a fresh pair of eyes to inspect things. She listens as I tell her about a particularly gory accident I had to work or a stubborn client that got me angry that day. And then I get to sit and listen to her tell me about plants and she makes it all better while she cooks. The house has never looked so feminine and so amazing. New paint, new furniture and it's great."
"Sounds like you found your match." Lucas smiled.
"Hey come on," Tim began, "how many times have I told you to just ask out one of the ladies at your station?"
"Too many." Lucas groaned. "And I keep telling you that all of them are either taken or not my type."
"And you know what your type is?" Tim laughed. "I think that when you're desperate you kinda have to settle for any type as long as she's a Christian."
"Gee thanks." Lucas laughed too and pulled onto the gravel drive and immediately his two huskies began to chase his car up to the house just like they did every night. "Well, Tim, I gotta run. Charlotte's making dinner tonight and I don't want it to get cold."
"What about Charlotte?" Tim suggested. "Ask her out."
"She's married." Lucas deadpanned. "Besides, she has brown eyes."
"So?" Tim asked.
"I like blue."