"We have been adding up all the things we know about this guy that is bothering you and we just added that he can drive," he said. "I mean, he must have a driver"s license. So he must be at least sixteen."
"I guess you are right, you little detectives," I said. "That"s pretty smart."
"Do you want to know what we know about him?" Jacob asked.
I knew I was not going to make it to my mom"s room in two minutes, but I could tell the boys wanted to talk.
"Okay," I said.
"Well, number one, he goes to your school. Number two, he has size ten feet. Number three, he likes flowers. Number four, he can drive so he is sixteen, at least," Jacob said.
"That is a lot of information," I said. "A lot of boys fit that description."
"We want to help the police catch him. We are going to set a trap outside tomorrow," Jordan said.
I smiled at them and kissed them both again.
"I love both of you very much," I said.
"I love you, too," Jacob said.
"Me, too," Jordan said, who was older and a little shy.
"Good night, guys," I said.
I left them to read their comics into the night. I went into my room and turned on the light. I had already shut my curtains earlier, so I hurried and put on my pajamas. I lugged Gretchen"s dog bed into my parents" room, they had a bathroom connected to their bedroom and my mom was brushing her teeth. I waited for her to get out and I went to the bathroom and after I was finished, I washed my hands. I came out of the bathroom and Gretchen was already curled up in a ball on her dog bed. I went to my father"s side of the bed and got under the covers and my mother got into bed.
"Do you want to talk about what the police said?" my mom asked.
"Yes, I do," I said, smelling my dad"s aftershave on his pillow and the scent made me miss him even more.
"They do think this guy is getting more bold and they do feel he is a real danger to our family," Mom whispered.
"A danger to me?" I asked. "Or to Dad?"
"All of us. They are going to send a squad car around here a couple of times a day to make sure we are all okay," my mom said.
"I am so glad, I have been worried about you and the boys," I said.
"Well, we are all worried about you," my mom said.
"I have Gretchen," I said.
"She doesn"t go to school with you," my mom said.
I told her then what the boys told me about what they knew about the guy who has been bothering me. She smiled.
"The little junior detectives," she said.
"I really love them a lot," I said.
"We have a good family," Mom said.
Just then, the landline rang. Mom and I gave each other fearful looks.
"We have to answer it. What if it is the hospital about Dad?" she said.
She reached over and picked up her bedroom phone.
"h.e.l.lo?" she said.
She listened for a minute and then she hung up and she looked at me and her chin was quivering, "They hung up without saying anything."
"Look on the caller ID," I said.
"It says out of area, caller unavailable."
"He can"t be out of the area," I said. "He knows where I am at all times."
"I know, he knows too much about us," she said.
We got about twenty more hang-up calls and it was quite late. And then, when my mom was in the bathroom, the phone rang again and instead of her answering it, I did. When I said, "h.e.l.lo?" he must have recognized my voice because he said in a m.u.f.fled voice, "You made lists of suspects?"
I screamed and hung up. Mom sped out of the bathroom. "What did he say?"
"He said, *You made lists of suspects?"" and I broke down and started crying.
"What is he talking about, Whitney?"
"I made lists of possible suspects, from school, from church, from every place I know people, to think about if I could figure out who was doing this. And then I went through my lists. One by one, I crossed out everyone"s name when I knew none of them was capable of terrorizing our family."
"Where are the lists now?"
"I crumpled them up and threw them away in the kitchen garbage."
"I took out the trash earlier this evening, while you were sleeping."
"He"s going through our trash now, Mom!" I wailed.
She hugged me. "Stop crying. You"ll upset the boys. We"re safe in here. We have Gretchen."
I tried to calm down. "What would we do without Gretchen?"
Gretchen heard us saying her name and got up and nuzzled our hands until we petted her.
"I"ve had enough of the phone for tonight," Mom said.
"Me, too."
We decided to call the hospital with my mom"s cell number if there was an emergency and we went around and just unplugged all the landline phones, I really had the creeps, going through the house with my mom, pulling all the phone plugs. Gretchen went with us, every step of the way, and that made me feel better. She was such a good dog who never barked unless she saw something that put her on the alert, when we got to bed, my mom whispered a secret to me.
"Your father is thinking of getting a gun," my mother said.
"Oh, no," I said.
"Yes, he is that worried now," she said.
"I have heard of young kids killing themselves because they were playing with a gun. You know how curious Jacob and Jordan are," I said.
"Your father will be safe and get a trigger lock and keep the key on his work key ring. He will also talk to the boys about gun safety. They are six and eight, it is not like they are babies anymore," my mom said.
"This whole thing has become such a nightmare. How is Dad going to drive to work with a broken arm and leg?" I asked.
"He won"t be working for quite some time. When he is better and the doctor releases him to come home from the hospital, I will have to drive him. I will also have to drive you to school," she said.
"You are going to have your hands full. I will try and help as much as I can. I am going to have a bunch of homework when I get back to school," I said.
"I am going to let you and the boys stay home from school tomorrow because you are going to bed so late. I"ll call the attendance office and let them know. Then we have the weekend to recover from all of this and you can go back to school on Monday," she said.
"Thank you, Mom. I really am tired," I said.
"Let"s try to sleep now that the phones are off," she said.
I plumped my dad"s pillow in a way I liked to sleep and my neck hurt a little and we had forgotten to change my dressing, well at least I was on an antibiotic, I fell into a fitful sleep and slept that way all night.
CHAPTER TEN.
I woke up startled and realized that I wasn"t in my own bed, my mother had already let Gretchen out, I could smell bacon frying so I got up quickly and went into the kitchen. I looked at the kitchen clock and was surprised at how late it was. It was 9:30 and the sun was really bright and I was used to getting up much earlier on school days.
"Are the boys still sleeping?" I asked because my mom was alone in the kitchen.
"They wanted to go to school, so I took them."
I felt instant fear because I had been alone in the house for a little while when my mom was gone. And, more than that, I had been asleep. I didn"t say anything to my mom because she was doing her best to take care of us all, but I was a little upset that she had left me alone while she took the boys to school.
"So, where is the bacon?" I asked, not seeing any.
"The boys ate it," she said. "I can make you some more."
"That is okay, I will just have cereal," I said, going over to the cupboard and getting out a bowl. I looked in the food cupboard over the stove and picked out some Cocoa Krispies, it wasn"t bacon, but it was still good.
"We need to change your dressing on your neck. I might even take it off so it can get some air," my mom said.
"Okay," I said.
I was glad she remembered, it was nice having a mother who cared about me, my mother yawned really big.
"Did you get any sleep at all?" I asked.
"Not much. I laid there and worried," she said.
"I am so sorry," I said.
"This is not your fault," my mom said again.
"I know, but I feel somehow it is," I said.
"This is some crazy fool who is trying to intimidate us and I am starting to feel like a gun is the answer," she said. "I"ve had it with this guy. Going through our trash was the last straw. It"s time to protect our family."
"Oh no," I said.
"Gretchen was great last night, but I kept thinking I wished I had a gun by my bed when the stalker wouldn"t let up with the calling. When he calls, I wonder how close he really is," she said. "I mean, is he outside the house, watching us to see if we answer the phone?"
"Mom!" I shrieked because that scared me so much that I started shaking.
"Oh, honey, I am sorry, I didn"t mean to scare you," she said.
"It"s okay," I said.
"No, it is not. I have got to learn to keep my mom thoughts to myself."
"Mom, don"t do that and you are great. You are doing a fine job. Do you think we could change the dressing on my neck before we go see Dad?" I asked.
"Of course, let"s go do that now," she said.
It felt so good to have the tape off because I was getting a rash where the tape was, my mom cleaned my wound and then I got dressed. She took a shower and then we went to see my dad. He was in good spirits and he said they gave him a really good breakfast, not as good as my mom"s, but really nice. He said he might be able to go home tomorrow. I was really glad. The doctor already came by and said he needed to stay in one more day because his blood pressure was up. I felt bad because I knew why his blood pressure had gone so high, he was furious at the guy who hit him.
We left after giving him kisses and telling him to call us when it was time for us to pick him up to go home tomorrow from the hospital. We went to lunch at Sizzler, I wasn"t too hungry because I just had breakfast, so I only had the salad bar, My mom and I talked about small stuff and then I asked her the question that had been in the back of my mind.
"Do you think he is going to hurt me, like he did to Dad?" I asked.
"Oh, honey, I sure hope not," my mom said honestly.
I gave her a brave smile, but I was sad and afraid.
"We are doing everything we can to protect you," she said.
"I know. I just get so scared sometimes," I said.
"This guy will be caught soon and then we can all go back to our normal lives," she said.
"I want things to be normal now," I said.