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still held him captive. The aching guilt of Lindsey s death reemerged. He let his cell ring,
waited for it to stop. Eventually it did, the rapid beating of his heart in tune with the loud
ticking of the clock the only sounds within the office.
The walls felt as though they were closing in on him, flashes from the past bouncing
off all four. Lindsey, Tess, Lindsey, Tess, Emily Harris, Lindsey&
Detective Sawyer? Are you still in there? Officer Reinhold s voice exploded from
the intercom.
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Johnny didn t move, his body stiff, hands clammy, but managed to find the words,
Yeah, I m here. He never once took his eyes from the picture below.
There s a woman on the phone asking for you. She seems a bit hysterical, said her
name was Tess.
His heart lurched. He snapped out of the trance, the red flashing bulb on the phone
demanding his attention. Without responding to his messenger through the intercom,
Johnny snatched up the phone, stuffing the picture of Emily Harris back into the folder.
Tess, what s the matter? Are you okay?
Johnny, I m scared.
He could hear her muffled sobs, the fear in her voice.
Tell me what s wrong? Where are you?
I m home& The phone calls, they wouldn t stop.
What re you talking about? Slow down, what phone calls?
Someone was there, but they wouldn t say anything. I hung up.
It was probably just a couple of kids making a random prank call. Johnny let out a
sigh of relief.
That s what I thought, too, but they called back& Tess went silent, then
whispered, Johnny, I swear to God, the woman on the other end of the line& Lindsey&
She sounded exactly like Lindsey.
Johnny s moved his hand back to the manila case file. Without opening it, he slid a
finger underneath the edge and slowly withdrew the picture. It was Emily s hair that he
saw first, her forehead, her eyes& Those eyes. He jerked his hand back, pushing the
chair from the desk, placing his hand to the cold metal lodged securely in his shoulder
holster.
Lock your doors, Tess. I m on my way.
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Amy Mistretta
Chapter Seven
Lock your doors.
Johnny s words were seared in her head. Tess hung up the phone, checked both the
front and back door, turning the deadbolts just to be safe. Her panic took her from room
to room, making sure every window was also locked.
It wasn t until she was making her way back down the stairs that she realized
something odd about her conversation with Johnny. It was as if he had known. Not
necessarily about the phone calls but about the daunting voice of the caller.
He hadn t argued with Tess about hearing Lindsey s voice. It couldn t have been her
voice, Tess reassured herself, grounding her sanity before she went mad. If anything,
she d half expected Johnny to hang up on her, thinking she was nuts from the second the
words left her lips.
Yet he hadn t. He d been quiet, maybe even shocked, but he hadn t argued with her.
Tess stopped halfway down the stairs and took a seat, the front door in view, the
driveway beyond the slender windows on either side of the door empty.
Come on, Johnny, hurry up. Tess pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms
tightly around them.
The last thing she wanted to be doing was turning to Johnny, asking for his help. She
had tried to remain calm, to rationalize the situation after hearing the familiar voice, but it
had been impossible. After she had hung up on the caller, her phone kept ringing and
ringing.
She hadn t been able to take it any more. Not knowing his home phone number, she
had finally decided to try Johnny at the station. She felt like such a crazy fool, bringing
all of this madness involving his dead wife back into his life just when&
Just when he seemed to finally be moving on.
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Undying Passions
She rubbed her arms but nothing took away the coldness from her bones. She looked
down the stairs, toward her living room. The reflection of flames from within the
fireplace bounced off the walls, the memories of herself and Johnny came rushing back.
His lips on hers, the way he d so tenderly caressed every inch of her body, the way
they had made love as if the years apart never existed. His confession, her anger
overwhelming her pain, Johnny walking away.
The phone rang.
Tess jumped. Damn it, Johnny, where are you?
It continued to ring until the machine picked up. For the second time that night she
heard Johnny s voice coming through the machine.
Tess, I m just pulling up your driveway. She saw the headlights, watched as the
vehicle stopped and Johnny stepped out. All right, Tess, I m here. Open up.
She ran down the stairs and straight to the door, not able to stop from looking
through the peephole. She sighed. He was there. Finally, he was there.
Without wasting any more time, she flung open the door and threw herself into his
arms. It wasn t until he wrapped her tight, held her close, that she realized how scared she
had been. Now she was safe, safe in Johnny s arms. Safe in his trembling arms.
Had he been that terrified for her well-being?
Of course he had. Lindsey s loss was still fresh in his mind. How could she have
been so insensitive? When calling the station, she should have reported the phone calls to
the answering officer instead of asking for Johnny. But what would she have told them?
That the wife of Detective Sawyer was harassing her from the grave?
No, they would ve thought she was crazy.
Whether it brought back his pain or not, Johnny was the only person Tess could talk
to about this. Except he wasn t talking. Anyone else, put in these circumstances,
would ve questioned her by now, yet Johnny remained silent with no apparent intentions
of letting her go.
Tess pulled back and gazed into his eyes.
I m sorry I called you. I know this must sound crazy, but I could ve sworn it was
Come on, let s go inside.
Tess went first and Johnny followed, closing the door behind him, shutting out the
first signs of morning light. It was hard to believe that mere hours ago they had put all
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Amy Mistretta
their problems aside, forgotten about the past and had spent a wonderful evening alone by
the fire. Now this. The fact that their reunion had been cut short because of a resurfacing
lie would only make it harder for them to sort through the mess.
I want you to start from the beginning, tell me everything about these calls. When
was the first, did they speak when you answered, was there more than one person who
you talked to?
There s not much to tell. Like I said, the first call was silent.
But you thought you heard someone on the line? Johnny asked.
I did. I pressed mute, hoping they would think I hung up. That s when I heard the
breathing. I listened, but the person didn t speak, so I hung up.
How many calls were there? Johnny asked.
One more.
Just the thought of it caused chills to take over her body. Who would play such a sick
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