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“The stalker,” I answer, even though we both already know.
“They were in the house again. Holy fuck.” The tears form again at the corner of her eyes, glistening in what little light there is in this room. I reach out and wipe one away as it starts to fall.
“That’s why you’re right about you and Lizzy needing to be away to be safe. But I think there might be clues in this that could help us.” I nod to the phone.
She looks down and rubs her breastbone as she reads it, her lip worrying between her teeth and her brow furrowing. I reach out and take her hand, and she squeezes mine.
“This is so unhinged.” She shakes her head, lifting her eyes as she finishes, and her hand and the phone drop to her lap.
“But it confirms it’s you they’re after. That they knew about Rob. It sounds like they knew you before. Any guesses?” I frown as I look back down at the letter.
“No. I really don’t know. I had some boyfriends in college and high school, obviously, but none that would write something like this. Most of them are married too. Of the rest… I don’t know of any who live here.”
“What about something unrequited? Maybe someone similar to the situation with Craig?”
“I can’t think of anyone. But… we should take this to the cops. Maybe it’ll help them. Whoever took the photos and wrote this obviously had access to the house, and they were in it multiple times. Maybe there are fingerprints.”
“That’s what I was thinking. But I wanted to come here first and show you, prepare you before I started all that. Madison told me it’s been a rough day for you, and I wanted to come see you first. Are you okay?”
“I feel guilty for putting Lizzy at risk. Your career. Your reputation. Your family and parents…”
“Lizzy is okay. Nothing happened to her. She’s safe with her mom. We’ll figure things out, and it’ll all be fine. As for the rest of that… I don’t give a fuck about any of it.”
“I don’t think it’ll all be fine. Lizzy’s mom was furious. She was polite, but I could tell. I felt like a complete fuckup who should never have been put in charge of a child in the first place.”
My heart twists for her. After all her worries with Rob and kids, I know this must be hurting her. None of it’s her fault, but I also can’t blame Evelyn for being upset. I would be too if the tables were turned. I just wish she’d taken out her frustration on me instead of Trix.
“She was upset. I was upset. You were upset. We were all just worried about Lizzy. Lizzy’s mom has never had a bad word to say about you, Trix. She was just scared and worried. I’m sure we can all talk and work through it.”
“Lizzy can’t move home as long as I stay with you. Whoever this stalker is, they don’t want us together, and clearly, they’re willing to do anything to keep us apart. They could go after her next. You know that’s what her mom is thinking. It’s what I’m thinking. I’m sure you’ve thought it too.”
I can’t argue. I am worried about it. That whoever this psycho is knows that Lizzy is a soft spot for Trix and will press it for leverage over her. I’m not sure how this is going to work, but somehow, I hoped we could figure it out.
“That’s what I thought,” she says softly.
“I am worried about Lizzy. I need to talk to her mom and work things through about how she wants to handle this. But we’ve always figured things out before, and we’ll figure things out again. As far as my career and my reputation, I don’t give a fuck. That’s the least of my worries. We were attacked—violated in our own home. If people can’t understand that, fuck them.”
She squeezes my hand again. “You’re a good man, Coop. I’m glad you think you, Lizzy, and her mom can work through everything. But I can’t be in a relationship with you, Cooper. I can’t do that to you and Lizzy. I love you both too much. I can’t be the reason problems start happening with your co-parenting. I can’t live with Lizzy resenting me because I moved in, so she had to move out. None of that is okay.”
“We’ll catch the stalker, and then it’ll be over. This letter has clues.” I’m desperate for her to see it my way, for there to be some way out of this for us.
“Not many.”
“It tells us he’s here in the city. From here. That he’s someone you knew.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down much. He could be one of thousands of people. If we open it up to anyone I could have crossed paths with.. who knows how many? I was with my father at a lot of political events. Politicians and their families have issues with these kinds of parasocial relationships. People think they know us when they don’t.”
“Once the police are involved—”
“It’ll help. But it’ll get more complicated. Bureaucracy and red tape. My dad’s had to report enough things over the years that I know how this goes.”
“You’re resigned to this then,” I say, almost bitter.
“Not resigned. I just want us to be realistic about what this means for us. I was hopeful before that it was just some fan of yours that didn’t like our relationship. That they’d find someone else to crush on soon enough and move on. But this is obviously not that, and now, who knows how deep it runs or how long it’ll take to unravel.”
“Just don’t give up on us yet. At least give me that.”
“Coop, I told you. I’m in love with you. I’m not giving up that easily, but I’m scared. This letter scares me even more. What if they go after you next?”
