Page 50 of Fight or Flight
“Sam and Sophie aren’t going to let anyone near her tonight. I’ll check on her after I fix the windows,” Tyler promised.
“Upstairs, in the third bedroom on the left, there’s a toolbox, some laminate, and I’m pretty sure I saw a few pieces of pressed wood last time I was up there,” Doc said.
“What were you doing in her bedroom?” Ilene asked.
“Not what I do in yours,” Doc said. “Let’s go; it’s too darn cold. An old man’s bones can only take so much.”
“’Night,” Tyler said to their retreating forms. Ilene and Doc had been in a relationship for a long time. Both tried to hide it for reasons unknown to him, but he thought they made the perfect couple.
As soon as they left, Tyler went upstairs to check on Katherine. Sam and Sophie hadn’t budged, though both were wide awake, eyes on their dog mom. Tyler smoothed Katherine’s long hair away from her face. Seeing her so vulnerable, yet relaxed, he thought she looked even more beautiful. Tyler checked her pulse, then pulled the covers up and tucked them close to her. Both dogs relaxed, their heads on their paws.
“I’m going to take care of her,” Tyler told them, patting both dogs on the head. He had feelings for Katherine. How and why so soon, he didn’t know. She was delicate, pure, and new. He’d never felt this way before, especially in a matter of hours. She had reached his heart and, at this point, he wished for more. He could only hope she allowed him to help her live a normal life again.
Assured that all was well for the moment, Tyler located the spare room. He wasn’t sure where the light switch was located, so he used the flashlight on his cell. Locating the switch on the left side of the door, he flicked the overhead light on. Sealed boxes were stacked against the far wall. It wasn’t his place to look inside. On the opposite wall, he spied a few scattered tools alongside a pile of mismatched tiles and several oddly shaped pieces of wood. Then he saw the laminate Doc suggested he use as a temporary fix until Katherine could have the glass replaced. He found what he needed to cover the two panes and headed downstairs.
With the razor knife, Tyler cut the laminate to fit the missing windows. He carved the fake wood around the edges, hoping it would snap in place, and fortunately, it was close to perfect. He locked the door, then went into the kitchen and grabbed a barstool. He positioned the stool beneath the doorknob so if anyone tried to get inside, he would hear them before seeing them. Satisfied, he was tempted to reach out to Carson and let him know what happened. But as he’d told Doc, it would keep. Tyler walked through the dining room, making sure all of the windows were locked. He’d done the same upstairs before coming down.
Back in the kitchen, he used Katherine’s iPhone to turn the alarm system on. He checked the current video footage and didn’t see anything unusual. In the small area off the kitchen where they’d had dinner earlier, which seemed like days ago, Tyler saw orange-red embers still burning in the fireplace. With the poker, he spread the bits of ember in a thin layer, watching as they cooled. Then he returned to the kitchen in search of baking soda. Katherine had a well-stocked pantry. He smiled, remembering that she said she liked to cook. He found a large box of baking soda. He once more shoveled the embers into a thin layer, then sprinkled baking soda over the top. He watched as the glow faded into tiny swirls of smoke. Satisfied, he returned the poker and shovel to the stand, glad that he had remembered to check the fire.
He spied the containers of leftovers Katherine had placed on the counter and put them in the refrigerator as she’d intended. He scanned the kitchen, searching for anything out of place or unusual—which would be tough, given that he wasn’t too familiar with the house. He decided other than the broken panes on the French doors that everything was in its place. The dirty pots, pans, and dishes could wait.
Tyler was about to head out of the kitchen when he heard a buzzing noise that stopped him. After a visual sweep of the kitchen, he saw the burner phone on the island. It continued to buzz. Normally he wouldn’t have taken it upon himself to answer someone else’s cell phone, but these circumstances weren’t normal. He opened the flip phone and said, “Hello.”
“Can I speak to Darby?”
“Sorry, no one by that name lives here,” Tyler answered.
“Really?”
Tyler took a deep breath. “There is no one by that name here, really,” he said emphatically.
“But this is the number Darby called me from. I told her about my dad and the notebook. I think he’s going to do something to K.C. Winston.”
The caller had Tyler’s full attention now. “What are you talking about?”
“He says he wrote all of the GWUP books and is working on a new one. I wanted to tell Darby. She’s up on all the latest books.”
Suddenly it clicked.Darby.That was Katherine’s online alias on her Friendlink page. Tyler couldn’t reveal her true identity, so he went with the truth. “Oh, well, she’s asleep. She wasn’t feeling well earlier and went to bed.”
“Are you her foster dad, Walter?”
How far was he willing to go with this? Should he play along? Knowing what was at stake gave him no other choice. “Yes, I am.”
“Could you please tell her that I called? Maybe she could call me back as soon as possible? It’s really important.”
“Sure, let me . . . uh, get a pen and paper.” Tyler saw the pen and pad of paper on the counter. “Okay, what’s the number and message?”
He wrote her number down, even though he already knew it, as it had flashed on the cell phone. “I’ll have her call you tomorrow,” said Tyler. The girl was clearly scared; he could hear the fear in her voice. But nothing she said made sense to him. Katherine had told him about Karrie and her circumstances, but he hadn’t given them much thought until now. This kid was frightened, and Katherine was right to be concerned.
“Tell Darby it’s urgent, and I really mean it,” the girl told him. “She can call me anytime, okay?”
“I’ll see that she gets the message,” Tyler promised.
“Bye,” the girl said, then ended the call.
Debating whether he should try and wake Katherine up, since he knew she was concerned about this young member of her Friendlink page, Tyler looked at the time. She still needed a few more hours of sleep, as far as he was concerned. The Ativan hit her hard; Tyler was almost positive she’d never had any kind of benzodiazepine, hence her almost immediate sedation. As a medical doctor, he knew some of his patients reacted differently to medication. He would simply let her sleep it off. He’d call the office in the morning and have Liz, his secretary, cancel his in-office appointments. If there were emergencies, Liz knew to refer them to either his father, which wasn’t a possibility now, or Dr. Rose Smith, a good friend and colleague. He would call Rose first thing tomorrow and have her cover for him.
Tyler put the burner phone and Katherine’s iPhone in a drawer that stored her flatware and tore Karrie’s phone number from the pad and put it in there, too, just in case the phone hadn’t stored the number. He didn’t trust those cheap phones, but knew in an emergency they worked okay.
