Page 33 of Playing For Keeps
“I’ll call Bryant, see if he can’t get someone to come down and make sure they don’t cause issues. Find a way to keep Stacey out of there I don’t know if Jake can take on all three of them at once.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be just him; there are about three-fourths of two football teams in the room currently.”
“That evens the odds a bit more I think but watch them Em, they had to know she was helping and got themselves on the crew to get close to her.”
“I don’t plan on taking my eyes off of them. Get here as soon as you can please.”
“I will, I love you Em,” Miles said grabbing his things.
“Love you too honey,” she replied hanging up the phone.
“What’s going on and why are you looking at them as though they’re liable to rob a bank or something?” Lizzie asked concerned.
“You guys want to help?” Emma questioned looking at the men standing around. “Make sure those three don’t get anywhere near Stacey if she gets back before they’re done.”
“Okay, that’s not a normal sort of request,” Beau said quietly.
“No, it’s not, but see the one with the blue tee on? The last time he was in the same room as Stacey he was holding a knife to her throat.”
“Holy shit,” Gary whistled. “The other two?”
“Ones who weren’t about to give up, Stacey has restraining orders against all three.”
“The girl picks some winners, doesn’t she?” Dan stated.
“Stacey never went out with any of them, she danced with Nathaniel the one in the blue once at one party and he started following her everywhere. He broke into the house we shared during college and ransacked her room, gouged out the pictures of the other guys she had stuck on her wall and sprawled ‘you’re mine’ in something across her comforter. We didn’t ask what it was, but it was a reddish brown and that led her to get the restraining order. He violated it a week later holding a knife to her throat in the library at school and the one in the gray was one of the cops there that day.”
“He’s a cop?” Mark asked.
“Was a cop, he became restraining order number two after he constantly stopped by the college, the house, the grocery store we went to, the restaurant we ate at every Thursday night, the movie theater…”
“And the third one?” John inquired as they watched them.
“He was creepier than Nathaniel and Alan because whereas the other two were blatant about it he was quieter. He was a plotter, worked in construction, and a couple years ago, Stacey bought her house. He was with the crew that came out to help with part of the remodel for it. He’d leave little things lying around for her, at first, she didn’t notice because the place was in such chaos but once the crew left they continued to show up.”
“How?” Lizzie asked.
“He’d copied her key one day while at the store picking up the tile for the kitchen. He seemed trustworthy and the foreman figured he was just enamored with her. He was but when Stacey came home to find him in the living room with a bottle of her favorite wine, her favorite dinner on the table, her favorite music playing she was more than a little freaked out.”
“Don’t blame her,” Beau said. “So, the restraining orders are still in effect?”
“Yeah, and they knew Stacey was likely to be here which means the three of them somehow got together and plotted this with Ricky as the mastermind. Hopefully the cops can get them out of here but…”
“There’s no telling what their idea was for coming here,” Gary stated. “Got it and I think we can make sure that Stacey stays busy until they’re finished or else, they can be picked up if this constitutes as a violation of the restraining order.”
“How’s that?” Emma asked.
“By playing up the Seattle versus New England thing, does the ex here know?”
“I doubt it. Stacey doesn’t really talk about it,” she said glancing at Walker.
“Well, I’ve got an idea and it hinges on him keeping those three talking about Stacey until the cops get here,” he stated. “Walker got a minute?”
“Yeah,” he said joining them. “What’s going on?”
“See those three guys over there?” Emma asked nodding at them.
“Yeah, what about them?”
