Damaged Goods

Chapter 22

"Good morning" TJ said to Lyla, as he walked into the kitchen as she was refilling her coffee mug.

"Morning" she responded, smiling shyly. "I'm sorry about last night" she said.

"Don't be, I think we needed it" TJ said, walking over and giving her a gentle hug.

"What are your plans for the day?" Lyla asked, after they both sat down at the table with coffee and muffins.

"I've got to spend a little time going over some spreadsheets from work, but I can really do that any time" he said. "What about you?"

"I actually need to get some work done too" she replied. "And I need to get some of the kinks worked out with my new software they just added to my computer. Adjust my settings and such. But other than that, I didn't have any plans."

"Do you want to go grab lunch down on the pier, after we're done with our stuff?" TJ asked.

"I would love to" she said, as her phone started to vibrate with an incoming call.

"Excuse me" she said, getting up from the table and stepping out onto the balcony to take the call.

"Hello, this is Lyla Davenport" she said, answering the phone.

"Ms. Davenport, this is Officer Miller, I've been your point of contact regarding the pursuit of Mr. James Carter" came the voice on the other end of the line.

"Yes" asked Lyla "Did you find him?" she asked, with a slight gasp.

"I'm sorry to inform you, that no, he hasn't yet been located" the officer continued "but we have reason to believe he has left the state."

"Left the state? Where, why? How do you know? Where do you think he's going?" She, asked, the questions tumbling out.

"Our sources have indicated that he may be looking for you" the officer said.

"You think he's coming here?" Lyla gasped.

"We think he might be. We've been in contact with your local police department, and there is an Officer McMatthews at the 32nd precinct who has been appraised of the situation."

The officer was unable to provide much information that was very useful to Lyla, but he did give her the contact information for an officer at the nearest precinct to TJ's condo, if James tried to get into contact with her, or if she needed any police support for her situation.

"Everything ok?" TJ asked, when Lyla came inside, noticeably shaken from her phone call.

Lyla didn't say anything. She just stood there, shaking, staring into space.

"Lyla" TJ said gently, touching her shoulder, breaking through her distraction. "What's wrong?"

"He's here" she whispered, "They think he's here, coming here to find me."

TJ pulled her into a safe hug, and she relaxed a little into his embrace.

"What am I going to do?" she asked. "I don't think I'll ever be free of him" and a tear rolled down her face.

TJ held her face with both his hands, and gently wiped away her tears with his thumbs, and looked her in the eyes.

"He can't hurt you anymore. You're stronger than you were then, and you will keep getting stronger. And you're not alone. You don't have to do this by yourself." He said, pulling her into his arms again.

"Thank you" Lyla said quietly, as she let the tears fall onto TJ's shoulder.

TJ and Lyla continued with their plans for the day, each spending time on their computers trying to get done they work they needed to do, but neither one felt very productive. Lyla sat at the kitchen table, trying to focus on her work, but not getting much done. TJ was in the living room, with his printed pages and spreadsheets spread out all over the couch and coffee table. He was trying to look for patterns, or arrange the data into some type of order, but mostly it was just a mess of pages, with his open laptop in the middle, and he wasn't actually accomplishing anything.

A little after one o'clock, they decided to give up, and go get lunch. They walked out to the pier as planned, and sat down with a meal, but neither one had much to say, and they mostly ate in silence.

"Can we go to the police department?" Lyla asked, as they were finished with their meal. "I'd like to meet with the guy that Officer Miller said would be in charge of the case out here, an Officer McMatthews."

"Yes, of course! Let's go now" TJ responded, a little surprised that she hadn't wanted to go earlier.

They made their way to the police department, and after waiting about twenty minutes, they were finally able to meet with Officer McMatthews, who didn't inspire much confidence. He said he spoken with Officer Miller, and they were communicating regarding the potential threat James Carter may or may not pose to Lyla at this time. Officer McMatthews did not seem very concerned, and wasn't able to provide much information regarding any efforts to search for James.

"I don't know what I expected" Lyla said as they were leaving the police station. "I guess I had hoped to feel like they were going to be able to protect me, but I guess without a substantial or credible threat, there really isn't much they can do."

"Well, it's a big city" TJ said, trying to ease Lyla's fears. "It seems unlikely that he would even know where to start looking for you. And I'm here too. Maybe not your first choice for personal protection, but I'd like to think I'm better than nothing."

Lyla smiled at TJ. He was muscular, and seemed like he'd be able to handle himself in a fight, but not what anyone would consider an ideal bodyguard. She appreciated his willingness to be with her, and she felt safe with him, even if it just meant she wasn't alone.

The next day continued to hold a somber note. Lyla didn't really want to leave the condo, and TJ was fine with that too. They both tried to get more work done, still being pretty ineffective at their attempts, but ended up giving up after a while, in order to watch some TV that evening. They watched several episodes of Leverage, which Lyla had seen before, but TJ had never watched.

The next morning, TJ said goodbye to Lyla when he headed to work. She still had no immediate plans to leave the condo, especially without TJ.

"Just call me or text me if you need anything" TJ said as he was leaving.

"I'll be fine," she said. "I'm not planning to go anywhere today."

"Ok, I'll bring something home for dinner" he said. "But definitely let me know if you need anything."