Sincerely, Red

Chapter Twenty

.Yeah," the officer spoke into his phone. "It's the same house. You should know the route by now."

"The door's open," I told him, making it obvious that I'd what he'd said. "I'm sure you know the way to the living room as well by now."

"Of course," letter stealer said. He was embarrassed. "I'll just, um, be a minute."

He stared at me as though he was waiting for me to make the next move.

I ignored him and wordlessly stepped back into the house.

It was warm in there, with soft, flickering light from the centre of the building reaching out to the corners. Heat from the oven radiated out and around the kitchen, from where Claire and David were making their way out of. Even the living room was forcing out sounds and movement from the giant TV screen that decorated it. The joint energy spread until it was almost a part of the walls, the foundations of our home.

The idea of everything being connected like that was comforting.

"I'll just shut the door and I'll be on my way in," the officer shouted out from the front door. "I won't be a minute."

I looked across at Claire only to see her scowl deepen and the lines on David's forehead follow suit. Their hands were by the sides, aimlessly tapping at the sofa they now sat on. Claire's fingers clenched together and formed twin fists. David let his palms flatten out on to the material beneath them.

"So," letter stealer said, sitting down. "What can I do for you this time?"

There was a moment of rustling and moving as David settled back into the sofa. All eyes turned to him, before everything descended into silence.

I was the first to speak. "I got a text."

"Lots of people get texts," he said stupidly. "I would too if I could figure out how to use my phone."

"The text was from Tim," I continued, ignoring him. "He wants to meet in the park and in exchange he'll leave my family alone."

I let it settle in his head for a minute.

Maybe he would stop doing a David and start doing his job.

"No." He was finally on police mode. "That's not a very good idea. I hope you're not considering it."

"Definitely not," Claire commented. "She's not going anywhere. We just wanted you to maybe trace the text or go to the park and get him or-"

"Claire," David said gently. "Let him do his job."

"Yeah," he said, appearing serious. "I'll relay this back to the people I work with and we'll definitely track him down. He's a big threat."

"I know," I said.

"Right now, though," he continued. "I need your phone. We can trace wherever he last was but this guy's not stupid. He'll be on the move constantly."

"I know," Claire muttered. "I worked with him. Believe me, I know."

"And we don't want any of you to be in his line of access," he said. "He's obviously not very worried about all of this. I don't know. Maybe he really thought you'd go out and meet him, but that's backfired. If Tim's as calculating as he's coming along to be, he'll probably already know that the police are here."

"I know," David replied.

And all of us did know.

It was the officer that didn't understand. We were all just existing as a mixture of thoughts and feelings. There was not a single way in which anyone could contain us or know us or protect us. Not a single soul could control what was waiting.