Voyeur (Josh Balz Story)

Chapter 9

"What are you two doing out at this time of night?" Officer Davis demands as he steps out of the cruiser.

"I was just walking her home, sir." Josh explains.

"Is that all?" He asked, disbelief obvious in his tone and expression. "Where were you coming from then?" 

"My house?" Josh was clearly catching on to the cop's oddly confrontational behavior. 

"Are you aware that there have been reports of a voyeur in this area?"

I decided that now was the time for me to step in. "Officer, we think we might have just seen the person a few seconds ago and Josh was trying to see if he could catch them."

"You know, I'm starting to think it's awfully convenient that I'm seeing you again Miss."

"I can promise you officer, we weren't doing anything wrong." Josh attempted to reassure Officer Davis to no avail.

"If I catch you out here around this time again, I'm taking you down to the station. Understood?" He demanded as he glared at me.

"Perfectly." I reply with an edge to my voice. 

He nodded and strolled back over to his car. He slowly drove beside us until we reached my house and I motioned for Josh to come inside with me. 

"What a prick." I muttered shutting the door behind us. 

"So, he's stopped you before?"

I nodded, "I had been walking home by myself then and he was a lot nicer that time."

Josh's eyebrows scrunched together as he seemed to be trying to figure something out and then he murmurs, "I think it's time we start trying find out who that person was."

"Wait, we? You really don't have to get involved. This is my mess and I'm the one that's going to clean it up."

"But you know it's not." He argues, "It was something that a couple of assholes made up at school and to be honest as far as I can tell you seem to be only making the mess bigger."

I opened to my mouth to retort, but I stopped myself since I realized that he was right. Instead I asked, "So, what do you suggest we do?"

"Maybe we should do some spying of our own?" He suggests with a small smirk.

"Do you want us both to go to jail? We can't just hang around my cousin's house waiting for that creep to come back. Officer Davis will have us in cuffs faster than you can blink."

"Carina? Is that you, honey?" My mother's voice calls as she steps into the entryway.

Maybe having this conversation at the front door wasn't the best idea.

I gave her a meek wave, chirping out, "Hey, mom!"

She rose an eyebrow and grinned slightly at me, "Did you guys have fun?"

Josh seemed flustered as he spoke in a rush, "I'm sorry that she's so late, we all just lost track of time. It won't happen again, ma'am."

She let out a laugh, "It's alright, I had a feeling that she wouldn't be back until late. I'm just glad to see her with a smile on her face."

Her words caught me off guard, she had noticed that his embarrassed behavior caused me to smile ever so slightly. She always did have an eye for small details like that.

He appeared to relax a tiny bit as he nodded.

Since there was a pause I decided to ask, "Mom, is there any way we can give Josh a ride home so he doesn't have to walk all the way back?"

"Of course, just let me get you the keys."

"You're letting me drive?" I ask as I watch her reach into her coat pocket that was hung up on the rack.

She tossed me the keys, "The roads are clear enough, still try to be careful though."

After I agreed and thanked her, I lead Josh out to the car and decided it was safe to resume our discussion. "So, what did you mean by spying?"

"I was thinking that we could borrow someone's car and have a stakeout near Tiffany's place." He explains as we climb inside the vehicle. 

"You want to do the police's job?"

"It not like, " Josh rose his hands to make air quotes as he said, "Officer Davis is being helpful to us."

I pondered over it for a few minutes. I knew that I had no clue how to even consider catching the peeping tom, so maybe Josh's plan wouldn't be too bad to give a try. It was such a strange thing to even think about, him of all people helping me. Who knows though? Maybe we could actually manage to catch the real criminal.

"Alright, so when were you wanting to start all of this?"

He was clearly surprised that I agreed to his suggestion, but none the less he tells me, "As soon as possible, we just need to get some stuff together first."

I gave a small laugh, "Oh, yeah? Like what?"

"Well, a car obviously, totally black outfits, and probably some binoculars."

I shook my head as I turned down his street muttering, "We are so going to jail."

"Not if we're sneaky enough. I seriously believe we can pull this off."

"I'm glad one of us does."

"Just give it time and you'll see things my way." 

I pull into his driveway and I was surprised that before Josh got out, he leaned over to give me a hug. Despite my astonishment, I gently returned the embrace. Once he had stepped out of the car, I suddenly remembered that I still had on his hoodie.

"Hang on a second!" I called after him, "I almost forgot to give this back."

I reached down to remove the soft piece of clothing, but Josh moved to place his hand over mine. "Keep it, I like it better on you anyway."

I did my best to keep my shock off of my face, but my voice still came out softer than I would have liked, "Okay, thank you."

He nodded with a smile, "I'll see you later, Carina."

I waved goodbye and then he rushed inside his house. The whole drive home I didn't think about my voyeur issue, Craig cheating, or even Officer Davis' threats. My mind remained glued to one thing, the boy whose hoodie was currently keeping me warm.