Chapter 18

The sun was making its slow descent behind a wall of sky-scraping tall Palm Trees by the time Raine had pulled up to the main gates of East Wood Estates. The guard greeted her with a smile as she punched in her security code. She waved absentmindedly as it lifted, driving without taking much note of her surroundings. Her mind haunted by the distressing behavior of her little sister she played to witnessed during the course of the day. She hadn’t wanted to leave the hospital at all, but she needed time to think without the guilt on what her next step would be. The heavens knew she was not the most rational person when it came to those she loved, which were few.

At first, when Doctor Vermaak had suggested her sister needed help to process her trauma, she thought it was him over-exaggerating, but after Willow’s outburst and strange behavior at lunch, she was truly considering therapy for her. Willow’s behavior was more than odd, it was damn right creepy. She snorted to herself, deep in thought of the sketches that looked most definitely almost exactly like that of the dead serial killer on the news.

An uplifting song was playing on the car radio, but she barely registered the artist, or the familiarity of the tune as she rounded the corner into her street. With her SUV’s sunroof open, the streetlights flickered in the interior of the vehicle, sparking a flashback to the earlier events in the elevator. Her sister had seen something, that wasn’t there. This recollection gave her the clarity she needed, with that Raine decided therapy was the best solution out of a potentially devastating situation. Her next step was extending their visa timeframe, she’d clean forgotten about the medical report. She flung her bag over on the seat beside her - lip-gloss, tissues, and her book scatter on the black leather seat beside her. Snatching up her phone, she speed-dialed Doctor Vermaak.

“This is Dr Vermaak,” his voice came over the car speakers.

“Hello, this is Raine Viviers.”

There was a long pause.

“Doctor Vermaak?”

His tone came across clipped and harsh. “Yes, I’m here.”

“I need some documentation for our visas please.” After no answer, she continued. “I have considered your advice for Willow, and I need a detailed report on my sister’s condition to certify to the embassy why we need to extend our stay in the country.”

The call wasn’t going as planned she heard a slight muffle over the speakers of the SUV as the Bluetooth relayed the call, but she didn’t have time to worry, she continued.

“It is, after all, detrimental to her health that she stay for treatment.” She struggled with the words, nervously asking more of the doctor.

“Yes, understood,” he said curtly. “I’ll draw up the report right away.”

Then the line went dead. Raine stared at her dashboard in disbelief. When she looked up at the road, she was heading straight for another car. She swerved, waving apologetically, then noting with great gloom it was the same car she’d seen earlier that morning, twice.

A surge of panic came over her as she pulled into her driveway. “No, you are just paranoid,” she told herself.

Exiting the car, she glared in the direction of Mrs. Brandon’s house. The curtains moved in the window. Raine’s heels clicked along the garden path as she called out and waved in the direction of Mrs. Brandon’s place. “I saw you Mrs. peekaboo.”

She stopped dead. A shadow was moving around her porch.

Kicking off her heels, she ran towards the door, grasping for the pepper spray in her bag and turning the key swiftly. She entered the house, her eyes checking the windows around the house to see if she could find the intruder. The alarm beeped, signaling she had a few seconds before it sounded. Everything seemed in place, and to her relief, she pocketed her pepper-spray and pressed the deactivate button on the alarm. Kicking off her shoes, she leaned against the wall and stared up at the family portrait hanging over the stairs - a copy of the original that was still back at their real home in South Africa. Her heart was aching with longing for both her loved ones and her land. “This is hard,” she whispered. “I need you.” She said looking up at the image of her parents. Tears strangled the words as she tried to push them down.

From across the room, she noticed a shadow pass by the kitchen window, and she reached for the pepper spray again. Bare footed, she rushed over to the backdoor, and watched from inside of the scullery as the shadow passed by the window, making a round of the house.

Silently, with her heart jammed in her throat, she followed the shadow as it passed by the living room and waited until it appeared at the porch windows. Raine waited behind the front door, adrenalin rushing through her, setting her skin alight. The doorknob turned slowly. Something in that moment came over her, and she yanked the door open, spraying the intruder right in the face.

“For the love of all things holy!” The intruder roared, falling to the floor coughing and dry wrenching.

She stared down, ready to kick him in the face but when he looked up at her with his hand extended, pleading for her to stop, she gasped.

“Liam!” She dropped to the floor and helped him into the house.

“Are you okay?” She looked around the garden. “Where is your patrol car?”

He just shook his head and gasped for air, before managing to say, “Dishwasher….”

Confused, she assisted him to the couch. His walkie-talkie burst into life.

“Liam, we have a call at number two two five, Avery Avenue.”

He sat down on the couch with the assistance from Raine. “I’m here.” He called into the device, breathing heavily, pinching his eyes closed.

“Are you alright bro?” the man on the other side called out.

“It’s all good,” he said into the receiver. “Just that crazy girl with the…” He stopped talking, wanting to say with the cute ass but he was a gentleman—in front of the ladies anyway.

“I see.” The walkie-talkie went off.

“I’m so sorry.” Raine tiptoed around him, her hand on his very muscular shoulder. “How can I help?”

He lay back on the sofa, legs outstretched as he pinched his eyes shut and dropped his device to the carpet. Its then that she noted how massive he actually was.

“Give me a minute.” He kept his eyes shut, as Raine took to her phone researching the internet for rescue remedies for pepper-sprayed eyes.

“Got it!”

Dashing off to the kitchen, she pulled out a bottle of dish-liquid and a cup of cold water with a sponge. Then she grabbed a towel and headed to the sofa.

“Okay, I’m going to just dab this over the area. Keep your eyes…” She winced at the sight of the inflamed red skin that now covered half his face.

With one eye struggling to open he gave a slight smile looking up at her, before he shut it again and winced as the pain seared his eyeballs.

Liam kept silent as she washed away most of the residue.

“What are you doing here?” asked Raine.

He pointed to his utility belt. “Broken latch, remember?”

She dipped the sponge again, soapy water dripping all over her jeans, the rug, and wetting his entire face. “I could have killed you.” She said while using the back of her other hand to wipe at the water making its way towards his dark hair.

Liam started to chuckle, then the laughter erupted from his stomach, raking his entire body as he shook from hilarity.

“Hardly,” he said, finally stopping his laughter.

“Well, if I had a gun, you’d be dead.”

This seemed to motivate his grin wider, and she stomped off.

“I’m gonna get the milk.”

Sulking she thought about how she could harm someone if she had. Returning to the lounge, she noted not for the time, how handsome Liam was, the thought brought unexplored emotions.

“Are you there?”

“Oh yes,” she said. Startled she dropped the mild. “Oh shoot.” She complained.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, seeing his grin.

“Nothing.” He shook his head and closed his eyes again. “You got me real good.”

She sighed and blushed. “I’m sorry. I really am.”

“Don’t be.” He cocked a wider smile, and Raine felt her heart melt a little. He was kind of cute, she thought to herself as she sat on the coffee table before him, crossing her legs. The last she’d been so close to a man who wasn’t a doctor of some sort was a distant memory. She herself was just a child. His eyes opened and he took the milk from her.

“Well when I got here there was a car that pulled out of your driveway. When he saw me, he sped away. The woman across the road from you observed the man staring into your windows. I was just doing my inspection of the place…”

“Liam.” She breathed out heavily and interrupted him.

The solemn tone of her voice made him drop the milk bottle, and his one eye opened to stare at her earnestly as she suddenly blurted out, “I’m being followed.”

Her fingers wrapped around her throat in deep thought.

He pulled a face. “Why? Do you know him?”

She shook her head. “No. He was talking to Mrs. Brandon earlier this morning, and I think I saw him at the hospital as I pulled into the parking lot…” she stood, flushing with heat.

“Why would someone be following you?”

Raine just stared at him.

“Don’t worry,” he said, squirting milk over his face as the burn came back. “I’ll find out who he is.” When he opened his eyes, she was half-way out the door. “Where are you going?”

“To talk to Mrs. Brandon,” she said, rushing through the door and slamming it behind her. She said something else, but he didn’t quite catch her words as her accent thickened the madder she got. He found himself quite excited by her.

“Okay,” he said looking around the house. “I’ll wait right here, I guess.”

He’d known something was up, particularly after he’d found that bug beneath the bedside cabinet. Was she here under the protection of the government perhaps? Was she in hiding? On the run? His protective nature and curiosity spiked even more. He wanted to call his brother to run a check on her but decided against it. This might get him back onto a task force and he’d prove to everyone he was an asset after all, not to be so easily dismissed.