Chapter 47 He's Still Here
Lara's pov
I stood there frozen, the phone in my hand felt heavy. I was so tired of everything, Lucas's threatening words.
"This isn't over."
His words were still in my head, very weak and raspy.
I looked at Damien sleeping on the couch, he needed enough rest, he had been through a lot already, his body was still healing.
But I couldn't handle this alone.
I stood up to check if all the doors were locked, I just needed to be sure and check again.
I ran to the front door, the back door, the side and locked all immediately.
But honestly, I didn't still feel safe
I went to the windows and looked out into the darkness.
Everywhere was silent and empty. There were no cars passing, no people passing.
But what if Lucas was out there? Hiding in the shadows?
I couldn't deal with this alone.
I went back to the living room and gently shook Damien's shoulder to make sure he was alive.
"Damien. Wake up. Please."
His eyes opened immediately saw my face and sat up.
"What happened? Is anything wrong?"
"He called me again and said it isn't over, I'm talking of Lucas”.
Damien grabbed my phone and quickly check my call log. It was around 11:47pm .
"Call the police now, he said."
I collected my phone back from him and called 911.
What's your emergency?
I want to report a threatening phone call .
"What's your name, ma'am?"
"Lara Montgomery. I'm calling about Lucas Ward. The man who was shot today at the coffee shop."
"Yes, ma'am. What about him?"
"He just called me from the hospital and threatened me again."
There was a pause.
Ma'am, Are you sure it was him?”, because the person you are talking about is currently in ICU under police guard.
“I really do know his voice, he's the one.”
"Okay. We'll send officers to your location and we'll check with the hospital.
Okay, thank you.
I stood there expecting the officers, they took longer than expected, they said, they were going to come fifteen minutes later and it just like forever.
Damien was already calling Marcus.
“ Come down the my place now and bring more security.”
Damien hung up.
I was pacing back and forth. I couldn't sit down.
Every little sound made me jump.
A car drove by outside, my heart stopped., I thought it was him.
The wind blew and a branch scratched against the window. I almost fainted.
Damien tried to hold my hand but I kept moving.
“I know this guy will still come for me, he's coming for me”.
"No one is coming. The police are on their way. Marcus is on his way. You're safe, everything is under control".
But I didn't feel safe.
I went to check Ethan upstairs, I didn't want to wake him up, so I opened the door silently.
He was still sleeping peacefully, he didn't know everything that happeneds and that something is wrong.
I looked outside the window, I thought I saw something. A shadow by the tree across the street.
I stared at it but I couldn't tell if it was a person or just my imagination.
I closed the curtains tight and sat on the edge of Ethan's bed for a moment.
"I won't let anyone hurt you, baby," I whispered.
Then I went back downstairs.
Two officers arrived, the ones who were also there earlier today at the coffee shop.
I allowed them to enter.
"Mrs. Montgomery, you said you received a threatening call?"
"Yes." I showed them my phone, the call from the unknown number at 11:47pm.
"Did you record the call?"
“No, I didn't. I was scared and also I wasn't thinking about that at all.”
"So what did he say?"
"He said 'this isn't over.”
The officers looked at each other, one of them said,"We'll need to verify this with the hospital. But ma'am, Lucas Ward has been unconscious since his surgery. He's in critical condition."
"Then how did he call me?"
"We don't know that for now, but we are going to find out.”.
One of the police stepped outside to make a call and then come back inside.
"I just spoke to the guard at the hospital. Lucas Ward is still there, he was still unconscious and still handcuffed to his bed."
My stomach dropped.
"Then who called me?"
Maybe it was a prank call, maybe someone was pretending to be him just to scare you.
"It wasn't a prank. I was sure of what I heard."
The other officer spoke up. "Ma'am, you've been through a traumatic experience today. Sometimes stress can make us—"
Damien interrupted him. "She's not imagining things."
The officers looked uncomfortable.
"We'll file a report. We'll increase patrols in this area tonight. But without any evidence of an actual crime being committed..."
They couldn't do anything.
They left a few minutes later and I felt helpless.
Marcus arrived right after the police left.
He came in with two security guards.
"I want them posted outside all through the night," Damien said.
Marcus nodded. "One should stay at the front door and another one at the back."
We still need to do full camera settings. I’ll have a team here first thing tomorrow morning.
Around 1am, we went upstairs to bed.I lay down but I couldn't sleep, I just kept checking my phone.
What if it he calls again?
Damien was beside me, he was unable to sleep as well, we both talked and looking for ways to get over this.
At 2am, I wasn't able to sleep, so I decided to carry my laptop I opened it and searched if someone can fake another person's voice.
I found articles about voice cloning. An AI technology.
Someone could create a realistic copy of someone's voice with just a few audio samples.
My heart started raising.
I kept thinking about a lot of things.What if Lucas recorded his voice before? What if someone was using it to scare me?
Or what if Lucas had informed someone before he got shot?
Was it the sisters?Veronica and Natasha. But I don't think they would do that kind of thing.
I finally fell asleep around 4am and woke up around 6am. I felt like I didn't sleep all through the night. My eyes were burning and my head hurt.
I made toast, bread and egg for breakfast.
At 8am, a tech team arrived.
Marcus had called them first thing in the morning,they started installing cameras everywhere.
The Front door, the back door, the driveway, side yard, back yard and everywhere.
Marcus supervised everything.
"This system will alert you if anything moves within fifty feet of the house," he explained.
I wanted the cameras to be inside the room as well, but I thought about privacy.
I told them to do everything except bathrooms and bedrooms.
Better safe than sorry.
Around 10am, I turned on the TV.
The news was everywhere.
"Breaking news: The man shot outside a coffee shop yesterday has been identified as Lucas Ward, recently released from prison on appeal..."
They showed footage from yesterday. The ambulance. The police tape.
Interviews with witnesses.
One woman said: "He had a knife. He was going to kill that man. The security guard had no choice."
Then they cut to a different interview.
Veronica and Natasha. Lucas's sisters.
Both of them crying.
"Our brother is fighting for his life because of excessive force," Veronica said.
"He was mentally ill. He needed help, not a bullet," Natasha added.
I felt sick.
They were making Lucas look like the victim.
Then I received a call from Margaret.
"Have you seen the news?"
"Yes. I'm watching it now."
"The sisters are building a case. They're going for public sympathy before they sue."
"Let them sue. We have witnesses."
"I know. But I wanted to warn you. This is going to get ugly."
"It's already ugly, Margaret."
I told her about the phone call last night.
She was quiet for a moment.
"That's... very concerning. Did you report it?"
"The police don't believe me. They think I imagined it."
"I believe you. Be very careful, Lara."
We hung up.
I felt alone. Like no one believed me except Damien.
That afternoon, Damien called me over to the couch and told me how he wanted me and Ethan to move in permanently again.
"We're already here—"
I'm sorry for everything that happened, so I want you to move in.
No, it's fine, I already forgiven you.
That evening, I went to tuck Ethan into bed and went back to meet Damien on the couch.
Trying to watch TV but not really paying attention.
Then my phone rang again, God, I'm so tired of all this. It was a call from an unknown number as well. I picked it.
"It's him again."
Damien looked at the phone. "Don't answer it."
But I had to know.
I answered and put it on speaker.
"Hello?"
I was breathing heavily.
Then the voice again.
"Did you... miss me... wife?"
It was Lucas. Or someone who sounded exactly like him.
Damien picked up his phone and started recording it.
My hand was shaking so bad I almost dropped my phone.
"Who is this?"
He gave out a raspy laugh.
"You know... who I am..."
"Lucas?"
" I'm closer... than you... think..."
My blood went cold.
"What exactly do you want from me?"
"I want... what's mine... You..."
"I'm not yours. I was never yours."
"We'll... see..."
He cut the call and I dropped my phone .
Damien called the police back and two officers came back almost immediately.
They are already tired of dealing with us.
Damien played the recording for them.
One officer listened carefully. "I'll admit, that does sound like him."
"But we just checked the hospital an hour ago. He's still there and still very unconscious."
The other officer said, "Could be someone playing a recording. Or voice cloning technology."
"What are you going to do about it?" I asked.
"We'll investigate further. We'll take this recording as evidence."
They took Damien's phone and said they'd return it tomorrow.
But I could see in their faces. It was obvious that they didn't know what to do either.
After the police left, Marcus came inside.
We all sat in the living room.
"Someone is doing this," I said. "Someone who has Lucas's voice."
It might be his sisters, they can help him to do this, but we still need proof."
"I can have someone follow them. See what they're up to." Marcus said.
"Do it," Damien said. "And tomorrow, I'm going to the hospital myself."
I looked at him. "What? Why?"
"To see Lucas with my own eyes. Make sure he's really there. Make sure he's really unconscious."
I didn't like the suggestion, but I understood it perfectly, we needed answers.
I almost didn't sleep all through the night, I was just having a nightmare.
I had a nightmare that Lucas was in the house and chasing me through dark hallways.
I was running but I couldn't find Ethan and Damien.
Lucas was behind me and chasing me, he was getting closer to me.
I could hear his breathing, feel his hands reaching for me.I woke up screaming.
Damien held me.
"It's okay. It's just a dream."
But it felt so real.
The next morning, I woke up , I couldn't sleep anymore.
I went downstairs for coffee.
I looked out the front window while the coffee was brewing.
Then I froze.
There was something on the front porch,something taped to the front door.
I walked closer to the window.
It was a photo.
I could see it from here.
It was a picture of me and Damien and Ethan.
The pictures were taken yesterday, someone was watching the house and taking pictures. I didn't know what to do again, and I screamed.
Damien came running down the stairs.
The security guards rushed to the front door.
We all stood there staring at the photo through the window.
Damien opened the door carefully and pulled the photo off.
It showed the three of us. Playing with Ethan in the backyard yesterday afternoon.
The worst part was that there was a written word on the photo:
SOON
I almost fell down,but Marcus caught me.
"Check the cameras," Damien said. "Now."
Marcus pulled out his phone and checked the security footage.
His face went pale.
"What?" Damien asked.
"The cameras were disabled. Last night. For exactly three minutes around 2am."
"How is that possible? You just installed them."
"Someone knew what they were doing. They shut down the whole system."
I looked at the photo again.
Someone had been right outside our house.
Close enough to take this picture.
Close enough to leave this message.
And we had no idea who it was.