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something dark was moving in
the air behind her. Quickly, she turned the key and stepped inside
the apartment. With her back against the door, she let go her
breath and tried to shake the feeling she had just experienced in
the hall. The eeriness refused to go away, though. It was as though
the darkness was had come to lurk just outside the door.
    “Brigit, are you home?” Maggie called out,
not moving from her spot at the door. When silence answered her,
the sandy haired woman allowed her brown eyes to scan the room. Her
gaze went quickly to where she had left the note for her partner.
It had not been touched. “Brigit?” she called again. Still no sound
could be heard.
    Slowly, Maggie eased off the door and walked
to her favorite reading chair. Every nerve was on edge and her
hands were beginning to shake as she dug her cell phone out from
the pocket of the sweater that had done little to block the chills
now running rampant over her skin. Glancing over her shoulder as
she waited for Mama Dee to answer her call, Maggie glanced at the
windows to see if one had been left open. They hadn’t. All three
were closed, yet, the chill in the room was growing by the
second.
    “Hello, Maggie,” Mama Dee’s voice finally
sounded in Maggie’s ear and the young woman returned her attention
to the call. She could tell by the labored sound of breathing that
Mama Dee had already begun her walk towards home.
    “Mama, she’s not home. She hasn’t called you,
has she?”
    “No, she sure hasn’t. Did you try to call her
again?”
    “Three times, no answer. Mama, something
isn’t…”
    Maggie’s attention was yanked to the door by
the sound of heavy footsteps climbing the stairs. She remembered
Brigit walking out that morning with her boots on.
    “What’s the matter?” Maggie heard Mama Dee
ask.
    “Hang on. Someone’s coming up the stairs,”
Maggie answered as she rose from her chair and hurried to the door.
She pressed her eye to the peep hole and frowned at the sight of
two uniformed policemen on the other side. “Mama, it’s the
police.”
    “What do they want?”
    A loud knock caused Maggie to jerk her head
back from where she peered out at the two very serious looking men.
Slowly, she opened the door with her free hand. Mama Dee was still
on the phone, Maggie knew, but the sense that these men had bad
news caused the woman to forget her previous conversation.
    “Maggie Devon?” The first officer spoke,
perhaps more sternly than Maggie cared for.
    “Yes? Is there a problem?”
    “Do you know a Brigit Malone?” he asked in
reply to her question.
    “Yes. Is she in trouble?” Maggie asked
quickly. The sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach returned
with such a force that caused her head to start spinning.
    “I’m afraid we have some bad news…” was all
Mama Dee heard over the phone before the screaming started.
    Maggie hit her knees in the agony that ripped
through her gut. Her worst fear had broken free.

3: Stalked

    Brigit had tried to stop Maggie from going to
the door when the policemen had returned to deliver the news of
‘the accident’. As soon as she had walked through the door, Brigit
had jumped to her feet and began the useless rant about what had
happened to cause her delay. It was only when Maggie had called
Mama Dee that Brigit grasped the fact that Maggie could not see or
hear her.
    As the realization sank in, Brigit had gone
to the window and looked out. She could see him – John Blackwick –
standing on the sidewalk across the street. He was leaning against
the wall of the building with his hands in his trouser pockets.
Even from the second floor through the heavy darkness, Brigit could
feel his ice blue eyes boring into her. Anger began to well up from
her gut as she returned his stare. It was only when she saw the
police car pull up to the curb in front of her building that she
broke her gaze and her attention snapped back to Maggie.
    Mama Dee had arrived as quickly as she