Tag: Garret and Calico

How many more will die before this ends!

Garret stared at the headline, his head spinning with everything that he’d learned from Calico. Those eyes he’d felt watching them when he picked her up for her date, were those the eyes of the man hunting nurses, or her ex? The person who had broken into her home was that the killer or her ex?

The thought of this woman, he was falling for a little more each day, being in danger, being hurt, felt like a thousand knives plunging into his body. How was he supposed to keep her safe from not one but two predators when he wasn’t even one hundred percent recovered from being shot?

Tightening his grip on her, his heart fluttered when she reached out and began to stroke his arm. Comforting and reassuring him when he should be the one to be taking care of her right now. She’d had a terrible scare this morning and while she was safe he knew she was struggling to keep it together.

“It’s going to be okay, Garret,” Calico whispered.

“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?” he joked half heartedly.

“Somehow we’ll get this mess sorted out. All of it.”

“Oh we will, I will not let anyone hurt you again,” he vowed, making her smile. One of those real, heart warming, soul touching ones that he was coming to love

“I believe you,” she said, no idea how much those words meant to him.

When there was a knock on his front door they both jumped even though they knew it was going to be his partner Tony and Tony’s new girlfriend Natasha.

“Hold on, I’ll be right back.” Giving the top of Calico’s head a kiss he left her on the couch and headed for the door.

As soon as he opened it he knew something was wrong. Tony and Natasha were supposed to pick up Calico’s keys from the gas station attendant and then drive her car over to his place

“What’s wrong?” he asked without preamble.

“Someone stole her car,” Tony informed him. “When we went to pick it up it was gone.”

If someone had taken her car then it meant someone had been following her, it wouldn’t just be randomly stolen from a busy gas station in the space of thirty minutes or less.

Another nurse abducted from her home.

The news headline made her blood run cold and she squirmed anxiously in her seat. Another victim. Calico knew no one expected this nurse to survive.

It seemed to take forever but finally Calico spotted Garret’s car turning into the gas station.

She didn’t even wait for him to park, she was already jumping out of her car and hurrying towards his. The second he was out of it she was throwing herself into his arms.

Too late she realised she was going to hurt his injured leg jumping at him that way but he caught her easily and seemed to need the contact as much as she did.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Garret demanded when he finally set her on her feet and scanned her body as though he suspected there was a chance it was covered in blood.

“I’m okay,” she assured him, feeling better now he was here with her. No one could hurt her while Garret was here, that she was absolutely certain of.

“I’m going to need you to talk me through what happened,” he told her as he guided her over to his car.

“I don’t know what happened. I got home last night, I put my clothes in the hamper, PJs on, brushed my teeth, went to the bathroom, then got into bed. I slept amazingly well. Woke up this morning, had my shower, went to get dressed and found … you know, the drawer empty. Wait what about my car?” she asked when she realised she was sitting in the passenger seat of his and he was leaning over to buckle her in.

“Called a friend on the way here, my partner, he’s going to get your car then meet me at my place.” Dragging in a deep breath he crouched beside her. “Calico, we need to consider the possibility that you might be the killer’s next target.”

For some reason that hadn’t really occurred to her. The serial killer after nurses was real to her, obviously, given her profession, but there was a much more personal danger that her mind immediately went to.

“Garret … maybe I should have told you earlier but … I had an ex who wouldn’t take me breaking things off with him seriously. He kidnapped me, held me prisoner for over a week before I was rescued. They said … they said he’d taken his own life and told the cops where I was but … I never believed it. He’s still out there, I know he is. What if it’s him coming after me again?

Feeling of being watched.

Garret was staring at the newspaper on his kitchen table as he thought about the feeling he’d gotten last night when he picked Calico up for their date.

Was it possible …?

No.

He couldn’t allow himself to think that she could be in the killer’s sights. Not his sweet, bubbly, sunshiny Calico.

His phone sat beside the newspaper and he’d been wanting to pick it up and call her. It had only been a few hours since he’d seen her but he missed her already. If he didn’t know that she was getting ready for work he’d call.

As if on cue the phone began to ring, Calico’s name on the screen. Smiling he picked it up and accepted the call.

“Hey, I was just thinking about you, wanting to call.”

“Garret.” Her voice came out in a whimper and immediately he was on edge. He might have been off work for a few months now but he’d been a cop for years and those instincts were ingrained. Something was wrong.

“What happened?”

“I … I was … was getting dressed and … and when I went to get … to get clothes after my shower, I found … my … Garret, my underwear drawer is empty.”

Empty?

There was no way she would accidentally remove all her underwear from the drawer and then forget.

Which meant someone had to have been in her house.

In her room.

Touching her things.

Were they still here?

Had they been watching her while she slept?

Panic thrummed to life inside him as he jumped up from his chair. “Calico, I want you to listen to me. Throw on the first clothes you can find, get your keys and go downstairs. Get into your car and drive somewhere public. The closest gas station, I’ll meet you there.”

“Garret, I’m scared,” she whimpered in a small voice that was nothing like the sweet, sunshiny voice he was used to.

“I know, sweetheart, but I’m coming.”

He’s closing in.

Calico did her best not to let the latest headline about the nurse serial killer take away the joy she was feeling this morning.

Last night had been perfect.

Easily the best date she’d ever been on in her life.

Despite their slightly shaky start Garret was everything she could hope for in a partner and they just … clicked. Now that he was recovering, and had climbed out of the pit of pain and despair he’d been in after he’d been shot and almost died, she was starting to see the real Garret.

And she liked what she saw.

A lot.

Maybe more than she should given she hadn’t known him for very long.

But who cares? She’d been with her ex for three years before she realised he was a dangerous psychopath. Time wasn’t everything, and she really liked Garret.

That kiss …

Calico touched her fingertips to her lips. She swore even hours later they still tingled from the intensity of the kiss he’d given her on the doorstep when he’d brought her home.

They were seeing each other again today, Garret was going to bring lunch to the hospital and eat with her in her break, and she couldn’t wait until her next day off so they could go out properly.

Hanging up her towel, she hurried out of the bathroom. If she didn’t get dressed and out of the house in the next ten minutes she was going to miss the bus.

Grabbing her uniform, she tossed it onto the already made bed, then hurried to her dresser. Opening the drawer that contained all her underwear, it took her a second to register what she was seeing.

The drawer was empty.

All her underwear was gone.

Police profiler believe killer has next victim in his sights.

Not what Garret wanted to be reading when he was preparing to take Calico out on their first real date.

It had been almost a month since he was released from the hospital and although he’d seen her several times, with the serial killer stalking nurses several had quit their jobs meaning the remaining nurses were working overtime. Calico barely had time to eat and sleep let alone go on a date.

She was working herself too hard and it was showing. Dark circles under her eyes, losing weight, she needed time off and he’d finally insisted she deserved one night just for herself without worrying about everyone else.

Thankfully she’d agreed and tonight he got to take out the most captivating woman he’d ever met.

Tossing the newspaper into the backseat, Garret got out of his car and walked down the garden path to Calico’s front door. Her cottage was cute and had an amazing front yard, a riot of color with flowers everywhere and big shady trees. Everything about the house and garden screamed Calico.

When he knocked on the front door it took barely a couple of seconds for it to be thrown open. His breath caught in his throat when he took in the sight of the gorgeous woman standing before him.

So far he’d only ever seen Calico in her nurse’s uniform, but tonight she was dressed in dark blue jeans that molded to her long, toned legs. She wore an emerald green sweater that left her creamy shoulders bare, and instead of being twisted into a messy bun or braid, her long red hair hung loose around her shoulders.

“You are breathtaking,” he said, and loved that she blushed adorably.

“You clean up pretty good yourself,” she said, and his ego definitely got a boost at the hungry way her gaze traveled his body.

“Ready to go?” he asked, he’d planned a pretty simple date, because honestly he just wanted to talk to Calico and learn all the things about her. Sure he wanted to sleep with her when the time was right, but what he felt for her was different than anything he’d ever experienced with a woman before. Deeper.

Reaching over she grabbed her purse from a small table by the door, then took the hand he held out to her. “Ready.”

After she locked up they walked down the path back towards his car, and as they did so he couldn’t help but get the feeling they were being watched.

From the way Calico edged closer to him, her grip on his hand tightening, he got the feeling she noticed it too.

The words from the newspaper echoed inside his head. Did the killer have another nurse already in his sights? And worse, was that nurse Calico?