You Belong to Me – 55

 

 

The stalker called fifteen minutes after Scott dropped Corey off at his apartment and Corey had armed the alarm and put the chair under the doorknob. This time, Corey didn’t hesitate to answer, although he flinched when the caller whispered, “You are trying my patience and have endangered the life of that man.”

 

“Yeah, well, screw you!” Corey spat out.

 

There was a low chortle, followed by “My possession is growing some balls. Too bad it won’t do you any good.” The second the words were out of the stalker’s mouth, he hung up.

 

As usual, short and not so sweet. The cops would have to be monitoring every payphone in the city to catch him.

 

He flipped on the TV and went out to the hallway, intending to get hold of Scott and tell him about the phone call. Then he realized he didn’t have Scott’s real number, since they’d always communicated using the one belonging to ‘Reed.’ But I do have that one. He checked his incoming calls list, found it, and dialed, wondering if Scott kept that phone on when he wasn’t using it.

 

“Corey?”

 

“Unless you’ve given this number out to other men,” Corey replied dryly.

 

“Okay, yeah, that was a dumb question. But why call me on this phone? And why are you calling? Okay, the stalker got in touch with you. Right?”

 

“Yes. And this is the only number I have for you, so….”

 

Scott quickly rattled off his real number. “What did he say this time?”

 

“Same old, same old. Stay away from you, or he’ll do something to you. I’m ‘trying his patience,’ according to him. I hate to tell him, but he’s trying mine, big time.”

 

Scott chuckled. “Good. The more pissed you are, the less afraid you’ll be.”

 

“I’m not sure B follows A.”

 

“Not always, but in your case, I have the feeling it does.”

 

Corey thought about it. “I knew it was him, and I answered right away. No uncertainty. So maybe you’re right.”

 

“I’m always right.”

 

Corey snorted. “Uh-huh. Conceited much?”

 

“Give it time. You’ll find out.”

 

“All two or three weeks before you finally catch the bastard?”

 

“You never know,” Scott said quietly.