“Tess, you have a restraining order against Mr. Finch here.” Graham folds his arms across his chest. “Because he wouldn’t leave you alone, even when we told him he was harassing you. He was putting all these crazy ideas in your head and taking advantage of the fact that you have memory problems. I had to go to court.” Graham flashes Harry a seething look. “And the court saw it my way.”
My jaw drops open. “Harry? Is that true?”
He opens his mouth, but before he can get out any words, a police car pulls into the McDonald’s parking lot. An officer comes out of the vehicle, and Graham waves him over. I can’t believe this is happening. I want to tell Harry to run for it, but it’s probably not a good idea.
The officer approaches Harry, a stern expression on his face. “Harrison Finch?”
Harry nods, his eyes on the ground.
“Mr. Finch, you’re under arrest for a violation of a restraining order.”
Harry doesn’t protest as the officer handcuffs him and leads him to his police car. Graham watches the whole thing with barely disguised glee. I can’t believe it. There was a restraining order against Harry. No wonder he didn’t want to come here and meet me. But he came anyway.
God, I don’t know what to think anymore.
“Good riddance,” Graham says to me as the police car speeds off to take Harry to jail. His eyes soften as he turns to face me. “I’m sorry he tricked you that way. I didn’t want you to know he’d been harassing you.”
“He wasn’t harassing me,” I mumble.
He shakes his head. “All you know is what he did today. I had to take him to court, Tess. He was stalking you. It was scary and very inappropriate. But now you’re safe.”
Except somehow, I don’t feel safe.
Graham holds out his hand and waggles his fingers. “Give me my keys.”
For a moment, I consider refusing. But what good would that do me? There’s no chance of me making a run for it to the car and taking off. He would catch me in half a second. So I fish the keys out of my pocket and hand them over to him.
“Where’s my car?” he asks. “I hope it’s still in one piece. You weren’t a great driver, even before.”
I point to the far end of the parking lot. I tried to park in the corner so nobody would see it. An expensive car stands out like a sore thumb.
We trudge back to the car. Ziggy sees us when we’re about ten feet away and starts barking like crazy. Graham stops short and glares at me. “Are you serious, Tess? You put that mutt in my car? On my leather upholstery?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. You sit in the back with the dog. He better not chew up my car or I’m going to be really pissed.”
Ziggy growls at Graham when he gets into the car, but I stroke his fur until he calms down. As we start driving back home, he rests his head on my lap. He looks as dejected as I feel. I didn’t think I would ever be going back to that house. Certainly not within half an hour of leaving.
I had a chance to escape and I blew it.
“I know you’re feeling upset about this whole thing,” Graham tells me as he halts at a red light. “But try not to think about it.”
I grumble something under my breath.
“I’ll delete all the messages from him on your phone,” he continues, “and tomorrow it will be like it never happened. I’ll block the number. You’ll probably never see or hear from him again.”
I squeeze my knees with my fists. He’s right. All he has to do is delete those messages, and I won’t know they ever existed.
“And I’ll let you have your phone back,” he adds. “It’s good for you. And it helps me know exactly where you are. I never would have found you so quickly if you hadn’t brought it with you.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to cry. I don’t know what to think about what happened. Graham was telling the truth about the restraining order, considering Harry just got arrested. But I’m not sure what to believe. I don’t think Harry was using me or manipulating me. After all, I was the one who made him come out tonight.
When we get back home, Graham makes me put Ziggy out in the backyard. I don’t know if Ziggy is used to sleeping in the house, but he doesn’t seem to want to go out there. When I shut the door, he starts whimpering. It’s a nice night, so I don’t feel that bad about it, but I wonder what we do when it’s cold or raining. We don’t still make him sleep in the backyard when it rains, do we?