Call ended.
My hand shook as I put my cell phone into my pocket. I couldn't think. I could scarcely breathe.
"Jonas...we just got a death threat." I looked up at his face. It was a ghostly white, and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.
"Jo, I think we should go see your dad at the police station. It's not safe to be here right now."
"You're right. Let's get out of here."
***
About twenty minutes later, we arrived at the police station. The man at the front desk let us in without question to my dad's office when we told him what was going on. Dad was in a meeting, so Jonas and I had some time to process what had just happened. Jonas held my hand tightly the entire time. Under normal circumstances, I would've questioned his motives, but this wasn't one of those times.
We opened the door to Dad's office and sat on an old couch that was against the back wall. My dad's desk was covered in papers, and his bulletin board was full of maps and pictures. I smiled at a photo of me, him, and my mom that was on his desk. My smile quickly faded when I realized the situation that we were in.
"Jonas, what are we gonna do?" I whispered, tears brimming in my eyes. "Jonas, someone is willing to kill us. But what about Chase? We need to find out who did this, Jonas! We just have to!" The tears continued to stubbornly cascade down my cheeks. I brushed them away with the back of my hand. "Sorry, I'm just--"
"You don't have to apologize Johanna," he said softly. He pulled me into a tight hug, and I could hear the shakiness in his breath. We stayed there for a few moments when suddenly, the door burst open.
"Johanna! Are you all right?!" I immediately pulled away from Jonas and looked up.
"Dad!" He rushed over to give me a hug. He cupped my face in his hands.
"Are you ok?" he asked. "What happened?"
Jonas and I quickly relayed to him what had happened just minutes before. The sneeze, the scholarship, the car, the phone call. I could see the color slowly draining out of my dad's face.
"Well, one thing is for sure. Someone's been stalking you both to be able to know to contact you when you saw the car. Neither of you go anywhere without someone with you. Understood? And when I say someone, I mean someone who's armed. I'll have a squad car put in front of your houses 24/7. We'll have someone find out where that car came from and who bought it."
***
Later that day my dad and I were back home eating pizza on the living room couch watching Wreck It Ralph. I needed something for distraction. Once the movie was over, I hugged my dad goodnight. He hugged me more tightly than usual.
"It's going to be okay, Dad," I whispered.
"I hope so," he replied.
As I lied on my bed that night, I began to text Jonas.
Me: hey. How u doing?
Jonas: all right. My parents are kind of scared 4 me.
Me: I'm scared 4 us 2
Jonas: we're going to figure this out, Jo. Your dad might still figure out something.
Me: if only we knew who bought that car
Jonas: yeah. And how did they know how 2 get to ur house?
I thought about that for a moment. How did whoever did this know how to get to my house?
Me: Dad did say someone had to have been stalking me.
Jonas: but how'd they know we had been investigating Chase?
Me: we haven't told many people about this. Jonas, this is how we can narrow our suspect pool!
My fear began to disappear as I figured out how a new way to find Chase's killer.
A/N: UPDATE!!! Thanks for bearing with me as I get used to my school schedule. What did you all think of this chapter? Please VOTE, COMMENT, AND SHARE this story.
Till next time,
-shalom900