The crime scene team came and looked over Maggie's living room and extracted the bullet. They determined the approximate location where the shooter had been when they took the shot at her and when out to examine that part of the crime scene as well.
After the police left, Maggie sat on the sofa and stared at the mess in her living room. Even though Andy had swept up most of the broken glass, there was still a lot of it all over the room. There was a bit of debris left from the police inspecting where the bullet had lodged itself in the wall and the remains of the broken sliding glass door like a gaping open wound sitting there open to the outside world. Officer Brighton sent two men to get some plywood to board up the door. He didn't want Maggie or one of her friends to leave the condo to get it. Not with a crazy person on the loose.
Maggie wasn't usually someone that asked, "why me?" but today she couldn't help but ask. Why was this maniac after her? It wasn't like she and Andy were having a torrid romance or anything. They had just reconnected. Granted, she did really like him, and he had been amazing through all the insanity of the last few days, but it was still too early for it to be considered a romance. They could barely say they were friends at this point. Friends shoved together by extenuating circumstances!
Amelia came over and sat next to Maggie, taking her hand in her own and gently patting it.
"Let's go brush your hair and get the glass out of it, sweetie." She whispered as she pulled Maggie up off the sofa and down the hall to the bathroom.
She sat Maggie on the toilet and brushed her hair carefully, picking out the larger shards of glass and flicking the smaller ones onto the floor. After about ten minutes of this slow process, Maggie took the brush and turned her head upside down and brushed vigorously. Another wave of tiny shards fluttered to the floor like little flakes of snow. Once she felt like most of the glass was gone from her hair, Maggie jumped in the shower and washed it, just to be sure everything was gone. It felt good to just stand under the running water and let it pour out over her like a waterfall.
With the women occupied in the bathroom, Andy took to cleaning up the living room. He found the vacuum and vacuumed the carpeted area in the middle of the room to remove the spilled glass. When Maggie returned from her shower, she found Andy had tidied the living room as much as he could.
"Thank you for cleaning up the mess Andy." Said Maggie as she walked back into the living room after her shower. "I really appreciate it a lot."
"Oh, it was nothing! It gave me something to do while you were in the bathroom cleaning up and I was waiting for the police to return with the wood for the door." He answered.
As if they had been called in to being by magic, the two officers with the wood walked in the front door without knocking. They had a sheet of plywood that would fit into the sliding glass door perfectly and something to secure it to the door frame with.
"Nice job with the knocking, fellas." Said Amelia sarcastically.
The two police officers looked at her blankly and then went about the business of boarding up the door. They left silently, saying nothing to anyone during their time in Maggie's condo, as soon as they finished.
Shortly after they left, there was a light knock on the door and Brighton let himself in. Striding purposefully into the living room, he looked at the group with disbelief on his face.
"What? What's going on?" asked Maggie quickly upon seeing the look on his face.
"Gareth has been in California since last week. He is not our kidnapper and would be murderer. We are back at square one." Answered Brighton. "I still think it had to have come from someone in the IT office where you work, but I'm not sure who it could be. Everyone else with IT experience checked out."
"What?" exclaimed the group in unison.
"I was sure it was him!" said Andy.
"How could it not be him?" asked Maggie.
"Well, shit!" said Amelia. "Who else in that office could it be if all the techies are clean?"
"That is the question at hand," Replied Brighton.
"The only other person in that office is the admin assistant, Deandra. She couldn't be the one doing this. I don't think she ever seemed especially interested in me. She made me a cake for my birthday, but she does that for everyone." Said Andy.
"Let me call it in and have her checked out." Answered Brighton as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the police department.
Maggie and Amelia just stood there and waited to see what was going to happen next. It was always something with this mess.
Twenty minutes later, Brighton was still shaking his head. There was nothing he could find on Deandra Logan. Nothing! She was too clean. That made Brighton suspicious.
"There is nothing on her. Nothing at all, not a ticket, not a call to the police or a visit to the hospital, nothing. I have to wonder if Deandra Logan is her real name," said Brighton as he paced around the living room. "We need to find out who she really is!"
"How do we do that?" asked Amelia. "Do we even know where she is?"
"She was in the office today. I had an email from her this morning wanting to know if I would be in today." Replied Andy. "Dang, I better check my phone for any new malware she might have attached to her email."
Andy quickly ran a scan of his cell phone and found it was still clean. The scan revealed no new malware, trojan horses, or other files that could wreak havoc on his phone or be transferred to someone else's phone.
"I'll send a car past her house to see if she is there this evening and then, if she is, I'll stop by to have a little chat with her. I want to get a feel for Ms. Logan." Replied Officer Brighton as he fidgeted with the curtains and looked out through the undamaged half of the glass door.
"Did they find anything outside that would be of help in determining who shot out my glass door?" asked Maggie quietly from the sofa where she had taken a seat.
"No, nothing but a few blurry footprints that could have been there for days and some cigarette butts. We have those on the way to the lab for testing, but I'm not hopeful." Answered Brighton.
"The person we thought was doing this is innocent. The new person we think might do it is, for all intents and purposes, a ghost. There are no prints or clues on the boxes they leave at my door. There are no clues on the hillside. How are we ever going to stop them?" cried Maggie in despair.
"I know it looks bleak right now, but I am going to keep searching and I won't give up until I find whoever is trying to hurt you. All of you!" Said Brighton. "You just have to be patient and give me a little more time to figure this out. They will make a mistake and then I'll catch them!"
"I just hope that mistake doesn't cost one of us our lives!" said Amelia.
"I am going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen. I'm going to call my captain and see about getting the three of you into a safe house for the next few days while we search for the would-be killer." Brighton added as he took out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for his captain.
"Safe house! We have to bring the dogs to this safe house," said Maggie and Andy at the same time.
The two dogs had been curled up quietly in a corner though out all the commotion of the shot through the door, the police visits, the replacement of the sliding glass door with wood, and the clean-up efforts. Everyone had basically forgotten they were even there; they had been so quiet in the room's corner.
Maggie got up and set out food for both dogs and gave them clean water. They both slowly came out from the corner where they had been laying and sniffed at the food. Once they were sure it was for them, they ate with abandon.
Maggie reached down and gave each one a quick scratch behind the ears and then returned to her place on the sofa. She watched them while they ate their dinner and quietly said, "Someone will need to take them out for a potty walk soon. They haven't been out in hours."
"I'll take them out." Said Brighton. "Just get them ready and tell me where to take them and we'll be good to go."
"Ripley likes to walk around the outside of the parking lot and smell all the shrubs. She usually will do her business two or three times before she makes it back here." Answered Maggie.
"The big guy will just follow her lead." Said Andy blandly.
Together, Maggie and Andy got the two dogs ready for their walk and handed the leashes to Officer Brighton.
"Once around, should take care of things." Said Maggie as he left with the two excited canines.
As he walked the dogs, Brighton evaluated the neighborhood. He was having second thoughts about putting them all in a safe house. The would-be killer took a shot at Maggie and missed; would they try again if she were to stay in her own home? He decided he couldn't chance it. The safe house was the best option. There were too many places here for the killer to hide and try again to kill Maggie or one of the others. Just before returning to Maggie's condo, his captain called him to inform him they had set up a safe house. It was a go!
When he returned with the dogs, Brighton informed the trio that he had received the green light for the safe house, and they should get their things together as they would leave as soon as an unmarked police van arrived to take them to their new quarters. Maggie immediately packed up food, treats and toys for Ripley in her little go bag, then went into her room to pack a few things for herself. Amelia came to help her. She went into the bathroom to get the toiletries Maggie would need for the next few days.
Having brought a few things to Maggie's the previous day and not unpacking them, Andy was already packed. He made sure he had the bag of food for Max, ready to go along with his own bag. He put them over by the front door and then sat on the sofa to wait. Both dogs came over and sat at his feet to wait with him. Instinctively, they knew something was wrong with their humans and wanted to be close to one or both if they could. For now, Andy would do.
Back in the bedroom, Maggie was carefully folding and packing a few changes of clothing into her small weekend suitcase. She tucked in an extra pair of tennis shoes just in case she needed them, and a few pairs of socks along with clean sweatpants and a T-shirt to sleep in. Maggie took the toiletries from Amelia and stuffed them in on top of the clothing and zipped the suitcase closed. She then grabbed her favorite sweater and her tablet off her nightstand and slipped it into the outside pocket of the suitcase and headed back into the living room.
When she arrived in the living room, Maggie found both Andy and Amelia ready to go with their bags. Amelia had mysteriously received a bag from her house care of the police. Apparently, at some point Brighton had sent someone to pack a bag for her and bring it here.
Now all they needed was the van to take them to this 'safe house' they were going to be staying at for the next few days. Maggie plopped her favorite pillow on top of her suitcase, double checked Ripley's' bag to make sure it had enough of everything she was going to need and then put the dog's harness back on to get her ready for going back outside.
While she waited, Maggie watched the two dogs. Max was sitting at Andy's feet with his head held high, getting his ears scratched, and Ripley had tucked herself between his two front paws, surrounded by his cascading golden fur. It was amazing how quickly the two had bonded. Regardless of how things turned out between Andy and herself, Maggie was going to have to make sure that Max and Ripley stayed buddies. They were just too cute together.
As her mind continued to be absorbed by thoughts of the dogs, the police van arrived and it was time to leave her little home. A pang of sadness filled her, as if she would never see her condo again. She took a long look around the living room, as if she were saying goodbye, and grabbed Ripley's leash and her bag, then headed out the door. Just before she walked out the door, she grabbed a small picture off the wall in the entryway. It was of her family when she was a child. She wasn't sure why she wanted to bring it with her, but something inside her felt a pull so strong that it was in her hand before she could stop herself. She tucked it inside her pillowcase for safekeeping.
A plain-clothed police officer escorted her out to the van, he took her bag and put it in the back of the van. Maggie took a seat in the first row and buckled her seat belt. She snuggled Ripley next to her on the seat and gave her a few scratches to help her get calmed down in the van.
Amelia climbed in next and took the other seat in the front row, leaving the back row for Andy and Max. Brighton made sure they were all secure and then headed to his car. He would meet them at the safe house