Free o 90a29c48d0ad7f81 by Charisma Knight Page B

shifter.” Officer Shapiro said with a smile.
    “Have you seen anyone suspicious lurking around the neighborhood?” Officer Matriano
    asked.
    “Oh, well no, and I do know many shifters on a personal level. I’ve known them for years.
    Hell, I grew up in this town. There’s Mr. Lester at the grocery store. Celestine, her daughter sells Raven’s Falls cookies. But other than that, I don’t know of any shifter or human who would try to hurt me. My ex, Danny was sort of a maniac.” She continued. “But, I don’t know why he would do this now, we’ve been divorced for a year.”
    She watched as both officers lifted a brow. “Is there any information you’d like to
    provide?” Officer Shapiro asked.
    “Sometimes it’s hard for a jilted ex to move on.” Officer Matriano suggested.
    “Danny was abusive.” She shuddered and rubbed her arms. “I had to file a restraining order against him, but I don’t think he would do this after all this time.” she added.
    “Where is he now?” Officer Shapiro asked.
    “He lives outside of Raven’s Falls and Queensville in Houston. He hasn’t given me any problems in a while.” Pearl said with a soft sigh.
    “We’ll run his name.”
    She gasped. “I don’t want him involved.”
    “We’ll need to check anyway. You can never be too sure in situations like these.” Officer Matriano stated.
    Officer Shapiro gave her his card. “If there’s anything else you can think of, please contact us.”
    She nodded while walking the officers from the living room, down the foyer and to the front door. She glanced around the house, feeling unsure about remaining alone, but what else was she to do?
    “You’ll need to come down to the station and file a report,” Officer Matriano told her.
    “Will do a few hours from now. I just need to get this house into some kind of orderly fashion,” she admitted as the officers strolled out the door and to the parking lot. “Thank you again.”
    “You’re welcome, Ms. Gordon,” Officer Shapiro called over his shoulder.
    A few hours after the police officers left, Pearl was determined to return things to somewhat of a normal state. Grabbing large garbage bags, she tossed out all the shredded clothes and painstakingly scrubbed the areas with bleach where the intruder marked what he thought was his territory.
    As she cleaned, she gritted her teeth, determined she wouldn’t let anything scare her, but who was she kidding? After cleaning, she ventured down to the police station and filed a report even though she felt everything was in vain. All she had to go on was that the intruder was indeed a shifter and at the moment she was drawing a blank as to who it was.
    When she returned home, the sun was up and she flopped on the couch. Sleep evaded her and she needed to keep busy. She wondered if she would ever feel completely safe in her home again.
    Flicking on the television, she decided to invite her best friend Renee over because right now she really needed someone to talk to.
    Chapter Two
    By noon, after Pearl and Renee ate lunch, Pearl surveyed the damage to the basement
    furniture before they began scrubbing the paint from the walls. The unsightly claw marks in her leather sofa drove her insane.
    “This crap is going to cost me a pretty penny,” Pearl complained as they scrubbed the paint from the walls. She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “This isn’t coming out.
    Everything needs to be freshly painted. Thankfully, the floor is tile and not carpet.”
    Renee rubbed her back reassuringly. “This too shall pass. At least we got the piss smell out of the house.”
    “Maybe Danny is fucking with me.”
    “If he’d had his way, you’d have seven kids and would have been a housewife instead of a successful real estate agent.”
    Pearl cringed as she remembered how Danny had verbally chastised her for taking real estate courses. He wanted her home cooking and cleaning for him. It pushed him over the edge when he discovered