The threat from the evening before was far less scary the next day. A new morning brought on renewed courage, enough so that Devin was not at all concerned about going on her usual morning run in the park near her condo. There was something so freeing about running through the pines, as if it was just she and the world before humans arrived. Oftentimes it really did feel that way; so few people were on the footpaths so early in the day. She often came across woodland animals surprised by her presence, but she always slowed down and let them decide which way to go so she wouldn’t stress them out. Growing up with an animal-loving sister had influenced her respect for other creatures.<br/><br/>It was nearly 6:30 am by the time she had returned, showered, and stepped out of the bright bathroom into the cool, quiet bedroom. Steam poured out from behind her, billowing around in such a pretty way that she smiled at it as she walked through. The figure sitting on her bed was cloaked in darkness however, and so out of the ordinary that Devin couldn’t help the surprised shriek of alarm as she pulled her towel around her naked form tighter and stumbled back a step.<br/><br/>“Too early for such high decibels,” James groaned, rubbing his hands across his face to try to wake himself up.<br/><br/>“What are you doing?” Devin hissed, trying to slow her racing heart while leaning against the bathroom doorframe. He was never up so early and certainly not just sitting silently in the darkness. Rubbing a hand across her wet sternum to try to alleviate the panic that had risen up in her, Devin took a step toward her husband with worry alighting on her delicate features, “Are you sick? Did you have a nightmare?”<br/><br/>“Is it really that hard to believe I woke up early?” He grumbled, blue eyes irritated as he rose up to his full height of almost six feet.<br/><br/>Devin watched as James practically stomped his way over to her, a small laugh escaping her at how reticent he was to wake up an hour earlier than usual, “You certainly make it seem like it is.”<br/><br/>“We’re going to the cops,” he said, revealing the reason for his early rise. He paused only a moment to press a brief kiss to her forehead before slipping past to take over the bathroom.<br/><br/>“I can go by myself.”<br/><br/>“Now’s not the time to play the Independent Woman card, Dev,” James shut the door and the conversation.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>As it turned out, Devin had not needed to pull such a card with her husband. Not long after he had trod back out of the bathroom, his phone had rung. A meeting in his advertising office had been pushed up; they’d needed him there within the hour. Cursing, James had tossed his phone back onto the bed and reached for her. After a few kisses to vent his frustration, they had gotten dressed and began the trek down to their respective cars at James’s insistence. Their condos had parking beneath the building, making it easy enough to store their vehicles, but living on the sixteenth floor meant it took some time to get down to the garage. Usually they chatted about their days or with their neighbors if they ran into any, but that morning they'd been silent. Standing in the steely box, the couple had simply held hands and watched the floor numbers decrease as they descended.<br/><br/>“Straight to the police,” James had told his wife once they'd reached their assigned parking space, holding out the accordion file folder he’d been carrying for her, “I don’t care if you have to cancel class. Don’t leave until they take you seriously; that’s when you use the Independent Woman card.”<br/><br/>Devin’s hazel gaze had lingered on the file folder reluctantly. The contents within gave her the chills, set her instincts off to flee from a threat, and thusly had her unwilling to even touch the folder. After James gave it a little shake, Devin had sighed and taken it from him, “I’ll call you once I know what they want to do.”<br/><br/>Another kiss, cars were started, and they once they had left the parking garage, they had taken off in opposite directions with Devin nervously glancing in the rearview mirror as James’s car disappeared into traffic. As much as she valued her independence, as badly as she wanted to make this stalker problem out to be nothing worth worrying over, she had known she would have been far more comfortable going to the police with her husband at her side. She had battled over whether that made her a weak female or a strong marriage partner as she guided her car to Seattle PD’s East Precinct. It wasn’t the closest station to her home, but it was easier to reach on the way to the university.<br/><br/>…and it had been fruitless. The file folder had helped. She had gone once before and hadn’t even made it past the police officer fielding people in the front entrance. But with a folder full of evidence, the elder man had sent her loose into the bowels of the police station in search of a Detective Bates. He had not given her very clear directions and despite the early morning, the station had been abuzz with activity. People in uniform and not had breezed past her, some in handcuffs. People had been yelling, laughing, crying. Smells came in waves; coffee hit her most often, then human body odor, sometimes weed or vomit. The station itself had appeared somewhat new, but almost disorderly kept. Papers had been pinned to walls, people had been huddled around cubicles that varied in mess by officer, and the outer walls of the large interior space lined with doors that led to more private offices. By the time she had reached an office with the placards<i>C. Bates </i>and<i>M. Donovan </i>on the outside, Devin was nearly overwhelmed by the sensory overload.<br/><br/>The middle-aged black woman had sat her in a chair and asked her to explain everything. She appeared like a strong, no-nonsense woman with her sharp chocolate-colored eyes and her brisk demeanor. She was not dressed like an officer, none of the detectives ever were, but was dressed professionally, reminding Devin of someone involved perhaps in sales or education than in police work. Devin had told her everything in great detail however, starting with the first time she’d gotten a note all the way up until the night before and Detective Bates had listened intently. Yet even as she described the fear that came with it, especially when the notes showed up on her car or in her office, Devin had known the other woman would not help her, for she had looked at her with sympathy in her eyes instead of the shrewdness of a detective trying to get a good sniff for a hunt. Once she had finished all of her explanations, the detective had pointed out it was likely a student trying to catch her attention or get revenge for failing her class. They had seen it all the time with professors; it was just the nature of the beast.<br/><br/>“So nothing can be done?” Devin asked dejectedly as the other woman placed one of the baggie-wrapped papers back in the file folder and handed it back over to her, “You can’t at least check for fingerprints or DNA? Maybe this person has done this before.”<br/><br/>“Our lab is backed up as it is,” Detective Bates shook her head with a sympathetic frown, her gaze momentarily jumping toward the door as it opened and a man stepped in. He was not overtly tall, but had a stocky build and thick neck that gave him a formidable appearance. Standard brown hair and brown eyes, he was not one to attract attention and was dressed plainly in a pair of slacks and a white button down with a sports coat tossed on top. Bates went on after a short nod toward the man as he lumbered over to the other side of the office, “We can’t put in evidence if a crime hasn’t occurred, I’m sorry.”<br/><br/>“I just have to…what? Wait until this guy comes after me?” Devin was aghast, in total disbelief. She’d really thought the police would never turn her away with all the creepy little papers in her file folder. She had been so sure they would have to listen.<br/><br/>“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” the female detective clearly wanted to give her some piece of mind, but her hands were tied. No crime had been committed and until then, she could not do much to help, “There are precautions you can take though. Vary your routine, never go out alone. Change the locks to your office and always tell people where you're going. It really probably is a pissed off student, Dr. Fontenot. They’ll get bored and move on soon.”<br/><br/>With an aggrieved sigh, Devin rose and curtly thanked the woman for her time, then stepped out. The moment she did, Mark Donovan spun in his chair, watching the door shut pensively before looking his partner’s way, “Stalker?”<br/><br/>“Creepy one,” Bates nodded, turning back to her computer to begin the piles of paperwork she needed to catch up on, “Leaving her origami pages from some old book.”<br/><br/>Donovan stared at the neat bun Bates always kept her black hair in for a long beat before abruptly rising from the chair, snatching up a sticky note and pen, “Back in a sec.”<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>“I’ve lost my mind,” Devin announced to the silence in her car, her hazel eyes on the pretty little cabin she had parked near. It appeared somewhat new, was not overtly flashy, and had a homey appeal. The cabin looked like a place that should have a fire going and a dog lazing in front of it while someone sat on the couch and read. Picturesque. It was also secluded though, out of the city, away from what she was used to. The perfect location for someone to go missing. She should have waited for James to get off work, she knew he would be irritated she had gone to meet a strange man at the base of a mountain without her. But if this man was going to be able to help her, she hadn’t wanted to wait. She’d left the police station, called the number Detective Donovan had scribbled onto the yellow sticky note in his block handwriting, and had scheduled an appointment with the private investigator within the hour.<br/><br/>“Dane Kuger,” Devin murmured after looking down at the sticky note to remind herself of who she was meeting. Repeating it in her mind a couple times to make sure it stuck, she climbed out of her car, grabbed up her file folder, and tossed her keys into her purse. Nerves caused her to fidget in the modest navy skirt suit before her hand rose to smooth her short brown bangs across her forehead. Meeting a stranger…in the middle of nowhere…in a cabin…to tell him about another stranger. “Should have waited for James,” she muttered as her black heels clicked on the wooden stairs leading up to the cabin she’d probably think was cute if she wasn’t so on edge. After taking a deep breath to fortify herself, Devin reached out and knocked on the wooden door.