Heidi awakened in the morning and sat up in bed. She realized there had been no obscene phone calls, so she'd slept through the night, and was rested for the first time since the harassing calls had begun. She allowed herself to feel a little bit hopeful. Maybe he'd decided to stop. Maybe the quick appearance of the police had frightened him away. Maybe he wouldn't be back.
Hoping against hope that her terrifying ordeal had ended, Heidi got up, showered, dressed, had breakfast, then she headed for school.
She drove to school, unaware that Tim was shadowing her in his pickup truck, and walked into the school building. Milt Bingham didn't greet her, which surprised her. In fact, she didn't see him around anywhere. She stopped at the office to pick up her mail.
"Did you hear?" Lina Dewey, the secretary, asked.
"Hear what?" Heidi asked.
"Mr. Bingham's parents were killed last night," the secretary said.
"My God, how?" Heidi asked.
"It was a car crash. Apparently a drunk driver hit them head on," Lina said. "I don't know all the details. All I know is that Mr. Williams said Mr. Bingham wouldn't be here for at least a week, maybe two."
"My God!" Heidi said. Although she didn't really want a relationship with Milt, she did like him as a friend, and she felt terrible about what had happened to his parents. "And I thought I had problems," she mused. "Where do they live?" she asked the secretary. "Mr. Bingham's parents, I mean."
"I think they lived in Florida," the secretary said.
"Do you have an address? I think I'd like to send him some flowers or something," Heidi said.
"I don't," Lina told her, "but I'll check with Mr. Williams. I think it would be good if the school sent flowers, don't you? I mean, Mr. Bingham is really sweet."
Heidi nodded. "Yes," she said, "he certainly is." She walked down the hall to her office. She'd only been there a few minutes when the phone rang.
She picked it up. "Heidi Tate," she said.
"Hi, Heidi, this is Bob Samuelson," a male voice said.
Heidi felt a rush of warmth. Memories of the evening she'd spent at his home flashed through her mind. "Ah...hi, Bob, what can I do for you?" Heidi asked.
"Joanna's away, I thought you might like to have dinner with me tonight," he said.
"At...at your house?" Heidi asked. She'd made up her mind she wasn't going to see Bob, or sleep with him, again. She had convinced herself that, since he was married, sleeping with him again was definitely not a good idea.
"I thought maybe we could go to the Hilldale House," Bob said. "It's very nice."
"Oh," Heidi said. Maybe he was just asking her out for dinner. If they went to a restaurant, that should be safe enough. And it would be nice to get out, to do something that would help take her mind off the horror she'd been going through the past few weeks. "I...I'd love to, Bob," she said.
"Wonderful. I'll pick you up about six-thirty," he said.
Anticipation of a relaxing evening with Bob made the day go quickly for Heidi. She drove home after school, did a little paperwork, then got ready to go out to dinner. She got out a lavender silk suit and lace t-shirt. To go with it, she donned a scanty purple bra and lacy purple scanty briefs.
Bob was punctual. At six-thirty, her doorbell rang. Heidi opened the door and liked the way his eyes widened when he saw her.
"Wow," he said, "You look terrific."
"Ah...thanks," Heidi said.
They walked out to his car, he held the door for her, and she got in. "Did you get a new car?" she asked.
"This is a rental," Bob replied. "A few days ago, somebody broke into my garage and vandalized mine. It's in the shop being repainted."
"My God!" Heidi said. "That's crazy."
"I understand you've had some problems, too," he said. "Obscene phone calls, people shooting at your house. God! It makes what happened to me seem like nothing."
"Yes," she admitted. "I can't understand who's doing this to me, or why. It's really terrifying. I mean, you don't expect things like that to happen here in Jamestown."
