So which kind of guy did Cindy want?
She rolled her eyes when Danny executed a mock salute toward Marcus who responded with a slight chin lift. When Cindy got to his side, Marcus grabbed her hand tightly, but slowly eased off his grip in degrees. They walked back to her house in silence, but she could feel the questions coming.
* * *
The interrogation didn’t start until they’d tidied up the kitchen. Cindy was learning, Marcus didn’t want distractions or an opportunity for her to weasel her way out of discussions. She had to remember this man used to be a SEAL commander who could demand full attention. There were no signs of the broken man he’d been and her mind was still reconciling the man he was now to the Marcus she used to know.
“Who moved in first to the neighborhood, you or the Tilleys?”
“Angela moved in two years ago. Danny, a year later. I’ve been in Sunny Ridge for six years, Marcus. I’m considered an old-timer around here.” She threw the rag on the counter and leaned back, bracing her hands against it. “Is this your concern about my stalker, or is this you acting territorial?”
“Both.” A muscle tensed in his jaw. “How close are you to Danny boy?”
“I think you’re wasting your time looking in his direction. I’ve seen him help Mrs. Jung with her groceries. I’d seen him change a tire for our neighbor. He’s been in my house a couple of times. We’ve shared a beer. He’s a nice guy.”
“So was Ted Bundy until he killed all those women,” Marcus responded without inflection. “Has he shown you any interest beyond friendship?”
“I don’t like this interrogation,” Cindy retorted.
An arrogant brow arched. “He has.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“If he didn’t you would have simply said no.”
“We’re not in the military. Stop questioning like a—” Cindy threw up her hands in exasperation and stalked into the living room, Marcus following closely behind.
“I am trying to keep you safe,” he growled behind her. “I need to identify all the threats around you.”
She plopped down on the Chesterfield. “Are you even listening to yourself? Threats around me? You make it sound like I’m surrounded by terrorists.”
“Someone managed to break into your home. They did that without detection. The police didn’t go asking around the neighborhood because stalkers are mostly someone you know. Someone who knows your routine. They didn’t want to tip anyone off.”
“He’s been in my house. If Danny was our stalker, why hasn’t he harmed me already? Wouldn’t seeing me date Trevor cause him to snap?”
“Stalkers and serial killers have triggers, their stressors,” Marcus said. “Your hang-up calls started a week ago, right around the time you broke up with Trevor. It’ll be too obvious if he was our culprit.”
“You were all prepared to pin this on him last night.”
“He pissed me off at the grocery, but I do have another suspect.”
“Who?”
“Your IT guy.”
Chapter 8
Cindy was at her desk bright and early the following Monday morning. She’d been a bunch of nerves all weekend. Marcus and Drake put in a security system for her while she hung out with Izabel at their house, which was outfitted like Fort Knox. As for their sleeping arrangements, Cindy cleared her junk from the guest bedroom, airing out the futon and fitting it with clean sheets.
In a way she was glad they didn’t have sex this past Saturday morning. Cindy was determined to take it slow this time, not that she wasn’t feeling the pull of the sexy man she’d been bumping into coming out of the hallway bathroom with nothing more than a towel draped around his hips.
This had happened twice already. Cindy was wondering if Marcus was doing it on purpose just to test her will of male-species abstinence. Or maybe he had damned ESP! The status of their relationship was roommates with benefits.
The benefits being:
Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. Although dinner the night before included Drake and Izabel.
Having a live-in handyman. Aside from installing a security system, Marcus fixed a wobbly stoop and replaced all the burned-out light bulbs in her house.
And her favorite? Having a vegging-on-the-couch partner. Having someone who tolerated her love for horror movies. Most of the men she’d dated loved the stupid guy flicks that Cindy abhorred. Maybe that was one of the benefits of dating an older man—they had the ability to be giving and understanding, although Cindy had the oddest sensation of being served up as prey. Marcus exuded the lazy grace of a big cat waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting rabbit.
The sound of her co-workers filing in interrupted her thoughts of the man living in her house. Cindy was always the early bird, and Marcus had dropped her off that morning before seven. This was another advantage of her strange arrangement with him—having her own driver and bodyguard—at least while she was not at work. Marcus still had connections in their security department and he had briefed Hank Gordon, or Gordy as he was popularly known, on her situation so he could keep an eye on her.
She looked up to the security camera sphere that was on the ceiling in front of her desk. That wasn’t there when she left last Friday. They already clashed over Keith Barrows because he wasn’t sold that the guy was harmless. She understood where Marcus was coming from. As a former SEAL, he had the protector gene in spades plus his stint at the FBI Behavioral Unit gave him some insight into the psychology of crazy. But she couldn’t have everyone connected to her investigated willy-nilly. What if her stalker was a woman? Did he think of that? Her bitchy brain thought of Rebecca and a disgusted sound left her mouth.
Chatter along the corridor piqued her attention and she saw Keith walking toward her, a laptop in his hands. He made his way to her side and Cindy couldn’t help but glance up at the camera. She needed to have a chat with Marcus. He couldn’t just expect the company to shell out money for equipment and man-hours for an employee, especially since she was simply a PA, not a lead architect in charge of a big project. If Mr. Bose caught wind of this, Gordy would get into trouble.
“Hi, got a minute?” Keith said when he got to her table.
Cindy forced a smile. Damn Marcus for making her wary of the people around her. “Sure. All done?”
The computer tech nodded, cheeks reddening. “Uh, I need to show you how the upgraded software works.”
She shrugged nonchalantly, dimming her usual self when she talked to Keith. When they did discover the identity of her stalker, she was calling first dibs in punching him in the nuts. Keith didn’t seem to notice her reserved behavior, or maybe when he started talking techy, he got immersed in the zone. Cindy managed fine with mobile technology but anything more complicated was over her head. An old stab of insecurity reared its head. Still, she was more than relieved when she was able to keep up with the new application instructions.
“I made a shortcut on your desktop and tweaked your settings so you should be good to go.”
“Thanks for making this idiot proof.” Cindy grinned.
“Don’t call yourself that,” Keith said with uncharacteristic sharpness. “You’re not an idiot, Ms. Lake. You do have superpowers.”
“Oh yeah?” Her lips twitched. “What?”
“People,” he mumbled to her laptop. “You’re good with people. You don’t make them feel like an outcast.”
“I know some of the guys in the tech department are assholes, and some of them couldn’t leave their bullying days back in high school,” Cindy said. “Don’t pay attention to them. You’re the most hardworking of that lot and the most efficient.”
“Aww, isn’t that sweet,” a mocking saccharine voice spoke beside them. “You’re an expert in racking up your admirers, aren’t you?”
Rebecca.
That’s it.
Cindy turned away from Keith, ready with a caustic reply when the words died in her throat.
“Trevor?” She slowly stood up
when she saw her ex-boyfriend standing beside the bane of her existence. “What are you doing here?”
Trevor’s eyes darted between her and Keith. “Did they question him too?”
“Why would they—?”
“Looks like he’s more of a creeper than I am,” Trevor said, approaching her. “Did you have to sic the cops on me, Cin?”
She didn’t know what to tell him, she was too dazed that night to remember what she told the detectives.
“Or is it your sugar daddy?”
“Don’t make a scene here, Trev,” she said quietly, glaring at Rebecca who was standing off to the side, clearly enjoying the exchange.
A dark brow rose. “Are you willing to go someplace with me and talk this out?”
“She can’t leave here.” Gordy from security showed up and scowled at Rebecca, realizing how Trevor got past the security desk.
Her ex didn’t acknowledge Gordy, but kept his eyes on her. “That’s the least you can do. Lost a day of business. The cops kept me for twenty-four hours.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’ll have to ask you to leave,” Gordy said stalking toward them. “Step away from her.”
“You think I will hurt her?” Trevor’s eyes were still on her. “You think I’ll hurt you, Cin?”
“Trev, I know you won’t, but can we talk about this later? We can set a time.”
His lips curled in contempt. “You’re lying. You never returned my texts.”
Cindy wanted to argue. He was the one who broke up with her, after all.
“I’ll repeat one more time,” Gordy said, his voice getting lower. “You need to leave.”
“Not without Cindy.” Trevor’s face grew pained. “You know what’s sad?”
When she didn’t answer, he continued, “That I care. That I care that someone is stalking you.” His eyes shifted to Keith, who was still standing beside Cindy. “And I bet it’s this fucker right there.”
“Trevor …”
Everything seemed to happen in an instant.
Trevor reached for her.
Gordy drew his gun.
Trevor drew his own gun hidden under his long, checkered shirt and pointed it at the bodyguard.
Keith lunged past Cindy and tried to wrestle the gun away from Trevor and both men fell to the floor.
Gordy yanked her away from the grappling men.
“Stop!” Cindy yelled.
Bang!
* * *
Blood.
There was blood everywhere.
Keith groaned and rolled on his back. Trevor crab-walked on his ass against the wall, dropping the gun, a look of shock on his face. More security agents swarmed including the building guards.
Gordy dropped to his knees and applied pressure against the spreading map of red on Keith’s shoulder.
Cindy grabbed her phone but heard another guard already calling 9-1-1. She dropped beside Keith whose eyes were glazed. “You’re going to be okay.”
“What have I done?” Trevor croaked.
“Somebody detain him!” Gordy yelled to one of his men.
Her ex looked at her. “I just wanted to get you away from here. Protect you.”
“Oh, Trevor …”
Her arm reached for him but he was already getting hauled up by security and he didn’t resist, still in a daze, his eyes trying to focus on her. “I just wanted to protect you.”
Cindy could only shake her head, not knowing what to do, and could only watch helplessly as they walked him away.
“Is Keith going to be all right?”
“Bullet is through and through,” Gordy said. Keith was getting pale, but it was probably shock. “But we won’t know the extent of damage until the surgeon gets in there.”
“Oh my God, what happened?” Izabel cried as she came up to her desk. “I just saw Trevor. How did he even get in here?”
Cindy looked around for that two-bit hussy who was the reason for this mess but she was nowhere to be found. Good. Otherwise, Cindy might get dragged away for assault too, because with the way she was feeling, she was ready to throat-punch that bitch. “Rebecca.”
As Izzy shook her head and held out her hand to help her friend up, Cindy realized she was still sitting on the floor.
“I’m calling Marcus,” Izzy declared.
“Okay,” she replied tonelessly as a cloak of numbness shielded her from her surroundings.
Chapter 9
“How is she?”
Drake asked as Marcus came out of Cindy’s bedroom. It was a long day. After Izabel called him to tell him about the shooting, he cleared his schedule with clients immediately and rushed over to Stockman and Bose. Along the way, Drake called and instructed him to head to the hospital instead.
“Finally asleep.” Cindy was in a state of exhaustion from the adrenaline. Not an ideal situation, but the crash that came after was better than any sedative.
“She talk to you yet?”
“Some.” Marcus walked over to the kitchen and filched a soda from the refrigerator. The urge to grab the heavy stuff like a bottle of whiskey was strong, but he knew if he gave in to stress drinking, he’d be erasing all the progress he’d done in the past two years.
“You want a beer?”
Drake eyed him warily. “You’d be okay with that?”
“I’m not the same person, Maddox.”
His friend shrugged. “Then, sure.”
Marcus handed him a Miller before they both walked over to the kitchen bar where his laptop was open. “Anything from Tex?”
“He’s waiting for us to contact him.”
Marcus opened the web-conferencing session and pinged Tex to join. Their friend logged on in seconds.
“Exciting day your girl had.” Tex’s voice crackled over the laptop’s speakers.
Marcus grunted. “Did you find anything more on Trevor?”
“On paper, Trevor Ford is a respectable man with a respectable business, but his past was colorful. Dropped out of high school and got in with the wrong crowd, but he was never charged with drug possession. When he turned twenty-one, cleaned up his act and hooked up with an older woman. She became his mentor in the body art business. Loves his mother and sends her money regularly.”
“When did he get his gun?”
“Two years ago. There was a rash of break-ins around his tattoo parlor. I found a police report of an incident when he had to shoot someone who was trying to rob his shop at gunpoint. Ford fired first. There’s video footage. It was self-defense.”
“The police let him go last Saturday,” Drake said.
“There was no evidence against him.”
“Understood. Would they have enough to charge him now?” Marcus asked. “Or at least hold him in custody?”
“His lawyer can get him free on bail. Looks like Keith Barrows is gonna be okay. Trevor didn’t assault him, Barrows attacked first. They can’t exactly charge him with kidnapping. All they can probably do is get him on a class 1 misdemeanor for carrying a concealed weapon in a place of business.”
“Fuck,” Marcus muttered. “How about trespassing?”
“Difficult to stick since an employee willfully let him on premises,” Tex said. “Don’t know about you guys, but I don’t think he’s our stalker.”
“Anything on Keith Barrows and Danny Tilley?”
“Your IT guy is your typical geek, but pretty straight-laced and careful about privacy. No Facebook account. He has an Instagram one that’s set to private. He follows ten people. Four gamers, five tech messiahs and Cindy.”
“That’s pretty damning right there,” Drake said.
“From what you all told me he’s got a crush on our girl. No type of pornography in his web history, though any computer guru worth his salt knows to clean up that shit.”
Tex went on to relate other information like financial history and education. No red flags.
“And Tilley?”
“Now Tilley is interesting. He does have a RightSpark acco
unt but he’s never used it or ever scheduled a date. Not linked to Cindy either, but the man likes his technology.”
“He works for the cable company.”
Tex narrowed his eyes at Marcus as if saying duh. “Here’s the interesting fact. He was expelled from high school for nearly beating a student into a coma. That’s not public record.”
Marcus muttered a curse, Drake sat up in his chair.
“That’s as far as I got. He was thirteen years old, records are sealed. I’m working to get around it.”
“Do it.”
“He also seems close to his mother. Interesting woman. A hippie of sorts. Growing herbs, making tinctures and selling them online. Been on disability for fibromyalgia and Danny is listed as her power of attorney.”
“How did he get a job with the cable company?”
“After his stint at juvie, he got his GED and went to tech college.” Tex gave a wry grin. “One could say he straightened up his life.”
“Keep looking,” Drake said.
“Yeah.” Marcus scratched the thickening stubble of his jaw. “If he got pissed enough to almost kill a student, he’s got anger issues. Events could easily trigger those.”
“Roger that. I’ll keep digging,” Tex said. “Do you want me to send you a tracker?”
“Yeah, but mail it to Drake’s address. I don’t think Cindy’s receptive for that type of monitoring yet.” Her feelings were all over the place, Marcus didn’t add.
Tex raised a brow. “She’s not blaming herself for this, is she?”
His jaws clenched. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t.”
* * *
After their web conference, Drake left to return home and Marcus stayed on his laptop a bit longer. He used his login to the Bureau’s database to dig up information on profiling stalkers. Marcus didn’t know how long he was poring over case files when he noticed the clock indicated it was past midnight. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he exhaled and closed his laptop and stood. He needed to check on Cindy before retiring for the night … or the morning. But first he made sure the house was secure. Even with Trevor in custody and Keith laid up in the hospital, the markers that would prove they could be Cindy’s stalker weren’t solid. To that end, profiling was subjective as well.
Guarding Cindy (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) Page 6