Inside the house, Kami was moving around, tidying up before going to bed. An hour ago, she’d been gone from view for a while and had come back clothed in a simple black velour robe over a set of flannel pajamas covered in, if he was seeing it right from this distance, a giant yellow happy face print. He had grinned when he’d been able to puzzle it out from a distance. Happy face pajamas! She was unusual, he’d give her that.
Kami had settled down on the sofa to read. A small lamp beside her on an elegantly simple end table was the only light in the room. The soft light enhanced her features, highlighting the soft curl of her hair as it fell over her brow and the gentle curve of her delicate jaw line.
He hadn’t noticed before how attractive she was, but now, staring at her through the window, her vulnerable beauty nudged at him like a gentle wave on a sunset beach.
The minutes ticked by. To stay alert, he amused himself by counting the pages that she read as she turned them. He took stock of her surroundings every few seconds, cataloging the entry and exit points until he had them memorized. Soon, every single weakness exposed near the front of the house was cataloged into his memory until he had a mental blueprint of the area.
He’d have to come back in the daylight hours to see the rest of the house and grounds. If he left his vehicle now to go exploring what he couldn’t see from his vantage point, he was afraid that he’d miss the action, if it ever came, and since action was his sole purpose for skulking out in front of her house like the stalker he was trying to catch a glimpse of, viewing the back vulnerabilities of her house would have to wait. He just hoped that the stalker would come at her from the front of the house. He was pretty sure a stalker would do just that, since the big bay window all but framed her for easy viewing.
His eyes drifted back to her face as she turned another page. She was finally looking sleepy. Her head had slowly slipped to the side, until it rested against the sofa.
She dropped the book in her lap and yawned, then closed her eyes. Moments passed. Time seemed to slow for him.
When minutes passed with agonizing slowness and she didn’t stir, he knew she had fallen asleep.
NO! He wanted to shout at her. How could she expose herself like that? How could she fall asleep in front of the window?
He wanted to shake her awake.
She should know better, shouldn’t she? She had, after all, received a letter from someone who claimed to be watching her. Could she really be that naïve?
He suddenly felt an almost overwhelming need to protect her. He allowed his eyes to scan the darkness once again for any signs of her stalker.
Nothing. No movement. No whispers of sound. Nothing.
He struggled with the urge to leap from the car and charge up to her house and tell her that she should not be sleeping in front of the window. If he knocked, surely she’d be startled awake, and stop looking so completely defenseless and exposed behind the crystal clear glass.
How could she make herself such an easy target?
The stalker could be anywhere. With a good set of binoculars, the stalker would be able to watch her while she slept. For as long as he liked.
The thought drove Gabe crazy. He didn’t want the stalker watching her while she slumbered, all innocent vulnerability in bright happy face pajamas. And if the stalker used binoculars and took advantage of the easy view, Gabe wouldn’t even know it. He wouldn’t be able to get a glimpse of her stalker.
She looked so childlike and defenseless, with the soft light shining on her face and the velour robe wrapped around her middle for warmth. He picked up his throwaway phone. The one he saved for when he needed to be anonymous. If he called her house, surely she’d wake up and then go off to bed?
It would be a waste of a clean phone, because once he used a throwaway phone, he never used it again on a different case. He didn’t leave messy digital footprints like that. He knew better.
He tossed the phone back into the passenger seat. Too risky. The light from the phone would give him away if the stalker was near.
He fought down his protective emotions, realizing that, even for him, they were a little extreme. He shouldn’t be feeling this way when he’d only just decided to look into her case yesterday. For pity’s sake, if she saw him out here, she really would think he was the stalker.
She didn’t know him very well. He doubted that she would even know who he was if he walked up to her door right now. And he didn’t know her at all, except for a few chance meetings in church. Which was why he shouldn’t be feeling so protective. Not yet. Just because her vulnerability pulled at his protective instincts so strongly didn’t mean that she was like Jen. He couldn’t help but draw the parallel between the two women, but he had to keep reminding himself that what had happened to Jen wasn’t going to happen to the woman behind the bay window. He wouldn’t let it. Not if it was humanly possible to prevent it.
He forced himself to remain still, slouched inside the blue sedan, muscles tensed in frustration, waiting for the stalker. He said a quick silent prayer for God’s help in protecting Kami Walker, for His help in preventing another tragedy like what had happened to Jen.
Gabe felt torn, wishing both that the stalker would show up so that he could be observed, and that the stalker would stay away and not be able to watch Kami while she was so exposed.
His mind churned with the sheer flawed logic of her actions. Why, knowing that she had a stalker, had she so foolishly fallen asleep in front of the bay window?
It didn’t make any sense to him.
Stan had mentioned in their conversation that his buddy on with the police had said how scared Kami had been when she’d come into the police station. Scared women, in his experience, did not fall asleep in front of a huge window with no curtains or concealment at midnight when they knew they had a stalker!
She should be hiding in her bed.
But the fact that she wasn’t suddenly intrigued him. Maybe he had it wrong? Maybe she wasn’t as naïve as she appeared? Perhaps she had been trying to get a glimpse of the stalker, just like he was, but she’d fallen asleep before he’d arrived?
Still, Gabe couldn’t think of her actions as anything other than foolish. What if the stalker took it as an invitation?
Gabe slouched down in the seat even further, trying to ease the tightness from his cramped back and legs. He’d been sitting in the car watching her since darkness had fallen. And that had been hours ago. Earlier, he’d decided he wasn’t leaving until she went off to bed. Now, he vowed to stay the rest of the night so he could watch over her. He just couldn’t leave her there alone like that. Not when she might end up needing protection so very badly.
Chapter Two
Kami lay very still, heart pounding hard in her chest, pretending to be asleep. Was that him? There in the blue sedan across the street? Or was he somewhere else?
The blue sedan had shown up earlier in the evening. She didn’t recognize it as belonging to the neighbor across the street, the neighbor whose house it had been parked in front of for hours now.
Through barely-open eyelids, struggling to keep her breathing even, she watched the car. She couldn’t quite tell if the front seat was occupied, or if it was simply the headrest that made it appear as if there was someone behind the wheel.
Her neck was starting to ache from tension and she didn’t know how much longer she could keep up the pretense of restful slumber without screaming.
And what was she doing anyway? She’d purposefully showcased herself in the lamplight on the sofa in front of the bay window. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the stalker that she now knew she had.
It was dangerous, what she was doing. It was foolhardy. But, at least it was action! The police had done nothing to help her when she’d gone to them last Thursday. Nothing! And now it was Monday night, and she’d barely slept since she’d received the note. The sleep deprivation was starting to make her doubt her own sanity and good judgment, which was probably why she’d thought it was a good idea to lie
in front of the window, exposed like this in hopes of getting a look at the guy.
Tomorrow she was going to have to do something different. She couldn’t keep living like this, feeling so afraid all of the time. But tonight she was going to do her best to be proactive and try to catch a glimpse of her stalker. Even if her heart pounded with fear and her neck ached with tension.
The police had said they’d send a car by every now and then, and she supposed they had, since she’d seen a police car drive through her quiet neighborhood on Saturday morning. But, the police had also said that they couldn’t really do more than that until they had some real evidence of who the stalker might be or evidence of something he’d actually done. They’d kept the note that she had received from the stalker. They’d needed it for evidence. But the note was only a threat, and a threat didn’t call for a protective detail, only for an investigation. As explicit as it had been, the police still hadn’t done much to make her feel safe.
A chill raced up her spine, causing gooseflesh to raise up on her arms when she thought of the contents of the note. The stalker had been very specific. He was going to hurt her, but he was going to have a little fun with her first, and he was going to enjoy it. After he was done watching her, stalking her like an animal, then he planned to begin the real fun.
The thought made nausea rise up in her throat again.
She closed her eyes and prayed silently for protection and strength, feeling desperation tangle with the fear in her chest.
The Lord was her only defense. She couldn’t defend herself against he stalker at this very moment, because she didn’t know who he was or where he was at, she could only pray that God would help her as she battled her fear.
She swallowed the dry lump in her throat and stared out into the darkness.
She couldn’t see anything.
She sighed, suddenly tired of feeling like a china doll on display in a shop window. She’d had enough.
Reaching over, she switched off the light, got to her feet, stretched her sore neck and then strode through the heavy cloak of darkness to her bedroom. She may not be able to sleep, but she didn’t have to make it easy for him to see her anymore. She could only take so much of that.
Maybe tomorrow she’d buy a dog. A nice, big, trained German Shepherd that would help her keep an eye out for the stalker. A big dog would be a good addition to the other security measures she’d been collecting since last Thursday. It was a good thing that money was no object, because in only four days, she’d had a security system installed, purchased a variety of small protection devices that she’d stashed at various locations around the house, and enrolled in a self-defense class. All of which had been very expensive. But she didn’t feel bad about the money she’d spent. The money was part of the reason that she had acquired a stalker to begin with. At least she thought so anyway. Maybe it would be better if she went back to being dirt poor again, not rolling in money that she had never expected to have.
A woman could probably only have her picture in national newspapers, announcing her inherited wealth, so many times until she caught the eye of someone unsavory. And she’d shared headlines in many papers in the last year.
She sighed at the thought of all of the publicity. She’d really hated it all. She still wasn’t sure why her grandfather had thought it was a good idea to make her the sole heiress to his wealth. She understood his reasoning, but it didn’t change the fact that her aunt and uncle were both a closer relation to him than she was. They were his children, and she was only his grandchild. But, she supposed that since both her aunt and uncle had been estranged from her grandfather for more years than she could remember, and since she’d done her best to care for him in his last years, he’d thought it fitting to leave her his entire fortune.
If only he’d thought of the scandal that would ensue when he did so. If only he’d known how she’d be hounded by the press, and browbeaten by her aunt and uncle for months after his death, perhaps he’d have written his will differently.
She hadn’t taken over his care for the money anyway. She’d done it because it was the right thing to do. The Christian thing to do. She’d done it to mend the rift he had created with his children so many years ago. The rift that had not been repaired before Kami’s mother had died. Her mother had never spoken to her father again after their estrangement from one another, and he had not come to her funeral.
She sighed again in the darkness, silently willing herself not to think of her mother, her grandfather and his money, or the reason that she had a stalker now. Trying to shake off the sleep that clouded her mind, and unwilling to turn on the light in case the stalker was out there somewhere with binoculars trained on her bedroom window, she tiptoed through the room.
Her feet sank into the thick, luxurious carpeting, making her steps silent in the big house.
Removing her robe, she tossed it over the antique French chair that had once belonged to her grandmother, but now sat next to her bed. Before climbing between her creamy white, vanilla-scented satin sheets, she carefully made her way to the nightstand and withdrew the small Taser that she’d stashed there.
Holding it in her hand like a safety line, she then went back to bed and snuggling down under the cream-colored sheets and the fluffy mound of her Egyptian cotton comforter. She almost felt safe with the Taser in her hand and the sheets pulled up to her chin. Almost.
It was at times like this when she believed her grandfather had been right about her lack of a husband. Grandfather had been opinionated and hardheaded and he’d insisted upon multiple occasions that a girl like her needed a husband to take care of her. She didn’t particularly believe that was true at the time, but she hadn’t argued with him, or taken the time to explain why she wasn’t married. Revealing her inner pain over the betrayal of her former fiancé to her grandfather wouldn’t have made her feel better anyway. The lonely hole in her heart had grown larger after her grandfather had gone to be with the Lord. She’d come to love the old codger dearly, and she missed him deeply.
A shudder coursed through her, and she could feel the tears coming. Feeling so weak and helpless, alone in the dark, she let them come, knowing her grandfather had been right. If she’d had a husband, she wouldn’t be facing this alone. And if she weren’t an heiress, a millionaire three times over, then she wouldn’t have a stalker at all. Being rich was as much of a curse as being poor. Even more so sometimes.
Chapter Three
“Hey, Gabe, you look terrible!”
Gabe stretched in his chair, trying to work the kink out of his back. The tight knot of muscles along his spine felt as if it might be permanently wedged there between his shoulder blades.
“Thanks, Jamie. You look terrific, as usual.”
He leaned back in his over-sized office chair and stretched his arms over his head, only managing to loosen the kink slightly, then smiled at the ultra-slim brunette leaning casually against the door jamb of his office door.
Jamie was an odd one. She only helped him part time – when she felt like coming in to the office. When she did come into the office, she was part receptionist, part secretary, and part tech genius.
Gabe didn’t mind her sporadic work appearances. He wasn’t able to pay her much, and he appreciated the fact that she liked helping out more than she liked the paycheck. She’d told him once she’d work for free if he’d let her. He smiled at the recollection. Yes, Jamie was an odd one, but he was lucky to have her around to help.
She grinned back at him. “Thanks. Did you pull an all-nighter? I told Stan that you wouldn’t be able to resist a damsel in distress after he confessed to telling you about Kami Walker’s stalker. You could have called me for backup, though, you know? You need to get used to the idea that you’re not in this alone anymore.”
Gabe nodded, “I know.”
“Or Stan. You could have called Stan. He’d have watched for the stalker and let you catch some shut-eye.”
She straightened from her slouched posit
ion against the door jam and came around to the side of his desk to take a look at his computer screen.
“But Stan’s got a wife and two kids, with a baby on the way. What would his wife think if I called him in the middle of the night to help with surveillance? He’s not the private investigator. I am.”
Jamie laughed, “He’d probably have been glad for some excitement if you’d called him.”
It was Gabe’s turn to laugh, “Surveillance is anything but exciting!”
Jamie shrugged, “You never know. He might find it exciting just because it is something new. I’m just suggesting that you didn’t need to stay up all night, and that you need to remember that you are not all alone in the world anymore. You’ve got your church family to help you out when you need it now.”
Jamie was right, he did need to remember that he wasn’t alone anymore. He still had trouble asking people for help though, so it was going to be a while before he got used to it.
After Kami had left her living room and gone off to her bedroom somewhere in the house last night, he’d found that he’d been unable to leave her so unprotected. He’d spent the rest of the night alternately staring at her house and staring into the darkness to find her stalker. He could have called for someone to help him, someone to relive him for a while so he could catch a nap, but the thought of asking for help was still so foreign to him that he hadn’t even considered it. Being a loner was a hard habit to beat.
He shrugged his shoulders, both in response to Jamie’s comment and in an effort to ease the responsibilities that sat so heavily upon his shoulders.
“You know, we’ve talked about these loner tendencies you have and the sudden attachments that you form for the victims. Cramming your six-foot-four bod into an unnatural position and going without sleep all night isn’t gonna help her. You are not responsible for the problems of the world, Gabe. One of us could have helped you with the surveillance. And today you wouldn’t be sleep deprived.”
Deep Down (Sam Stone Book 1) Page 16