Literally Stalked

by Eryn Scott

  I paused for a moment, not wanting to take the worry off Alex but needing the detective to know about my newest notes. “Also... I got another threatening note while I was away yesterday.”

  Mateo sighed. “Same MO?”

  “Yeah. Except this quote was from a different Brontë novel,” I said, tapping my fingers on the counter as I thought. “And no offense to Anne, but her books are not as widely known. This would all make a lot more sense if Andrea wasn’t suddenly absolved.”

  “We are located near a university. This could be any number of English majors.”

  “Right,” I said. You also never knew who was a closet Brontë fan. “How’s the patient?”

  “Much improved. They’re happy with his progress and say he can leave soon. We’d have to monitor him at home, obviously, but you and I have been taught what to watch for at this point.”

  I smiled at his inclusion of me in the monitoring process, glad to be able to help. “Okay. Tell him I said hi, and I’ll check back soon. If you guys get released, he’s welcome to come stay here with me at the store. I can check on him while I work.”

  “That might be what we do.” The detective paused. “With this case, I don’t want everything to fall on Frank’s shoulders.”

  “Okay, let me know. Talk to you soon.”

  We hung up as my first few customers trundled in out of the icy winds. They emerged from their jacket collars like turtles poking their heads out of shells as I greeted them.

  “There’s water for tea or cocoa over in the corner. I started a pot of coffee brewing too.” I pointed them in the direction of our beverage station.

  They nodded gratefully and headed over.

  While they shopped I thought about Emerson and Andrea. Was it possible they knew each other? I didn’t think Emerson had been in town until recently, but I also never knew with him. He seemed to slip in and out of Pine Crest like a low, curling fog. And could he have a secret obsession with the Brontë sisters’ novels? The man always seemed more like one of their characters, instead of an avid reader.

  I reflected back to when we were growing up. While Cole had definitely had his fair share of romantic interests, Emerson had never been one to date. And while plenty of the girls in school found him attractive in that broody, Heathcliff way, they never had the guts to get near to him.

  Emerson had seemed especially interested in Liv the other day when we’d gone over. Maybe he had a type. If that were true, Andrea would fit the bill with her long blonde hair. Come to think of it, the only other girl he’d ever seemed at all interested in was my friend Fiona. She also had striking blonde hair. But when I’d asked Fi about him before, she’d merely said she saw him as a brother, having grown up on the property.

  A customer approached the register, taking my focus away from the case for a moment.

  “Did you find everything okay?” I asked with a smile.

  “I did.” The woman handed over a stack of books.

  “These are some great choices.” I scanned each barcode before putting them into the bag she’d brought with her. She’d selected a nice mix of a few new releases and a couple classics.

  “I couldn’t decide, so I figured I’d get them all.” She laughed as she paid.

  “That’s the spirit. Would you like your receipt in your bag or with you?”

  “Oh, I’ll hold on to it. Five books gets me a free pastry at that coffee shop around the corner, I hear.”

  I nodded. “It sure does.” I marveled again at Nate’s generosity. I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised by his kindness, besides his odd mannerisms, the guy had been nothing but nice.

  Once her receipt printed, I handed it over and waved goodbye. The next two customers also asked for their receipts. One man pulling out an older receipt for two books to go with his three from today.

  “Could you staple these together?” he asked before leaving.

  Just as I was taking care of that for him, the bell over the door signaled another customer. Or two. Devin and Janet walked toward me as I handed the stapled receipts over to the man.

  “Hey, you two.”

  “Hi.” Devin smiled, looking around.

  “We wanted to stop by and check on you since you left class in such a rush yesterday.” Janet focused on me.

  “Thanks. It will be okay, just a little scary.” I filled them in on Alex’s injuries from the attack.

  Devin stepped forward. “Pepper, that’s awful. I’m so sorry.”

  Janet paled. “Me too.”

  “He’ll be okay,” I assured them.

  “I sure hope so.” Janet put her hand on mine for a second.

  A customer stepped over to make a purchase, so I had to excuse myself from them. They wandered through the new-release tables while I rang up the new customer and then approached, Devin holding a small stack of books.

  “You’ve got a great selection, Pepper. I'll take these.” As he set them down on the counter, I noticed his fingertips were stained with black ink… almost as if he’d been working with a temperamental typewriter.

  Pulse rising, I glanced up at his face. Devin grinned. Sure I’d been in classes with him for the past couple quarters, but how much did I really know about him? I willed my hands to stay steady as I scanned his purchases, and my mind ticked through all the clues.

  He was an English student. He would’ve known Alex and I were dating. He’d known Cole too. Maybe enough to hate him. He’d said Andrea had gone on a date with one of his friends, but what if that had been a lie? What if he’d asked her on a date but had been turned down, and his jealousy over her feelings for Cole finally consumed him?

  “Would you like your receipt?” I asked, voice tight and awkward.

  “Sure. These will earn me another baked item from Bittersweet,” he said as he took the receipt from me.

  Another? But I hadn’t seen him in here since the other night when we all had tea after class, which meant he’d been here when Jess was working. Just like the note-leaver.

  My cheeks flushed too hot.

  Janet stepped over to join Devin. “We’ll see you in class tomorrow,” she said. “Hope Alex gets better.”

  “Thanks.” I waved, but only briefly because in my dizzy state, I needed both hands on the counter to steady myself.

  Could Devin be the killer? But he’d been in class the day someone had attacked Alex. I just about gasped as I remembered him jogging in a few minutes late, about a half hour before I got the call from Frank.

  I picked up my phone and dialed a number, fingers shaking as I pressed the call button.

  “Bittersweet. How can I help you?” Nate’s voice was cheerful, the din of a full café in the background.

  “Nate, it’s Pepper. Have you been keeping the receipts you’ve been collecting for the bakery-and-books promotion?”

  “Of course I have.” He let out a sinister cackle making me wonder yet again about his reasoning behind the promotion.

  “Is there any way to tell who they belong to?” I asked, pushing aside that worry for now, in light of more pressing ones.

  “Sure. They’ve been writing their name and email address on the top to be entered in a drawing for free coffee for a month,” Nate said as if that should’ve been obvious.

  “Can I look through them?” When he didn’t answer right away, I added, “I need to find someone who made purchases on certain days.”

  Sure it seemed like a silly slipup to turn in incriminating receipts, but I didn’t count a killer who left threatening notes as a person with a great plan either.

  “Ah, a puzzle. Of course. Victoria can watch over the register, I will bring them your way in a few minutes.” He hung up before I said anything more.

  Just as I put my phone down, the bookstore door opened. In stepped Alex and his father. My heart lifted for the first time all day. Alex’s posture was more stooped than normal, but he was standing. I raced over to give him a hug.

  Hammy, who’d been snoozing in a patch of sunl
ight for the past hour, woke up with a snort. She ran over and pranced around our legs.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked as I pulled away.

  He nodded.

  “The trip here’s taken a little more out of him than he wants to admit.” Mateo placed a hand on his son’s shoulder.

  “But the doctors said you were okay to leave?” I asked, concern wrinkling my forehead.

  “They said as long as someone is able to watch him for the next twenty-four hours.” Mateo looked toward me hopefully.

  “Oh, absolutely.” I led Alex over to the couch. “Do you want to be down here with me, or would upstairs be better?”

  Before Alex could say anything, the front bell jangled as the door open. Nate stepped inside cradling a basket full of receipts.

  Whoops, I thought as I glanced at both Valdez men. In my excitement at seeing Alex, I’d completely forgotten Nate was on his way.

  “Oh, hello, Alex. Detective.” Nate leaned forward into a formal bow. “Glad to see they released you,” he said to Alex.

  Alex dipped his head in response, but he was focused on the basket under Nate’s arm. “Whatcha got there, Nate?” he asked, sounding almost alert again.

  “Pepper requested the receipts from the promotion, so I’m here with the delivery.” He held the basket forward.

  Both the Valdezes turned to me, and I knew there was no way I’d get away without an explanation.

  “This one has two of the dates,” Alex said, holding up a stapled collection of receipts.

  The coffee table in the bookstore was covered with piles. After hearing my newest suspicions about Devin, Alex and his father had rolled up their sleeves and gotten to work helping me check the receipts. Nate too.

  We’d flipped the sign to closed and written a quick note about inventory for anyone coming by, not wanting to be disturbed.

  “What’s the name on it?” I asked, thanking my lucky stars that Nate had decided to do the drawing for free coffee.

  “Wendy Smith,” Alex said, shaking his head. “That’s not anyone we have in connection with Cole’s murder, is it?”

  Mateo confirmed it wasn’t, and we kept searching dates.

  “Here’s Devin Harrison,” Nate said, holding up a set of receipts.

  He flipped through, checking the dates against the list I’d made of the days I’d received each note. I held my breath.

  “Nope. None of these match.” Nate clicked his tongue in defeat.

  “Darn,” I exhaled the word. It wasn’t as if I wanted Devin to be a killer, but it seemed like we were getting further away from solving this case with every passing day.

  Alex pressed his lips together in resignation. Mateo scowled down at a grouping of receipts in his hand.

  “Did you find something?” I asked, my heart rate rising.

  Mateo nodded. “A match for all three dates.” His eyes met mine. “The name on these is Janet Porter. Do you know someone by that name?”

  “Janet?” I gasped, and it felt like the bookstore turned inside out.

  19

  Alex and I stood in the hidden space behind the double-sided mirror of the station’s interrogation room. He’d refused to be left in the care of Nate back at the bookstore, so I had an arm wrapped around his middle in case he got light-headed. Janet sat on the other side of Detective Valdez, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “I promise it wasn’t me who hurt Alex,” she said, her words almost unintelligible through the thick sobs wracking her body.

  I narrowed my eyes, trying not to let her sad act win me over. She was obviously a master of deception. Well, besides the fact that she’d stopped to buy books each of the times she’d left a note, and then had turned in the receipts to get a free pastry. I chewed on my lip as I listened.

  “But these are yours,” the detective said, gesturing to the stack of threatening notes.

  She nodded, sniffling. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I didn’t want Andrea to get in trouble.”

  Alex and I exchanged a confused look. It seemed it was just dawning on him as well that if Janet had sent me the threats, which meant it had also been her who’d sent Andrea the opposite batch.

  “I fell in love with her during our first quarter in the cohort together. I thought my feelings for her would go away,” Janet whispered. “When they didn’t, I had no idea how to let her know, so I left her the notes. I got scared when it seemed you guys thought she’d killed Cole, so I tried to lure your attention in a different direction. I didn't have a plan.” Janet shook her head.

  I exhaled as I listened. Quiet, plain, peacemaker Janet. This whole time I’d completely taken her meekness for granted. Inside her there was so much more than I’d ever considered.

  Detective Valdez sighed. “Can anyone confirm your whereabouts on the night of Cole’s murder? Or last night when Officer Valdez was attacked?”

  She sniffed. “I work at the arts and crafts shop downtown when I’m not in classes. The Friday Cole was killed I had a shift right after class. You can ask my manager; she was there with me the whole time. As for last night. I was meeting with Professor Ferguson before class started. We walked there together from her office.”

  I let out the breath I must’ve been holding, in a poof. If someone confirmed her whereabouts, those were pretty solid alibis.

  “I’m going to leave you in here for a few minutes while I go look into that.” Detective Valdez stood, gathering up the notes into the file he held.

  “Detective?” Janet asked quietly. “You don’t have to tell Andrea, do you?”

  He pulled in a deep breath. “No, Miss Porter, but I hope you find the courage to tell her how you feel yourself.” With that, he left the interrogation room and entered ours. “I'll go check those alibis, but it seems like we’ve hit a dead end.”

  “So the threats weren’t from the killer, then.” I shook my head. On one hand, it was great to have figured out who’d been leaving those in my apartment. On the other hand, we still had no idea who had killed Cole or who had attacked Alex, if it wasn’t Janet.

  Feeling as if we were back to square one, we filed into Detective Valdez’s office. He put Frank to work checking Janet’s alibis and arranging for her release, then ran his hands over his face.

  “Is it possible Devin could still be the killer even if he weren't writing the notes?” Alex asked. The way he watched his father belied his concern.

  I wrinkled my nose. Even though I’d been the one to bring him up as a suspect, without the link to the notes, it was flimsy at best.

  “We’ll look into his whereabouts too,” the detective said.

  I wracked my mind for anything else. Snapping my fingers, I remembered the piece of information I’d learned from Mrs. Williams the other day. “What about the butler? Have we found him yet?”

  Mateo’s face lit up with recognition. “Frank questioned Mr. and Mrs. Willams and got the butler’s name. Ethan Oritz.”

  Ethan, I nodded. That had been his name.

  “They told Frank that Ethan quit,” Mateo continued, “but admitted that neither of them knew the reason behind him leaving since they were out of the country at the time. Emerson claims to know nothing about it either. We didn’t get a chance to contact him what with Alex’s attack.” He pulled out a sticky note and picked up his phone.

  The dial tone was loud enough it was audible through the detective’s earpiece. I held my breath.

  “This is Ethan. I’m unable to answer your call. Please leave your name and number, and I will get back to as soon as possible.” A loud beep sounded from the receiver.

  “Mr. Oritz, this is Detective Valdez calling from the Pine Crest Police Department. We have a few questions for you concerning the Williams family. Give me a call.” He added his phone number at the end then hung up. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I’ll get Frank to track down his whereabouts. You two should head back to the bookstore. You need some rest, son.”

&nb
sp; I followed the detective’s gaze. Alex’s eyes were rimmed with dark circles, and he kept rubbing the back of his head. His jaw clenched tight for a moment, but he nodded. My shoulders relaxed. The poor guy must really hurt if he wasn’t even fighting to stay involved in this case.

  Helping him up, I led the way outside and to his truck, then drove us back to the bookstore. Nate had taken back the receipts, and I let Hamburger loose from where we’d put her up in the apartment while I was gone. Alex settled onto the couch in the bookstore and closed his eyes. Hammy jumped onto the couch, lying next to him.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go upstairs? It’ll be quieter.” My heart ached. I wanted him as close to me as possible, but I also recognized having customers in and out of here would not be the most relaxing.

  Alex opened his eyes. “Down here’s fine.”

  I joined him on the couch, sitting on the side not already occupied by Hammy.

  “How are you feeling? Really.”

  He swallowed. “Like I got hit by a bus, honestly. My head feels like someone bounced it off the concrete.”

  I stiffened. “Your headache’s worse?” That had been one of the signs the doctor had given us to look for.

  Alex shook his head slowly, wincing. “Believe it or not, it’s better. Still awful, though.”

  “Is it time for your next round of pain meds?” I checked my watch. “Not for another two hours, unfortunately.”

  “Then I’ll wait with bated breath until then,” he said, closing his eyes again, a smirk pulling up his lips.

  I stood, but leaned down to kiss him before walking back toward the front door to flip the open sign. “I’m serious about upstairs; Hammy can keep you company.”

  He put a hand on her head, scratching behind her ears. “Or both of us can stay down here, and make sure you’re okay.” He kept his eyes closed, but there was a tightness surrounding his words.

  Someone had attacked him in an alley, but he was still worried about me. I wanted to cry.

  “I’m not the one the killer was threatening,” I said.