“Wednesday, January eighteenth. I’m looking for a guy who went into the florist shop about ten in the morning that day.”
“I can’t help you, but my tech guy shows up in an hour. I can have him pull it for you.”
Alex handed him a card. “I’d appreciate that.”
The bouncer flicked the edge of the card with his thumb. “Guy bought flowers?”
“Among other things.”
All afternoon, every noise, every ringing phone, every footstep in the hallway, set her nerves on edge. Her stomach churned and she found it harder and harder to concentrate as the minutes ticked by. When Gail locked the front door for the evening, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Are you okay?” Gail asked as she slid on her winter jacket.
Leah’s smile was a throwback to the days when she smiled all the time to conceal her fears. “I’m fine.”
“Haven’t had a chance to ask, but what was going on with your neighbor? She sounded pretty upset. Something about a moving van in front of your house.”
“It was a mix-up. The moving company parked at my house when they should have been a few houses down. It took just a second to clear up the problem.”
“So everything is fine?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You just seem a little rattled.”
“I’m fine.” She widened her grin just a fraction, knowing overdoing it could set off red flags. Didn’t want to look desperate. She’d made that mistake with her roommate when Philip had been stalking her, and when her roommate had pressed, Leah had cried and confessed her troubles. She didn’t want to cry now, or give Philip the satisfaction of knowing she was rattled. “Really.”
Gail’s gaze settled on her an extra beat before she nodded. “By the way, when you were in your last appointment, I ran Charlie outside so she’s ready to go home.”
She teetered, feeling touched at the gesture and fear for the dog she’d be taking home to a house that had been violated that morning. “Thanks. That’s so sweet.”
“You two get on. It’s been a long day.”
“I hear ya.” She moved into her office, where she found Charlie sleeping on a dog bed by her desk. Gail’s doing, no doubt. The dog looked up at her and wagged her tail. Her gaze still had a bit of a panicked look, as if she didn’t know where she was going. Too many homes in too short a time.
Leah reached for the leash, and the dog began to wag her tail faster. As she petted Charlie on the head and fastened her collar, she worried aloud. “Let’s get home and hope it’s still there.”
The dog sprang to her feet and barked.
“That’s right. Home. For better or worse, you’re with me.”
On the drive home she detoured into a strip mall. First a stop at the ATM for cash, and then she and Charlie went into the pet store, where she picked out a proper collar and leash, and also made an ID charm from the machine. She bought dog food, a bed, and chew treats. By the time she left the store, she was a couple of hundred bucks lighter and sure that she had fallen in love with this dog.
When she pulled up in front of her house, it was dark. Normally, she left lights on so she never returned home to the dark, but today, in the rush to close up the house after the movers had gone, she must have turned off the lights.
“What the hell happened today?” She gripped the steering wheel as she stared at the dark house.
The sound of her voice had Charlie barking again, pulling her away from her thoughts. She took the dog with her to the front door and let her inside. Leaving the main door open and the screen door closed, she returned to her car to gather her purchases. Once she had carried all her purchases inside, she closed the exterior door and flipped the dead bolt closed. Charlie barked and sniffed the purchases. Leah wanted to smile, but first she had to check her town house. Keys in hand, she moved from room to room, turning on lights and checking the windows. With each click of a light switch she flinched a little, half-expecting to see Philip standing in a darkened shadow.
When she determined the house was clear, she allowed herself a smile. “Good. We’re in the clear tonight.”
She took Charlie with her into the kitchen, where the packed moving boxes stood, a loud reminder of the day’s chaos. She wasn’t in the clear. Not even close.
“You did this to me, didn’t you, Philip? I know it was you.” The dog whimpered, clearly picking up on the tension in her voice. She smiled at the dog and rubbed her on the head. With Charlie in tow, she again checked the bedrooms and all the closets, and only when she was sure the house was indeed empty did she begin to wash out the bowls and then fill one with dried food and the other with water. She placed both on a new doggie place mat.
As Charlie ate, Leah rolled her head from side to side, realizing her back was a knot of tension. She opened the fridge and pulled out a wedge of cheese and a half full wine bottle. Turning, she reached in the cabinet to get a glass and realized it had been packed. Damn.
She studied the boxes and searched for any that might say glassware, but they were all marked simply KITCHEN. She grabbed her keys from her coat pocket and cut through the tape that held each box closed. She found her wineglasses in the fourth box. Carefully, she unwrapped a glass, rinsed it in the sink, and filled it with wine. She took a long healthy sip, savoring the cool flavor as it rolled down her throat. As much as she wanted to settle and relax in front of a movie on television, she couldn’t bear the idea of waking up to these boxes, a reminder of today’s nightmare. She turned on the television, soothed by the hum of the evening news, which gave her the sense she wasn’t alone.
She set up the dog bed for Charlie and gave her a chew stick and then set about unpacking the twelve moving boxes that had contained her kitchen. It took nearly two hours to unpack, unwrap, wash, and replace every item. Finally, just before nine, she was able to break down the last of the boxes and put them out by her back door by the recycling bins. Next, she moved into the living room and spent another half hour rehanging the pictures the movers had wrapped. More paper, more trash out by the back door. By ten she’d put her house back together, retrieved her journal, and was seated with Charlie on the couch, the television humming in the background.
She turned to the last blank page and detailed the day’s event. She began with the call from her neighbor, the movers, the credit card, the boxes, and Alex Morgan.
As she wrote the last words, she found the journaling this time did nothing to ease her worries. She’d been afraid to look back over the last couple of months and see if there were any patterns. Hesitant to fear the facts. Facts were power, and after today, she could no longer ignore the fact that Philip was finding ways to reach her.
It took her less than fifteen minutes of reading to realize just how close Philip was. The missing house keys. The flowers. The flat tire. The man at the park. The movers.
She’d been rattled by all of these incidents but she’d been determined not to freak out and call the cops. Each incident didn’t mean much, but all together they told her very clearly that someone was stalking her.
She closed her eyes, absently rubbing the scars on her palms. How am I going to do this? How am I going to battle him again?
An overwhelming weight settled on her shoulders. As much as she wanted to think Alex would help, she knew cops did what they could but often it was a case of too little, too late.
Charlie jumped up on the couch and nestled her nose in Leah’s lap.
She looked at the dog, rubbing her between the ears. “You were dropped off at the clinic and left. You’re black, like the dog I once wanted. He would have known that. Known I’d fall in love with you right away.”
A wave of nausea rose up in her throat as tears welled in her eyes. “He wants me to care so he can take you away, or worse, hurt you. Charlie, I’m afraid we’ve both fallen into a trap.”
There would have been a time when she’d have wept and worried and hidden. But not anymore.
Leah rose and moved to her computer and logged on. She looked up locksmiths and found a twenty-four-hour service. It would cost her a fortune, but there’d be no way she could sleep tonight knowing someone had copied her house key.