“Let’s go.”
Nemesis slammed his listening device down, rubbing eyes reddened and bleary from lack of sleep.
He hadn’t been prepared for her to leave the apartment. She wasn’t supposed to leave the apartment.
He would not tolerate interference in his schedule.
Fury filled him, tightening his stomach into knots, and the urge to lash out overwhelmed him as he turned and slammed his fist into the wall beside his computer, picturing Lise Barton’s face there as he did it.
Pain radiated up his arm, filling his stomach with bile.
He cradled his bruised hand against his heaving chest and forced himself to think. It was difficult. His thoughts kept scattering, chasing memories he could not afford to dwell on.
She had left the apartment, but she would not dare go to Texas for the holidays, not while she feared him following her.
She wanted to protect her family.
His lips twisted cynically. Sure. More likely she wanted to spend the holiday writing her treacherous books. Either way, she would not go far. She had to come back to her apartment and when she did, he would be waiting…watching, just like always.
No, her leaving with the man was not a showstopper. He had said something about staying the night in a hotel. Nemesis could find them. He was very good at finding information on the computer, although his abilities had not kept him employed after what Lise Barton had done to him and his family.
He shoved aside a half-eaten sandwich that had gone dry and stale while he listened to the discussion between the man and the home-wrecking bitch. Pulling the information file out from where it had rested under his uneaten meal, he flipped open the manila folder and started going through the list of people she had regular contact with.
She’d called the man Joshua, but there was no Joshua on the list.
Frustration gnawed at Nemesis.
He couldn’t look for the man if he didn’t have a last name. He would have to do more research before he could start searching credit card records to find them.
When he did, perhaps he would visit his vengeance on the man who dared to take the bitch’s side.
It took Joshua thirty minutes of evasive maneuvers before he was satisfied they were not being followed.
During that time he did not speak and neither did Lise, but tension continued to emanate from her side of the car. Once he pulled onto I-5 North, he flipped on the radio, letting the low-volume classical music fill the car.
“That’s nice.” They were the first words Lise had spoken since they’d left the apartment and she said them in an almost normal tone of voice.
“Music helps calm nerves.”
She gave a short, humorless laugh. “I guess I seem pretty stressed-out to you.”
“A little,” he said dryly.
She hugged herself as if she was cold, but the car’s heater was keeping the interior warm despite the low temperatures outside. “I feel stressed, to tell you the truth.”
“How long has he been stalking you?”
“I got the first e-mail six months ago.” She tugged her gloves off, affirming she wasn’t really cold, just upset. “I don’t know how long Nemesis was watching me before that.”
“What did it say?”
“That I shouldn’t buy so much junk food. I’d just made a chocolate run to the grocery store. My current work in progress was giving me fits and I didn’t feel like cooking, so I bought a lot of easy prep meals and snacks, too.” Her soft voice echoed with pained vulnerability.
“He was watching you pretty closely, then.”
She shuddered. “Yes.”
“What did you do when you got the e-mail?”
“I shift-deleted it like I do all my junk mail. I thought it was weird, but it didn’t occur to me that it was the beginning of something sinister. He didn’t say anything about why he was writing me.” The now flat and unemotional tones of her voice were at odds with the near hysteria she’d been exhibiting earlier. “He never does…not in his e-mails, not in his calls. He just makes sure I know he’s watching me.”
“When did you realize it was a serious problem?”
“When he called. I got good and scared then. He talks through a computer digitizer and it was really eerie, you know?”
“Did you go to the sheriff?”
“Not then.” She sighed. “I still thought I could handle it. He hadn’t threatened me or anything.”
“What happened to change your mind?”
“How do you know I did?” she asked, sounding curious.
“You wouldn’t have moved away from your family and home if there was another solution open to you. So, I figure you went to the authorities, but they couldn’t do anything for you.”
“It was more like a case of wouldn’t, but you’re right, something did happen that made me realize I really wasn’t safe.”
“What?”
“He broke into my apartment. I came home after visiting Bella at the ranch to find the things on my computer desk altered just enough for me to know someone had been there.”
“What did the sheriff say when you reported it?”
“He thought I was being a publicity hound, that I was making it all up to get media attention.”
“Why in the hell would he believe something so stupid?”
“He used to work for the Houston police force, and a woman did that very thing. She was a self-defense instructor and the free publicity got her a boatload of clients, I guess.”
“He refused to take you seriously because he’d been burned once by a false report?” Joshua had a hard time believing it.
“A lot of manpower got wasted and it left the detectives involved looking stupid, not to mention really jaded about the whole stalker issue. The sheriff ended up leaving his job and moving to Canyon Rock. He wanted concrete evidence I was being stalked before he would open an investigation and I couldn’t give it to him.”
“Idiot.”
“I thought so at the time, but I’ve got to admit I didn’t push too hard. I didn’t want Jake to find out, and things get around in a small town. So, I went home and had my locks changed, but Nemesis managed to break in again.”
“Did you report it?”
“Yes, but this time the sheriff was really belligerent. He told me he didn’t have the manpower to stake out my apartment and I still didn’t have concrete
