Snider,” Cassidy said, then processed the rest of what he’d said. That while she and Jace were talking, he’d been...what? Checking out the neighbors?
He works for a place that specializes in helping people with trouble.
She would not, she decided immediately, want to go up against this man. And the idea of having him on her side was admittedly heartening. But it was silly to think, for if he was a pro, then he was going to think just like the police—that either she was imagining things or the threat wasn’t real. Not that they’d said that, they’d been very polite, even gentle, but in truth she had nothing to give them in the way of proof.
She gestured them, including the dog, who seemed to understand, into the living room, then walked toward the kitchen. She wanted to run, but they could still see her and she didn’t want it to be quite that obvious that she was nervous, still wishing she’d never made that call. It was only that she’d decided Jace wouldn’t show up and then he had, she told herself. It was the unexpectedness of it.
When she came back with coffee, she was still edgy, but better. She took a seat on the couch, safely at the other end from Jace. The man Jace had introduced as Rafe sat in one of the armchairs, the dog sitting politely but alertly at his feet.
“He’s very well behaved,” she said, aware even as she said it that she was avoiding the reason for them being here.
“He’s got good company manners,” the man said. “You should have seen him at his owner’s—my boss—wedding, in his bow tie.”
She laughed, and suddenly the tension eased. She saw a glint in the man’s eyes that told her that had been the purpose. Perhaps he really did specialize in helping people, for despite his intimidating looks, he’d eased her strain.
“Cassie?” She looked back at Jace when he spoke, again using that name she’d only ever allowed him. “You really are scared. What’s wrong?”
She took a deep breath. If he’d actually come in response to her panicked call, she had to at least explain, didn’t she?
Begin with what she thought they should know first.
“The police don’t think anything’s wrong. Because I have no proof.”
“Proof of...?” Rafe then, prompting when she didn’t go on.
Finally, she said it in a rush. “I have a stalker.”
Once Cassie had started, the words seemed to rush out of her. “I know, who’d stalk me, I’m not the type.”
Jace had had a moment to really look at her now, and he thought she was very wrong about that; his best friend’s younger sister had grown up quite nicely in the years since he’d last seen her. She’d been sixteen to his eighteen then. The eyes that had been a sort of vague color then were an amazing mix of green and gold and darker flecks, a combination that he supposed would be called hazel. Her hair was the same medium brown, but with lighter streaks that spoke of days in the sun even here, where it was usually only a summer visitor. Her nose still had that slight upward tilt, but her mouth was fuller. So were the curves—
Damn.
Cory’s laughing words, spoken more than once, came back to him. She’s the brain of the family—I got the looks.
That might have been true then; quiet little Cassidy Grant had been a bookish girl who likely would have faded completely into the background for him had it not been for one thing; she had ever and always been able to make him laugh. That brain Cory had always joked about was indeed present, and part of it was a knack for retorts to her brother’s teasing that left Jace roaring both at what she’d said and the look on Cory’s face.
She’s the brain of the family—I got the looks.
And if the world ever finds a useful purpose for long eyelashes and dimples, they’ll beat a path to your door.
Poor Cory never could figure out if she was complimenting or insulting him. Jace had just grinned at her and said he hoped she never got that mad at him.
I wouldn’t. I couldn’t.
It came back to him, the way she’d looked at him so earnestly. And how Cory had later rolled his eyes and said, “Are you really that dense? She’s crushing on you.”
He shook off the memories. “Looked in a mirror lately?” he asked her.
Cassie blinked. Drew back slightly. Slowly, she smiled. “That was very nicely done. Thank you.”
“Wasn’t nice. Just true. But that aside,” he said with a glance at Rafe, “do looks really have much to do with the way a stalker’s brain works, who he fixates on?”
“Not always,” Rafe said. “It might start that way, looks or fame, but often it’s something else that sends them down that path. Almost always driven by the delusion that there’s a connection between him or her and the victim. A personal one. And that if they only knew it, they of course would want to be together. Or they do know it but are being forced to deny it by other, outside forces.”
Cassie looked at the man curiously. “Were you a cop before you worked for...whoever you work for?”
“No. Just learned a lot along the way with Foxworth.”
“Foxworth?”
Jace grimaced. “I’ll leave that one to you,” he said to the other man. “But I’d suggest leaving the dog out of it. She’s pretty empirically minded.”
Rafe glanced at Cutter, then back at Cassie. “So am I. Accepting Cutter is...what he is was a tough go. But I also know he’s never been wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“When he brings someone to us.”
Cassie gave Jace a sideways look. With a sigh, he told her the story of their rainy encounter. But when it came to explaining Foxworth, he left it to the man who was taking it all with an utterly straight face. And he left out the part where he knew darned well Rafe had checked him out before they’d headed back out into the rain; that phone call he’d made was too pointedly out of his earshot. He pretty much knew what the guy would find, so he didn’t worry about it.
“So,” Cassie said slowly when they’d finished, “you work for this Foxworth Foundation, helping people in the right turn lost causes into wins, for nothing, and then your boss marries the woman who owns this dog, and you discover he’s got a nose for finding those people? Is that about it?”
Rafe grinned at that, and it changed his entire countenance. “Best summation I’ve heard. I’ll have to remember it, because I’m not the best at explaining it.”
Cassie looked inordinately pleased, and Jace was irritated that that irritated him.
Irritated squared, which makes it even bigger than irritated twice over.
Cassie’s
