He left the circle of her arms and paced to the window to stare out at the dark street. “Because the killer left me another message.”
“What was it this time?” She pressed her fingers against her lips.
“Elise...”
“Just tell me, Sean.”
“He left me the same type of note that he left you at the school, but with slightly different numbers. They’re working on it, but the location was a joke last time so we can’t trust him.”
Two vertical lines formed between her eyebrows. “Where did they find the note?”
He clasped the back of his neck and chewed on his lip. Did Elise really need the visual of a note wrapped around a severed finger and shoved into one of the victim’s pockets? “He left a note on one of the bodies.”
“What does he want with you?”
“I already know that. The bigger question is what does he want from you?” He tapped on the window with his fingernail. “How did he know about Ty? How did he know about you and me, about our spending time together?”
She knotted her fingers together. “I don’t know. He didn’t get all that from my purse, or from my house. He must’ve been the one who attacked Ty. He probably told Ty he was working for you. Where else would Ty get that crazy idea?”
“When Ty regains consciousness, we can ask him. Maybe he can give us a description. How did the guy even approach Ty?”
“It’s like he’s dancing around me, us. He’s playing some kind of game with us that started the night he attacked me.”
“And that game has its roots in the past, twenty years in the past.” Sean blew out a breath, crossed the room and took Elise’s hand. “I’m sorry the night had to end this way. I’m sorry about Ty.”
“Me, too,” she whispered, and tears welled in her eyes. “For a moment there we pushed it all away, didn’t we? For a moment it was just the two of us.”
He kissed her trembling lips. “It can be that way again, Elise. This will all be over soon.”
She nodded, her eyes widening, and he had a feeling he’d just made a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep. Would it ever be over for him? In his gut, he knew it would never be over until he found out what happened twenty years ago in this city.
He stroked her hair back from her face. “I’m going to get a shirt on and see you back home. You still have two more days of school to get through, right?”
“You don’t have to follow me back. I’ll head straight to Courtney’s place and drive right into the garage. It’s a secure building. I’ll be fine.”
He walked into the bedroom and pulled a clean T-shirt from his closet. Yanking it over his head, he returned to the living room and said, “I’m not comfortable with you driving alone at night. It’s late.”
He scratched the stubble of his beard. This whole incident with Ty Russell had spooked him. How the hell had the killer gotten a line on Ty?
As far as he knew, the only time Elise had seen Ty since he’d been in the city was the day he swooped down on her in front of Courtney’s place. He hadn’t seen his name in her phone contacts, and he doubted Elise had anything in her house with Ty’s name on it.
“Well, I guess I could always use a police escort. I’m obviously not very good about noticing a tail since the Alphabet Killer managed to follow me from the Golden Gate to Chinatown that day.”
“He did, didn’t he?” The coil in his gut wound tighter. “You said you were careful that day.”
“Absolutely, and then when I got close to Chinatown, it was such a big mess because of the parade I had to take a million detours. For each turn I made, I checked my rearview mirror. I even drove down a couple of little alleys—nothing.”
“Elise, how many times did you see Ty since he came here?”
“Twice—once on the sidewalk in front of Courtney’s place and just now.” She combed her fingers through her hair. “Why are you asking? I certainly never told him anything about you or where you lived. I didn’t even know where you lived until I followed you here tonight.”
“You followed me here tonight.” He dug his fingers in his hair.
“Um, yeah.”
“There’s only one way your stalker could’ve known about Ty.”
“My stalker?”
“He saw him at Courtney’s place—with you, with me.”
Her head cranked back and forth. “No. That can’t be. He doesn’t know Courtney. He doesn’t know where Courtney lives. How could he? He couldn’t be that good, to be able to follow me around the city when I’m on the lookout for him. No way.”
“He’s not physically following you, Elise. He’s tracking you.” He barreled toward the coat closet by the front door and reached for the shelf for a flashlight.
“Tracking me? How?”
When he turned with the flashlight in his hand, he almost knocked her over.
Her eyes took up half her face as she grabbed his arm. “How is he tracking me?”
“I have a hunch.” He threw open the front door with Elise hot on his heels. “Your car was parked in your garage when he broke in after the attack.”
“My car... Yeah.” She hooked her fingers in his belt loop. “Oh, God, you can’t mean he put something on my car.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.” He nudged her shoulder. “Pull it into the driveway next to mine so we can get it into the light.”
Elise dashed to her car as Sean juggled the flashlight from hand to hand. If the killer had put some kind of tracking device on Elise’s little hybrid, it would explain so much. It also meant he knew where she was staying and he knew she was here—right now.
His gaze scanned the street of empty cars parked at the curb. One car idled in the driveway, but that one belonged to his neighbor’s teenage son who raced up and down the street daily.
Elise parked and exited her vehicle. “Where would he put something like that? Inside the car?”
“Most likely attached to the undercarriage of the chassis.” He handed her the flashlight. “Hold this.”
He dropped to his hands and knees, rolled onto his back and scooted under the front of the car. His nostrils flared at the smell of oil and gasoline, strong even for a hybrid. He thrust out his arm and wiggled his fingers. “Flashlight.”
“Flashlight.” Elise smacked it against his palm as if they were performing surgery.
He trailed the beam along the wheel wells and the undercarriage. He knew a bit about cars, and he didn’t see anything amiss.
Maybe
