Page 60 of Protecting Hailey

I stood from the lounge chair and walked back towards the house. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, Mom. Don’t panic.”

“Thanks, sweetie.”

A few seconds after I hung up, an address popped up in a text. It wasn’t far, but with Los Angeles traffic, it could take upwards of thirty minutes to get there.

I hurriedly put on a pair of jeans and a rock band T-shirt over my bikini. Before I left, I belatedly remembered my promise to Christian. Shit.

If I told him where I was going, he’d make me wait for him and I didn’t want my mom waiting at the side of the road all alone for much longer. If I texted him the message, he would receive it right away, but if I left a note for him, he wouldn’t get it until he got back home. And by then, I may be back home with my mom, anyway.

I scribbled, “Went to pick up my mom. Will be back in an hour to explain the whole thing. Love you.” I looked at the last words. They came out so naturally. It should scare me how quickly this was all moving, but I didn’t have time to think about it now. Besides, from our conversation this morning, Christian seemed to be on the same page as me.

Without any other thought or delay, I grabbed my car keys and pulled out of the garage.

After plugging the address into my phone, I checked the message again. The tiny dot indicating her location had moved. Not very far, but it seemed like she was inside a building now and not on the side of the road.

I was relieved. I hoped she’d found a coffee shop or someplace to sit while she waited for me to arrive.

Traffic was slow, but at least it was moving. As predicted, I arrived nearly half an hour later. There was a sign over the building: Papa’s Grill. But when I walked up closer, the windows were covered with brown paper. I stepped back to see if there was another building close by that I may have missed, but there was nothing else for miles. Just a gas station further down the road.

I tried the door, and it opened.

“Mom?”

17

Christian

After running the photo through their computer, the police didn’t find a match to any mug shots they had on file. After slipping one of the officers a few bills as incentive, he allowed me to look through the computer myself. I didn’t trust the system.

I looked through pages and pages of mug shots under keywords like “assault”, “battery”, “stalking”, but none matched the guy in the photo. I showed his picture to the officers inside the station, but most just shrugged. Fortunately, I knew enough to not just rely on police work. I had sent the photo to my brother Jager. He was a whiz when it came to technology.

Just as I was showing the photo to one particularly uninterested officer, my phone rang. It was Jager.

“Hey, brother. Did you get a hit with your facial recognition program?”

Jager sighed. “Nothing, man. Not even a traffic ticket.”

The news should have been a relief, but not knowing sometimes was worse than hearing the worst-case scenario.

“What are you thinking?” Jager asked when I was silent.

“That I wished I knew what I was up against. This isn’t the same guy that attacked her in the coffee shop. And he doesn’t have a criminal record.”

“Maybe he’s really just a fan.”

I pressed my lips together. “Maybe. I just wish there was some way to be sure.”

“I’ll keep trying here.”

“Thanks. I’m going to try showing his picture to bouncers in the clubs nearby. Maybe they’ll recognize him.”

“That’s a good idea. Good luck, brother.”

“Thanks, Jager.”

I hung up the phone and started my car. As I drove, I mulled over the situation. There had been no attempt on her life since I started working with her and the social media posts had been positive since her impromptu concert. If things continued to improve like this, my recommendation would usually be for a new bodyguard, one I would personally hire to watch over Hailey. My work here would be done.

Except I didn’t want to be done with her. I couldn’t imagine ever being done with Hailey.

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