Page 5 of Montana Heat

As soon as I opened my door, my stress ratcheted up. It was only a few dozen feet from my parking spot to the door, but I was über aware of my own vulnerability. Aware of what could be done to me.

My body was prepared for attack, on heightened alert. Which sounded all heroic, but it was really just exhausting.

I relaxed only slightly when I made it through the door. Not that I was truly much safer here, but I at least felt that way.

The police building wasn’t big, but it seemed to employ about eighteen of the town’s 2,518 residents. A few officers, assistants, secretaries.

The woman behind a counter closest to the door smiled at me. “How may I help you today?”

I stepped forward with a small wave. “I’m here to speak to the police chief. I have an appointment.”

“That’d be me,” a voice said from my left. “Charlie Garcia, at your service. Nice to meet you in person, Ms. Hurst.” His voice was gruff, but his smile was polite, like it had been when Detective Watters and I had spoken to him on the phone a few days ago.

He gestured to the younger man standing next to him. “This is Lachlan Callaway, one of our deputies here in Garnet Bend. I’ve filled him in with the details of your case.”

Ishook both men’s hands. “Kenzie, please. Thanks for meeting with me.”

Charlie turned toward the hallway. “Let’s go to my office. Lachlan was just heading out, but I’d like to go over some of the details with you.”

Deputy Callaway tipped his head in my direction. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need us while you’re here. Even if it seems trivial.”

That was such a refreshing change from my first meetings with the police in Denver. “Thank you.”

The deputy left and Chief Garcia led me the rest of the way to his office, closing the wooden door behind him.

I tensed at the sound of the click behind me. It sounded so final. I had to tamp down my panic. I was in a police station, for crying out loud. Nothing was going to happen here.

“Ben—Detective Watters—sent the file from your case,” Chief Garcia started. “And, of course, we talked about some of it on the phone.”

I hated this too. That strangers—even people like Chief Garcia and Deputy Callaway both who seemed professional and caring—were privy to private information about my life. The stalker hadn’t just stripped me of my sense of safety, but my privacy too.

I cleared my throat. “I’m sure it’s all there, Chief Garcia.”

“Charlie, please.” He smiled quickly, but it didn’t seem forced.

He opened the file, one of dozens sitting on his desk. The older man obviously hadn’t switched over to electronic filing. As he looked through it, he asked me a few questions, all of which I could answer almost automatically now.

Every police officer wanted to hear the story in my own words. Why, I didn’t exactly know. To make sure I hadn’t left anything out? To make sure I wasn’t making things up? To help me tell it so many times that my brain could shut off and protect itself?

Charlie jotted down notes as I spoke and at least never made me feel like I was seeking attention with all this. Which was better than some of the early law enforcement officers I’d talked to.

“They haven’t come up with an answer as to how your stalker has been locating you, correct?”

“No. I haven’t been staying at my house for weeks, but he—she?—still keeps finding me.”

“We’ll refer to the stalker as a male for right now. That fits the profile.”

“Detective Watters decided it might be best for me to stop work completely and leave the state while they try to handle things from there,” I said when Charlie ran out of questions. “So, here I am in Montana. Hopefully, very short-term.”

“Regardless of how long you intend to stay, I will do my best to ensure your safety. We look after our own here.”

“All twenty-five hundred and eighteen of them?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes. And you too.”

“Thanks.” I wasn’t ever going to be one oftheirs, but his words soothed me just the same. He wasn’t dismissing me or what had happened. That was the most important thing. “I’m going to go get my stuff moved in, if that’s okay.”

Charlie stood, and we walked back out into the main section of the building. “Detective Watters mentioned you were moving in to the Haven apartment complex.” I nodded.

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