Page 48 of Montana Heat

Hell if I even remembered what we were talking about. We were back at Draper’s Tavern for dinner since neither of us had had any plans for how we would eat tonight. “Um, what?”

He took a bite of his pasta. “Are you sure there was a pause when that guy spoke from your mom’s phone?”

“Oh.” Right. Stalker. The reason I was in Garnet Bend, which did not involve Jensen Chambers’s lips in any way.

All had been quiet on the stalker front for a few days. My parents were safe, and I was talking to them daily on the new burner phone Jensen had gotten me. Mom’s phone hadn’t been found. The Zodiac Tactical friends had reported in daily. There didn’t seem to be anyone suspicious watching my parents either at home or their jobs. And I had received no messages or any further threats from the stalker.

It had been both a blessing and a curse. I was very glad for the reprieve, but it also gave me extra time to think about other things like…

I glanced at Jensen’s lips as he took a sip of his beer. Yeah, I was well aware of what I’d been thinking about. I shifted in my seat again, praying he wouldn’t ask if I had ants in my pants.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

Without Mom’s actual phone, the details of what the stalker had said hadn’t proved very useful.

“But it sounded weird, right? Mechanical? Like some sort of app or software was used to change the sound of his voice.”

I nodded. I’d been through all this with Charlie, who’d reported it back to Detective Watters.

“Why do that?” Jensen asked when he finished his current bite of food. “Why disguise his voice?”

I set my fork down and stared at him. “You’re right.”

“There has to be something distinctive about his voice that would make him want to use something to distort it. An accent,maybe, or a lisp? A low or high pitch that would be more easily identifiable?”

An even worse thought occurred to me. “Or maybe he thought I would recognize him. Maybe it’s someone I talk to regularly.”

The thought killed the rest of my appetite.

“I’m sorry.” Jensen’s face looked pained. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t.” This damned stalker was the one who upset me. I picked up my fork and tried to take another small bite of my chicken potpie. It was a crying shame to let something this good go to waste.

“Watters and I have already discussed the fact that most stalkers are generally tied to their victim’s lives in some way. He started working from my inner circle and moving out from there. So far, nothing. Anybody who fit the possible profile had an alibi for one or all of the incidents.”

“If it’s okay, I’ll mention our thinking to Charlie. See if anything can be built from it.”

I nodded. “Please do. At this point, I think they should be investigating anything that might narrow down the pool of suspects.”

Before I could say anything else, Lucas showed up at our table, interrupting.

“Sorry to barge in,” he said without humor. “But Liam thinks we might have a possible identification of the person who sent that message on your social media account the first night you were in town.”

“Really?” Excited hope had my pulse racing. I wanted this over so badly, so I didn’t have to stress over it anymore. Even if one of my problems could be resolved, it would be a step in the right direction.

“Can you guys come out to the ranch?” he asked, glancing atour almost-empty plates.“Jude wants to show you. I was in town, so I agreed to deliver the message. I’m headed back there now.”

I nodded, looking at Jensen.

He nodded too. “Yeah, we’ll be right out.”

We scarfed down the rest of our food, paid the bill, and were on our way out the door in a matter of minutes.

As Jensen drove out to Resting Warrior Ranch, I started to get ahead of myself, envisioning who this creep could be. Especially now that Jensen had mentioned using the voice disguiser.

Was it someone I knew from the seminars I taught? Could it be a client who felt jilted from not getting a property they’d really had their heart set on?

The what-ifs ran rampant in my mind, and I steadied myself with a deep breath. I was getting carried away with too many emotions. I needed to slow down and keep a level head.

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