Page 109 of Cornered

Briggs whistled. “I think your ‘best friend forever’ is a slob.”

He wasn’t wrong, but given the amount of furniture, papers, clothing, dishes, and trash filling Nancy’s apartment,slobmay have been too generous.

“How are we going to find the cat in this?”

“Divide and conquer.” Briggs pointed to the hallway. “You take bedrooms and I’ll take the front area.”

Something about being in here made Lahela’s skin crawl. The Nancy she saw every day at school was neat and tidy. Quirky, yes, but nothing to even suggest she was a pack rat at home. Squeezing her way through the hall, Lahela called out the cat’s name. She really hoped he wasn’t one of those cats that liked to jump out and scare their owners.

Behind her, Briggs was doing the same thing. The first room she came to was a bathroom packed with far too many bottles of hair product for a single person. But no cat.

Lahela twisted the knob on a closed door across the hall and flipped on the light switch. This room looked like an office and was quite organized compared to the rest of the house. There was a desk covered in papers and a wall that looked like some kind of vision board. Of course, Nancy would have a vision—

Wait.

She stepped farther into the room and eyed the photos and papers taped all over the wall. It washer. Dozens of photos and not just of her. Of Trevor and—

She gasped.

“Cat’s not in the front of the—”

Lahela jumped and knocked into a box. It tipped, spilling a bunch of black cell phones across the floor.

“What in the world?” Briggs’s forehead creased as he looked at the wall, and then his jaw clenched. “Lahela, call the police.”

“Briggs.” Her body started to shake.

He pulled her to his chest, his strong arms wrapped tightly around her as if he wanted to shield her from the truth of his words. “I think we found your stalker.”

SEVENTEEN

BRIGGS NEVER IMAGINEDhe’d see so much of the inside of a police station once he left the Dallas PD.

Detective Morgan had set them up in his office and offered the use of his Keurig before stepping out to take a call from Officer Hoffman questioning Nancy at the hospital. Briggs set a cup of tea in front of Lahela. The shock of discovering Nancy’s obsessive shrine had been as revealing as it was unsettling.

Lahela wrapped her hands around the tea. “I don’t understand, Briggs. She was my friend. Friends don’t stalk friends, right?”

Her voice wasn’t hysterical, just matter-of-fact, like she was trying to make sense of the situation.

“Every stalking case I’ve worked was between domestic partners, but there have been cases where victims were stalked by ex-employees, friends, family members even. Each case varies based on the motivation behind the obsession.”

“But why would Nancy be obsessed with me? I don’t think I’ve ever done anything to upset her.”

Briggs wanted to help Lahela understand, but the truth was, he didn’t understand himself. The facts and evidence behind stalking rarely provided all the answers—there wasa psychological component. And it was the latter that made the cases unpredictable and dangerous.

Detective Morgan entered his office and sat behind his desk. “I’m sorry that took longer than I expected, but I wanted to have as much information to give to you as possible.”

Lahela reached for Briggs’s hand, and he covered it with his own, hoping his touch would provide her with the courage to hear whatever was coming.

“Nancy confessed to almost everything.”

Lahela sucked in a breath and Briggs tightened his grip on her hand.

“Including being the one who came to your home tonight.”

Tears slipped down Lahela’s cheeks, and she shook her head as if the truth was more than she could handle—or wanted to believe.

Briggs moved his chair close to hers, wishing more than anything he could protect her from the hurt. “You said she confessed toalmosteverything.”

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