Page 172 of Daddy's Wild Girl

“That’s the part I’m not completely sure about, but it could have been a random attack. I looked into crime in that part of the city over the last six months, and there have been a few knife attacks and robberies.”

“Oh. There have?”

“Yes. It is not a safe area for you to be living in. Luckily, you won’t be living there anymore.”

It infuriated him to think about what could have happened to her, living alone in that area.

But he breathed through it.

“What makes you think it’s my mother?”

“As you know, we traced the IP to the San Francisco Public Library which was of no help. But then I studied the messages again. Some of the words are spelled in British English rather than American.”

She sucked in a breath. “Holy heck. How did I not notice that?”

“My guess is that you didn’t pay much attention. And it’s only two words on two different messages out of dozens.”

She nodded quietly.

He squeezed her hands. “You know that this isn’t definite proof, right? I mean, it doesn’t mean that it was your mother. It could be someone else who writes their words like that.”

“Someone else who writes in British English who would have a reason to hate me?”

He hated that she thought her mother hated her. But he also understood it. Her mother hadn’t done anything to prove otherwise to her.

“Unfortunately, we can’t go accusing her with just this flimsy proof. Plus, there is still the attack to consider.”

She blanched. “You don’t think that she . . . that she would hire someone to hurt me?”

“No, darling girl. I’m not saying that. Just wondering if it’s a coincidence or not. What we need is for her to confess.”

“That won’t happen.” She tapped her fingers against the table. “What reason would she have for doing this, though? It’s just costing her money having you guys here. Unless she thought it would push me into coming home. That’s the only thing I can think of.” Closing her eyes, she breathed in slowly and deeply. Then she opened her eyes. “Or it’s related somehow to her announcing that I’m going to be onThe Benner Life. She thought it would push me to come home, and then maybe I’d somehow agree to the show? Or perhaps that would be the opening episodes? Me moving home because of the stalker? Why advertise it so soon though? Urgh, I don’t know.” She rubbed at her forehead. “Whatever she’s got planned, we need to get ahead of it.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“If she’s somehow going to use this for publicity, then perhaps we should announce it first.”

“Announce that you have a stalker?” He shook his head. “Nope. That’s not happening.”

“Why not?” She gave him a surprised look.

“Because that might just lead to other people getting the idea to send you awful messages or to start stalking you.”

“I think they’ll do it anyway, but I guess I see your point. What if we just threatened to release it to the public? Like I could write up something and send it to my mother’s publicist as a heads-up? See if that gets them to at least contact me.”

He stood and paced. “It’s still risky if the publicist runs with it.”

“She won’t without my mother’s permission.”

Corbin wasn’t sure he liked this idea. But he could see how it might work. Perhaps. It had been Hayes’ suggestion too.

“Just remember that it’s risky. It might backfire and she might clam up.”

“What have we got to lose?” she asked. “I need to know whether it’s her, Corbin. And she’s not going to confess. But she might get angry enough to let something slip.”

“But what if no one is around to hear her outburst? We need to catch her by surprise while we’re there.”

“Which would mean actually getting hold of them,” she muttered. “I’ll send something vague to her publicist. As in, we know who the stalker is and we’re going to send the information to the papers. Just giving her a heads up. Without saying it’s her.”

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