Page 45 of In the Line of Ire

Ifrowned. "Your mailbox was empty and the letters were sitting onthe console."

"Really?There wasn't anything on the console when I left." Natalie winced."He was in my house again, wasn't he? Sorting through my mail andleaving it on the console for me to find so I’d know he wasthere."

"Themail was definitely on the console. If it was empty before, thenyes, someone else collected your mail and put it there."

"That'sdamn creepy," said Hugo.

A phonerang and Natalie reached into her jeans pocket to retrieve it."It's the girls' dad," she explained. "I'd better take it. Pleaseexcuse me for a moment." She slid off the stool as she answered itand walked over to the door, stepping through it and calling to herdaughters.

"Why issomeone doing this to her?" asked Hugo. "It's not normal. That is,collecting mail is normal but not like that."

"Iagree. It's creepy and weird and I think it's intended to rattleher."

"Does hewant to hurt them?"

"Thatdoesn't seem to be his primary goal at the moment but I don't wantto rule it out. I also don't want to suggest it's a possibilityeither."

"Nataliecan stay here as long as she needs to. The guesthouse would beempty otherwise and the security is top-of-the-line here. It'sconnected to a monitored service that covers the guesthousetoo."

"You'rea good boss," I told him. "Not many bosses would go so far out oftheir way to help an employee."

"Natalie's more than that. She's a friend too," hereplied.

"Haveyou ever seen anyone acting strangely around her at work?" I asked,seizing the opportunity to question him. "Perhaps someone hangingaround the office or asking about her more often than necessary?She told me she's a nurse so perhaps a patient requested a homevisit? Or seemed a little too obsessive about her?"

Hugoshook his head. "No, we're pretty busy though so I'm not alwaysaware of everything that goes on but I'm sure someone would havementioned anything strange. Occasionally, we get a patient whotries to flirt with our nurses but we always discouragethat."

"Nogifts or flowers? Maybe a letter?"

"No,definitely not. We had a nurse, let's see, five years ago, beforeNatalie joined the clinic, who kept receiving a bunch of strangegifts from a former patient. Since then, our policy is to informthe office manager at once and take any necessary action to preventit."

"Suchas?"

"Documenting the unwanted attention and calling the police ifit persists. Natalie knows to do that too."

"Wheredo your employees park their cars?"

"In asecure, private lot behind the building. We share it with severalother offices and there's a security guard at the entrance.Why?"

"I justwondered how easy it would be to monitor her movements fromwork."

"I don'tthink it would be very easy. The parking lot empties into a one-waystreet with no parking zones. No one could sit in their car andwait for her to leave and someone loitering on foot would be toonoticeable."

I made amental note to check on that but I didn't doubt his observations.Hugo seemed thoughtful, considerate and very concerned.

Nataliewalked back in, shaking her head as she laughed. "The girls aretelling their dad about a silly video they watched online; one thathas the whole school in hysterics."

"Oh?"Hugo looked up.

"Someonegot dressed up as a beer glass and started rolling around on theground outside a bar across town. I don't see the humor in it butapparently, I'm too old." She rolled her eyes. Meanwhile, Icringed. I finally managed to forget the hideous video for a fewhours. Natalie sat on the other side of the breakfast bar andreached for her mug.

"How arethe girls?" I asked.

"They'refine. Like I said, they guessed the reason why we're not living athome and I've already told their dad. They don't seem too upset buta mother can't always tell."

"Couldthere be any chance at all, even a tiny, insignificant one, thattheir dad might want to frighten you?"

"No, wereally do get on just fine. No custodial or financial issues. He'sbeen to the house often and said he liked it and thought theneighborhood was a nice place for the girls to grow up."

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