Page 124 of Stormswept Colorado

“Did that make you feel better, Troublemaker?”

“It did, actually.”

Teller put a hand on my shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go back inside.”

THIRTY-NINE

Teller

The moment we got inside,I hugged her to me.

“You’re not mad I came out there, are you?” she asked.

“I don’t like that you put yourself at risk, but I’m not surprised.” I kissed her temple. “I love that you’re you. Are you mad atmefor being protective?”

She smoothed down my shirt. “I love that you’re you.”

I smiled fondly. “Watching you trash that flower arrangement was something to see. Good thing I took a picture of it beforehand.”

Ayla made a sheepish face. “I was pissed off. I’m so tired of this nonsense. And now that awful picture of you with your eyes marked out? What the hell? Seems like he’s threatening you.”

“Let him. It’s not going to change anything. Nothing is going to keep us apart.”

“But how does he even know about you? What if it’s leaked to the media that we’re dating?”

“Then we can handle that too.” I pulled her over to the living room couch, where we’d been napping peacefully less than an hour ago. “Let’s take a look and find out.”

Using my phone, I googled Ayla’s name. There were thepictures from the event she attended with Paul a couple of nights ago. But nothing in the news since. Nothing at all about me.

I set my phone down, thinking it through. “The photo of me was taken from my department’s public website. How he knows we’re dating, I have no clue.” It was concerning. Hardly anyone knew about us, except our closest friends and family and a few people who worked for Ayla.

And a lot of folks in Silver Ridge. At least, they suspected.

“His last email said he’s watching me.” She shivered, and I tucked her closer.

“But if that’s true, why wouldn’t he send a photo that’s not publicly available? Every pic this guy has used was online already, including that paparazzi shot from outside the recording studio.”

“Not the very first one. The first flower arrangement I received in Toronto. My sister took that photo of me, and it’s never appeared online.”

Dammit. That was right. “So, he somehow got access to a private photo of you as a teenager. He used it like an opening gambit. Trying to get your attention. Which worked.”

“But then, why the large gap in between sending the flowers to my Toronto concert venue, and then the flowers and email when I was in Silver Ridge? It was almost six months in between.”

“We’re probably not talking about a sane individual.”

And I couldn’t forget what Ayla had shared with me earlier today about Sergeant Carpenter. The red daisies.

If I’d had access to my office computer, I would look up Carpenter using my law-enforcement databases. But I couldn’t do that with just my work phone. I could ask Susan to do it for me. But that would mean sharing personal things about Ayla. I didn’t want to do that unless we had no other options.

“Can we talk to River?” Ayla asked. “See if he’s made any progress on tracing Biggest Fan’s latest email?”

“Good idea. I’ve been meaning to check in with him. Should inform him about thelatest flower delivery.”

Me

Ayla received another flower arrangement from the stalker.

He wrote back almost immediately.

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