Page 20 of The Agent
Pam opened the door. “Hey, boss. I wasn’t expecting you here.”
“I wanted to check out the salon. Get the layout. Not that I don’t trust your report.” He smiled briefly before scanning the space. Through the right-hand archway, a big room held styling chairs, a seating area, a coffee bar ... and many windows, tall and with multiple panes, spilling light onto the polished wood floor. At least Pam had reported that they all had alarm contacts. The place was neat as a pin, but he would expect nothing less from a business Natalie ran.
He pivoted to his left to look through the archway there. A small waiting area filled the front of the space. Bulky pedicure chairs sat along another multiwindowed wall, the tops of the damn shrubs blocking part of the view onto the parking lot. At the back were two doors opening into rooms furnished with what looked like massage tables, as well as a narrow hallway. Too many places a psychopath could hide.
“The hallway leads to Natalie’s office,” Pam said. “She’s there now.”
“Where’s the latest communication from the stalker?”
Pam picked up a plastic bag from the reception desk. “I touched the upper-right corner but that’s all.”
“We won’t get any prints anyway.” Tully took the bag and scanned the message. “What do you make of all the sayings?”
“If she didn’t own a beauty salon, I’d think this was a rejected admirer,” she said. “But her job muddies the picture.”
“Exactly.” Tully flicked the paper back onto the desk. “Why don’t you take time off until after dinner? Say, nine o’clock. I’ve got to install cameras at the house, so I’ll be around anyway. It’ll give you a few hours’ break.”
“My husband will love you. He just got back from a business trip.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that? I wouldn’t have put you on this assignment if I’d known.”
“Because then you wouldn’t have put me on this assignment.” She grinned as she exited.
Tully threw the dead bolt on the front door behind Pam. Savoring the sense of anticipation, he strode into the left-hand room and down the hallway.
When he got to the open door of the office, he knocked on the frame before he stepped in. Natalie sat at a desk with her back to the window, her short, sleek blonde hair painted with sunlight. She wore a simple white shirt unbuttoned just enough to tantalize his imagination with the shadows it cast in the V. He felt the now-familiar buzz vibrate through his body.
When she looked up from whatever she was reading, her blue eyes widened in surprise. “Tully! I thought you were coming to the house later.”
“I wanted to take a look at the salon.” He leaned his shoulder against the doorframe. “I can tell you’ve put a lot of thought into it. It’s real nice.”
She folded her hands on the desktop. “Thank you. I’m very fortunate that the previous owner took a liking to me when I worked for her. She sold the business to me when she retired.”
He suspected that Natalie had earned it with her talent and hard work and not just luck. He sat down in one of the small blue chairs in front of her desk. “I gave Pam time off until after dinner.”
“I’ll be fine alone with all the equipment you’re installing.”
He shook his head. “Not happening. It’s a subtle progression but the messages are becoming more threatening. The one you just got is from a fairy tale with an evil queen who tries to kill her stepdaughter.”
Natalie’s full lips tightened. He noticed that today she wore pink lipstick. He was still partial to the Natalie with no makeup—and no bra—of yesterday morning. “I thought I might have imagined that the quotations have become more menacing, but I guess not,” she said.
“He’s also escalated from email to hand delivery in two locations. He’s showing that he knows your routine. That’s a power play.”
“What does he want from me?” Natalie asked, an undertone of anger and fear in her voice.
“I’d say your attention, but the anonymity undercuts that.” Tully looked at her slender shoulders, her elegant hands, and the fine bone structure of her face. She should appear fragile, but instead she radiated strength. So he told her the truth. “He’s trying to make you afraid. To keep you off-balance. The question is why.”
Her hand went to her throat to fiddle with the fine silver chain she wore. What would the skin there feel like against his lips? Her blue eyes clouded. “I don’t understand who would hate me enough to do this.”
He didn’t want to tell her that it could be a total stranger, a psychopath who had become fixated on her for no reason other than that she had crossed his path. And that she was beautiful.
He needed to stop thinking about her beauty.
“We’ll figure it out soon,” he said.
“I hope so because my conscience is already bothering me about how much time you’re spending on my problem.”
“Would it help if I told you that I’m doing this because I don’t want to risk getting on Dawn’s and Alice’s bad side? They’d rip me to shreds if I let something happen to you.” He gave her his best shit-eating grin.
