Page 19 of The Agent
Dawn’s analysis reinforced Natalie’s, so Tully reduced his concern about her physical safety by half a degree. The ex’s anxiety about public disgrace could also explain why he was working so hard to remain anonymous.
Assuming the stalker was the ex.
Tully had put an investigator on Stevens to see what might have sent him into stalker mode. Now he was thinking that he might pay a visit to Stevens himself just to get a vibe from the man.
“What about Natalie’s sanctuary for abused wives?” Tully asked Dawn. “Anyone come to mind who might be so angry about his wife leaving him that he would punish Natalie for it?”
“I guess she had to tell you about that, but it’s a big secret. It took her a year to trust me with it, so I don’t think any of the ex-husbands know.” Dawn rolled her shoulders. “If they did, yeah, they could be pissed off. One of them trained at the gym in Cofferwood, and he was a real lowlife. But I’d see him more confronting her and yelling than sneaking around writing cryptic emails.”
“That’s useful,” Tully said with a nod of encouragement. “How about competitors? All the quotes are about beauty, so the stalker is referring to her work.” Or her appearance. She was exactly as he’d told her: stunningly beautiful and sexy as hell.
“She’d know more about that than I would,” Dawn said before she leaned forward. “But people respect her. She’s really good at her job, and she hires people who are the same and then mentors them. Customers come from a couple of hours away to get their hair done at the Mane Attraction. That might make someone jealous, but would they stalk her because of it?”
“If they thought she was stealing business from them, they might,” Leland said. “Money makes people do strange things.”
A shadow crossed Dawn’s face, and she reached for Leland’s hand where it rested on the arm of his chair.
Tully suspected she was thinking of the arms dealer she and Leland had uncovered at the gym where Dawn once worked. They had nearly lost their lives as a result of their discovery.
“Okay, I’ll let you get back to work.” Dawn scooted her chair over to give Leland a quick kiss and stood. “I’ve got clients.” She tossed a sassy glare at Tully. “And I’m going to call Nat.”
After Dawn left, Leland said, “It doesn’t sound like you’re any closer to finding the stalker than you were before.”
“My first priority is getting Natalie protected. That’s handled. I’ve got investigators looking into her ex and the other possibly disgruntled ex-husbands.”
“That’s a lot of investigating.” Leland’s look implied a question.
“The SBI will take care of it.” Tully crossed his arms.
Leland steepled his fingers. “Knowing Natalie, I’m surprised she will accept all this. She strikes me as a very independent woman.”
“It’s taken some persuasion.” Tully shifted against the desk. “And she doesn’t know about everything I’ve done.”
Leland’s eyebrows lifted. “You think she won’t find out?”
“As long as we catch the stalker, I don’t care.”
His partner lifted one shoulder. “It’s your funeral.”
“As long as it’s not hers.”
Leland gave him a level look. “Agreed.” Then he tilted his chair back. “Did you see the latest message from our favorite client?”
Tully pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “If you mean Henry Earnshaw at Dexcorp, yes. I’ll set upanothermeeting to reassure him that his corporate security is state of the art.” Tully gave a knife-edged smile. “But this time I’m going to charge him for my time. That may convince him that he’s been reassured enough so he’ll forgo the meeting.”
Leland nodded his approval. “If we ever do another proposal for them, we’ll build in an excessive meetings surcharge.”
Tully snorted and pushed away from the desk. “No amount of money is worth dealing with Henry Earnshaw ever again.”
Leland laughed as Tully walked out of the room.
He would have to get on the phone with Earnshaw before he could head to New Jersey. The delay in seeing Natalie just made him more irritated with the time-wasting senior vice president at Dexcorp. He couldn’t even tell himself that he was worried about Natalie’s safety, because he trusted Pam implicitly.
No, he just wanted to feel that buzz between them. It was like a drug that he had become addicted to.
Chapter 7
As Tully pulled into the parking lot next to the Mane Attraction, he surveyed the decorative shrubs under the salon windows and wished they didn’t offer so much opportunity for concealment. There was no video camera on the wide front porch with its fancy carved railings. He knocked a code rhythm on one of the purple double doors. At least those were solid oak. Kicking them down would take some doing and make a hell of a racket.
