Page 33 of Crystal Skies (Stormcloud Station)

He scooted toward her chair and put an arm around her shoulders. “Of course, she fell head over heels for me, didn’t you, honeybun?”

Her eyes turned arctic blue as she speared him with her gaze. Perhaps he’d crossed a line, but they had to make this relationship seem believable, didn’t they? Dale gave a muffled grunt of amusement and then hurriedly took a sip of whisky when Julie turned to glare at him. The Stormcloud staff were in on the ruse, but Dale obviously found it awkward to watch.

She turned back to Rosie. “Sure did. We’ve been madly in love ever since.” She gave him a sickly-sweet smile and touched his face with her fingertips in an intimate gesture. “Aaron is my knight in shining armor. He looks all big and rugged on the outside, but on the inside, he’s as vulnerable as a newborn calf. It’s what I love most about him.”

Even if she was overdoing the saccharine smile, Aaron had to hand it to her, she was a hell of an actor. Damn, she even had him believing they were together.

“What about you two? How did you meet?” Julie asked, smoothly deflecting the conversation away from them, and he gave a quiet sigh of relief.

A strange musical jangle suddenly erupted from the side pocket of his chair. It took Aaron a second to realize it was the satellite phone ringing. “Sorry, I’d better get this,” he said, picking up the phone and walking away from the fire. Normal cell phone reception out here was practically non-existent. Steve had furnished him with a satellite phone so he could stay in touch with HQ.

“Aaron, here,” he answered efficiently, once he was out of hearing range of the circle around the campfire. “Jake, is that you?”

“Yeah. Sorry to be calling so late, but I’ve got some good news I think you might want to hear. As well as some not-so-good news.”

“Great, I could do with some good news.” Aaron’s heart rate spiked. Perhaps he’d be out of here sooner than they all thought.

“We think we have a name. Travis Mailmann.” Jake paused, letting the information sink in. “We tracked down the Christian group, that often protests outside the clinic Julie attended. They were there on the day she attended.”

Aaron turned the name over in his head. It didn’t ring any bells, but he’d ask Julie if she’d heard it as soon as he got off the call.

“The church pastor, William Spencer, was more than happy to speak to Nikolay. He even tried to palm off some of their pro-life pamphlets onto him.” Jake laughed at that, but Aaron just wanted him to get on with it, and when he didn’t respond, his boss soon sobered. “Anyway, the old guy wasn’t going to give out names of his parishioners, which is fair enough. But when Nicolay told him a guy was stalking Julie, had crossed the line, and was threatening violence, that his whole protest group might be charged as accessories to a crime, it didn’t take long for the pastor to come up with a name.”

“Good,” was all Aaron said. Nicolay might be gruff and somber, but he certainly got the job done. He was very particular about details, so Aaron believed him. If he thought this was the right guy, then it probably was.

“William seemed to be almost grateful to spill the beans on this Mailmann. It seems he was even creeping the pastor out with his overzealousness, at times. They tolerated him because he really embraced their Christian morality and seemed harmless. But then, some of his intense ideals were starting to frighten them. He even—”

“Do you have an address for this guy?” Aaron asked, cutting through Jake’s explanation. Aaron didn’t need the fine details right now. Jake could send that through in an email. Aaron wanted to know if they were close to catching this guy. “Did you get any hits on the name?”

“That’s the not-so-good news. This guy is a ghost. No address, no phone number. He does have a small online presence. A Facebook page where he spouts versus from the Bible and condemns women who have abortions. But that’s all we can find at the moment.”

“Damn,” Aaron muttered to himself.

“It may even be an alias,” Jake said down the line. “The pastor did give Nicolay a photo of this Travis guy, but I’m not sure how much help it’ll be. I’ll email it to you. It’s not very clear, Travis is standing with a group of other protesters. He’s got a beard, and a cap pulled down to cover his eyes.”

“Thanks, I’ll make sure Julie gets to see the photo, asap.” Aaron turned the new details over in his head. “That new legislation can’t come in soon enough,” he added. The Queensland government was due to pass a new law in the next few weeks, granting a safe access zone of one-hundred-and-fifty meters around family planning clinics. Aaron hadn’t really thought about it before he’d become involved with Julie again, but it was a heinous thing that people were allowed to harass and belittle women, making an already hard choice even harder. The new law might not stop protests all together, but at least it’d keep them out of the faces of the women who needed to use the clinic. “Hopefully it will stop this kind of thing from happening again.”

“I agree,” Jake replied, but Aaron heard the weariness in Jake’s voice. They both knew that a piece of paper with a new law written on it wasn’t going to stop sickos from attacking innocent women. They’d just find another way to do their hunting.

“Nicolay is looking into everyone in this group, of course. Leaving no stone unturned. But as you’ll see from the photo, most of them are women in their fifties and sixties, and don’t really fit the profile of our stalker,” Jake said.

“Right. Thanks Jake. Let me know if Nicolay comes up with anything else.” It wasn’t what Aaron had been hoping for, but at least it was a start.

“Will do. I’ll get Lance to work some of his magic and see if he can come up with any more on this Travis guy. He might be able to find stuff that Nicolay can’t. Talk to you when I have more info.”

“Cheers.” Aaron rang off, his mind still processing all the information. He’d need to find somewhere he could get reception around the campsite, so he could download his emails and show Julie the picture of the man called Travis Mailmann. On the off chance that she recognized him, they might be able to solve this case after all.

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