Page 30 of Stalked

Rosalyn nodded. “The night I told him about the Watcher.”

“Another heart attack, like the detective?”

“No. The news called it a random act of violence. Some sort of gang retaliation, even though the guy had never been involved with gangs and wasn’t even near that part of town.” Rosalyn turned toward the window. “So no, I wasn’t about to tell you about the Watcher and see you die also.”

She’d carried a lot of weight by herself for many months, having to worry about not only herself but other people too. And now a baby. Most people would’ve buckled under the pressure.

He redirected the conversation. “But you haven’t heard anything from the Watcher since that night at the hotel when we were together?”

“Well, once I got back to Pensacola three days ago to meet my sister, I heard from him. Another note under my hotel room door.” She shuddered.

“This one was worse than the others?”

“No, it had just been so long since I’d received anything.”

“So you mean after the morning you left me six months ago, you hadn’t heard from the Watcher until you came back to Pensacola this week?”

That meant something. Steve didn’t know exactly what yet, but he knew that the Watcher’s absence from Rosalyn’s life for six months would be a big clue in solving the case.

“Where did you go when you left me?”

She looked over at him and flushed. “I’m sorry I stole your money. I didn’t have any left.”

“I would’ve given it to you if you’d asked.”

“That would’ve involved giving you more information than was good for your health.”

“I would’ve preferred that to waking up with you gone and thinking the worst of you for six months.”

Actually, he’d thought worse of himself than her. That he’d been a gullible fool. But he’d thought pretty badly of her too.

That wasn’t what was important now. “So you took nearly $200...”

“You have to understand, I was at a pretty low place. Everywhere I’d gone, the Watcher had found me. Admittedly, he hadn’t tried to hurt me like he has this week, but it was still wearing me down. A note slipped under my door every night or so, knowing he was that close...”

“I’m sure it was nerve-racking.”

“It was nerve-racking the first couple of months. By the time I met you, I was considering just killing myself and saving the Watcher the trouble.”

He glanced over at her. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “That night at the bar when we met, I ran in because of the rain. I’d been out watching the sunset, considering if taking my own life would be better than letting the Watcher continue to kill innocent people.”

Steve couldn’t even bear to think about it. “Rosalyn—”

“Then I met you,” she continued. “It didn’t change anything really, but—”

She stopped and looked away.

“But what?”

“I connected with someone. With you. It was the first time I hadn’t felt alone in so long.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I wasn’t using you for money, Steve. I panicked when I saw the Watcher’s note. All I could think of was getting away.”

He believed her. She hadn’t taken his credit cards or stolen his rental car. If she’d been trying to take him for all she could, she wouldn’t have left those behind.

“Okay, so what did you do when you left that morning?”

“I took a bus as far as the money I stole from you would take me. I didn’t want to go back to my car—I just wanted to get out of town. That ended up being Ellijay, Georgia.”

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