Page 51 of Stalked

She shrugged, shaking her head with a smile. “The Ammonses are odd. Definitely keep to themselves and don’t want people, especially the government, in their business. But they took me in. Let me wash dishes, then started letting me wait tables. When they found out I was sleeping out back under the café’s overhang—”

“What?” The word was out of Steve’s mouth before he could catch it. But the thought of her homeless, pregnant, sleeping outside.

“Honestly, it wasn’t so bad. And it was just for a few days.”

Steve’s fist clenched but he didn’t say anything further.

“Anyway, they invited me to live with them, and that was that. I pretty much never left their property. I worked, then went upstairs. For the first couple of weeks I would run downstairs every morning to see if there was a note from the Watcher.”

“And nothing? Ever?” Brandon asked.

“No. Never. I just began thinking of the house as my force field.” She scoffed at herself. “Stupid, I know.”

Andrea walked over and touched Rosalyn on the shoulder. “No, not stupid at all. No one would blame you for staying somewhere where you felt safe. Where, for all intents and purposes, youweresafe.”

“Why did you leave?” Jon asked.

“The baby.” Rosalyn put a hand on her stomach. “Soon it wasn’t just going to be me anymore. The Ammonses are in their seventies. I knew I needed to have a backup plan in case...” She trailed off, then finally picked back up. “In case something happened to me.”

In case the Watcher killed her. She didn’t say it but everyone in the room knew what she meant.

“So you contacted your sister,” Andrea prompted when Rosalyn didn’t go on.

She nodded. “I asked Lindsey to meet me in Pensacola. I was going to go back to the hotel and see if they would give me Steve’s name. Or, if there was some sort of privacy law, see if they would at least contact him on my behalf.”

Until that moment Steve hadn’t realized he’d held a hardness inside himself against her about that. He’d silently, subconsciously, assumed she’d never planned to tell him about the baby. But she had. He took a step toward her, catching her eyes with his.

“I didn’t know who you were,” she continued, looking at him. “And I definitely didn’t know about all this—” she gestured around the room with her arm “—but I knew the baby had a better chance with you than with me.”

He wanted to move closer. To pick her up and plop her down on his lap. To promise her it was all going to be all right. To apologize for being an idiot earlier today.

Andrea looked over at him, sympathy in her eyes. She could clearly read his pain, his concern. Steve didn’t care if it was noticeable to everyone.

“And Steve was there identifying what he thought was your body,” Jon said.

“With all your sister’s drug troubles, I’m surprised her prints weren’t on file. But yours were,” Steve said. “At least from juvie.”

Rosalyn rolled her eyes. “That’s when we were sixteen and Lindsey shoplifted. Left me to take the blame.”

It explained a lot.

“Okay.” Brandon got them back on track. “And once you were in Pensacola, you were immediately contacted by the Watcher again.”

Rosalyn’s lips pursed as she nodded.

“We know your clothes had the transmitters. Maybe they were short-range and the Watcher couldn’t pick them up from that far away,” Jon mused.

“Possible, but Rosalyn also traveled nearly as far when she was in Dallas and Memphis and he found her there.” Brandon turned back toward the whiteboard.

It was time to take action. Steve turned to Roman. “I need you to get to Ellijay. Talk to the Ammonses, scope out the situation. See why the Watcher might have left Rosalyn alone while she was there.”

Roman headed for the door. “You got it, boss. One-horse towns are my favorite.” He winked at everyone as he walked by. “I’ll call as soon as I have info.”

Brandon nodded. “Good. Having solid intel on the Ammonses will help. The other big inconsistency is how the Watcher found you here in Colorado, after you’d removed all the bugs.”

Steve ran a hand over his face. “I could’ve sworn we weren’t followed. I was actively watching the entire time.” He looked over at Rosalyn and shrugged. “But today hasn’t been my finest day when it comes to judgment calls.”

Jon had been looking at Rosalyn’s notebook but now looked up to address everyone. “I think we all have to agree. We’re either missing something big, or the Watcher isn’t just one person.”

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