s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

her listen; he d waited too long for this moment. There was no going
back.
A car whizzed by, taking the corner too fast and he thought it looked
like Steph s car, which was impossible, since she was at work. Unless
she was making deliveries? No, he d told her to stay in the store and let
Paula do that. Perhaps Paula was using Steph s car. Geez, if that was
how Paula drove, he was surprised any of the floral arrangements ever
arrived in one piece. He pulled into his parking spot and headed inside.
Thomas, the doorman was just coming on duty.
 Afternoon, Thomas.
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 Good afternoon, Mr. Sinclair. Been grocery shopping and to the wine
store I see. A special night?
 Yep. A special night and special meal for a special lady.
 If you mean Miss Fields, you just missed her.
 Stephanie was here?
 It certainly looked like her. Mind you, I was just arriving. Whoever
it was, they were almost running across the parking lot with a pet carri-
er. It sounded like a mighty upset cat was inside.
 Hmm. Thanks for the information Thomas.
Jake waited impatiently for the elevator and then hurried to the apart-
ment. The door was wide open.  Steph? He walked inside, but imme-
diately knew she wasn t there. It was too quiet. There was none of the
energy in the air that always signalled her presence to him. Setting the
groceries on the counter, he noted a faint beeping sound coming from
the living room. It led him to the phone, which was lying, on the floor.
He picked it up and listened, but the connection had been broken.
Pressing the appropriate combination of buttons, he had the phone re-
dial the last call made. The phone rang and Stephanie s voice sounded
in his ear. She d called the flower shop, but why? He picked up a card
from the coffee table. It was the instructions on how to retrieve messages
and her password was on it. For but a moment he hesitated, then de-
cided to see what was on her voice mail that could have upset her so
much. Maybe there would be a clue as to why she d left or where she
was going. As he listened, he wandered towards the bedroom. Sud-
denly he froze in the doorway, staring at the bed. His file on her was
scattered all over and several pictures of her lay on the carpet looking up
at him. How had she found it? What must she be thinking?
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A male voice in his ear caught his attention.  Stephanie, I know where
you are and I m coming for you soon. Next time, the blood will be real.
 Damn! He threw the phone down and raked his hands through his
hair. Where could she have gone? She didn t have any family just Ella
McCreedy and Paula. Quickly, he sifted through his papers on her and
found the two addresses.
*****
Stephanie pulled into Paula s driveway and turned off the car. Laying
her head on the steering wheel, she tried to bring some semblance of or-
der to her racing thoughts. Jake was the stalker and he was threatening
to kill her. She still couldn t believe it. He was so kind, attentive,
gentle& But the facts spoke for themselves. The break-in had occurred
just after she d met him he d actually been in the shop and left on the
pretext of running errands. Perhaps his plan had to been to attack her
that very first night, but when she d noticed that someone was at the rear
door, he d covered up his real intent by taking money from the till.
Her name tag was another bit of evidence. In the coffee shop, he d
commented on it and then suddenly it was gone. A real thief wouldn t
have taken it it had no worth except that by stealing it, she d been
hurt. The message on the fridge& Well, he d probably written it while
she was changing and, of course, there was the all too damning file
folder full of pictures of her. There could be no logical explanation for
that except that he was stalking her.
 Oh Jake, why did it have to be you? Why are you doing this to me? I
love you. I thought you loved me. The words were whispered as she
wrapped her arms around herself as is trying to ward off the pain of his
betrayal. The past few days had all been a fantasy; part of an elaborate
ruse to make her trust him. She should have known better. Why would
any normal man be interested in a boringly ordinary person like her?
Instead, he d probably seen her as an easy target for his sick game a
naive, lonely woman who d be so taken up with his looks that she d nev-
er question his motives. She d fallen into his trap without even the
slightest protest, giving him both her body and her heart, thinking he felt
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the same way. In actual fact, it was all just some sick joke. He d prob-
ably been laughing at her all along. The idea hurt unbearably.
Sniffling, she realized her face was wet. Grabbing a tissue, she wiped
her eyes and blew her nose. Taking a deep shuddering breath, she tried
to calm herself down. Her throat was tight with unshed tears, but now
was not the time. Once she was safe and Jake was behind bars, then
she d mourn the loss of the man she thought she knew. Right now, she
needed to find a place to hide until he was caught.
It was only a matter of time before he found out where Paula lived, so
staying here wasn t an option. She could leave Coco here though. Paula
liked the beast, and Chelsea would be delighted to have a temporary
playmate how Coco would feel about that was another matter, but it
couldn t be helped.
Gathering her purse, she noticed that her cell phone was on the floor
of the car where she d dropped it earlier.  I never even finished my call
to the police, she realized.  Once I drop Coco off and get on the road [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]