Chapter 14 – Kenzie
Chapter Fourteen
Kenzie
I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss.
Days later, it was still on my mind.
I’d kissed Jensen as a way of saying thanks. Although, that wasn’t really true. I’d implied it was a kiss of thanks because that had given me an excuse to act on my attraction.
But then, he’d acted on his attraction and kissed me back and…
I sighed, pushing my thighs together as a flush once again worked its way up my neck and face. Yes, I was very definitely still thinking about that kiss. I touched my lips.
I didn’t know that I’d ever been kissed so thoroughly. And what had made it even better was that he hadn’t pushed for anything else.
Not that I would’ve said no.
But still, the mixture of such obvious desire with such obvious restraint on his part had been heady. Was still heady.
Jensen and I had been tiptoeing around it for the past three days. It hadn’t happened again, but it damn well crackled in the air around us every time we spoke at the garage.
“Are you sure?” Jensen asked, his eyes locked with mine .
Hell if I even remembered what we were talking about. We were back at Draper’s Tavern for dinner since neither of us had had any plans for how we would eat tonight. “Um, what?”
He took a bite of his pasta. “Are you sure there was a pause when that guy spoke from your mom’s phone?”
“Oh.” Right. Stalker. The reason I was in Garnet Bend, which did not involve Jensen Chambers’s lips in any way.
All had been quiet on the stalker front for a few days. My parents were safe, and I was talking to them daily on the new burner phone Jensen had gotten me. Mom’s phone hadn’t been found. The Zodiac Tactical friends had reported in daily. There didn’t seem to be anyone suspicious watching my parents either at home or their jobs. And I had received no messages or any further threats from the stalker.
It had been both a blessing and a curse. I was very glad for the reprieve, but it also gave me extra time to think about other things like…
I glanced at Jensen’s lips as he took a sip of his beer. Yeah, I was well aware of what I’d been thinking about. I shifted in my seat again, praying he wouldn’t ask if I had ants in my pants.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
Without Mom’s actual phone, the details of what the stalker had said hadn’t proved very useful.
“But it sounded weird, right? Mechanical? Like some sort of app or software was used to change the sound of his voice.”
I nodded. I’d been through all this with Charlie, who’d reported it back to Detective Watters.
“Why do that?” Jensen asked when he finished his current bite of food. “Why disguise his voice?”
I set my fork down and stared at him. “You’re right.”
“There has to be something distinctive about his voice that would make him want to use something to distort it. An accent, maybe, or a lisp? A low or high pitch that would be more easily identifiable?”
An even worse thought occurred to me. “Or maybe he thought I would recognize him. Maybe it’s someone I talk to regularly.”
The thought killed the rest of my appetite.
“I’m sorry.” Jensen’s face looked pained. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t.” This damned stalker was the one who upset me. I picked up my fork and tried to take another small bite of my chicken potpie. It was a crying shame to let something this good go to waste.
“Watters and I have already discussed the fact that most stalkers are generally tied to their victim’s lives in some way. He started working from my inner circle and moving out from there. So far, nothing. Anybody who fit the possible profile had an alibi for one or all of the incidents.”
“If it’s okay, I’ll mention our thinking to Charlie. See if anything can be built from it.”
I nodded. “Please do. At this point, I think they should be investigating anything that might narrow down the pool of suspects.”
Before I could say anything else, Lucas showed up at our table, interrupting.
“Sorry to barge in,” he said without humor. “But Liam thinks we might have a possible identification of the person who sent that message on your social media account the first night you were in town.”
“Really?” Excited hope had my pulse racing. I wanted this over so badly, so I didn’t have to stress over it anymore. Even if one of my problems could be resolved, it would be a step in the right direction.
“Can you guys come out to the ranch?” he asked, glancing at our almost-empty plates.“Jude wants to show you. I was in town, so I agreed to deliver the message. I’m headed back there now.”
I nodded, looking at Jensen.
He nodded too. “Yeah, we’ll be right out.”
We scarfed down the rest of our food, paid the bill, and were on our way out the door in a matter of minutes.
As Jensen drove out to Resting Warrior Ranch, I started to get ahead of myself, envisioning who this creep could be. Especially now that Jensen had mentioned using the voice disguiser.
Was it someone I knew from the seminars I taught? Could it be a client who felt jilted from not getting a property they’d really had their heart set on?
The what-ifs ran rampant in my mind, and I steadied myself with a deep breath. I was getting carried away with too many emotions. I needed to slow down and keep a level head.
Jensen noticed. In his quiet way, he reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze, like a physical reassurance to pull me back to the present.
“Hopefully this is good news.”
“I hope so too.” I wanted nothing more than to be able to get back to my life.
I looked down at where our hands were entwined. But maybe that wasn’t so true anymore. Maybe there was something I wanted just as much as I wanted to put all this behind me.
This man.
We arrived at the ranch and went straight into the office, finding Jude, Liam, and Lucas already in the room. Jude was at the computer and ready to share the information on his screen with us.
He got right down to business. “I haven’t had much luck with the El Camino, but I was able to trace that direct message you got the first night back to an IP address at a hotel in Denver.”
I narrowed my eyes on the location he zoomed into on the map. It was a national chain, huge, but nothing particularly memorable about it.
“I know that hotel, to be sure. It’s on the west side of town, closer to Boulder. But I’ve never stayed there. I haven’t dealt with the property for work either.”
Jude pursed his lips. “Okay. I was hoping you’d be familiar with it.”
“So, the stalker was staying at that hotel when he sent the message?” Jensen asked. “That would narrow down our search considerably. Hopefully Watters can issue a warrant for credit card receipts.”
Jude looked back at the screen. “Nope, not a guest. The IP address isn’t conclusive, but it looks like the message came from an employee computer.”
“An employee?” I asked.
“That’s why I was hoping you’d stayed there before or maybe gave one of your seminars there.”
“No.” I would’ve remembered if I had. “Most of my work is on the other side of town.”
“Regardless, we’ve got pictures of hotel employees for you to look though.” He started clicking on the keyboard and brought up another set of files. “See if anyone stands out.”
There were hundreds of photos. Jensen whistled. “That’s a lot.”
Jude nodded. “I know. And even more because I’ve also included vendors the hotel deals with that might have access to their computer system. We’re looking mostly at the men and anyone with records, but you should still glance at all of them.”
“Okay. I’ll do it.” If this was a lead, I’d do whatever I could to see where it took us.
For hours, I looked through picture after picture of the people who currently worked there or had any tie to the hotel. A couple of faces stood out. They were vague, but I felt like I’d run into them before somewhere with the seminars and the courses I offered. I mentioned it to Jude, who then started to gather more information on a different computer.
But I wasn’t very hopeful. I wasn’t even sure I’d met them before.
“Did you ever research using this hotel for one of your seminars?” Jensen asked as he placed another cup of coffee in my hand. It had been a long evening, and my eyes were starting to cross from looking at so many pictures.
Jensen had stayed by my side the whole time. Talking things through with me when I needed it. Rubbing my neck when it had gotten stiff from holding it one way for too long.
I shook my head. “Not at this specific location. Why?”
“I was just wondering if a random inquiry about costs or dates might have put you on the stalker’s radar.”
“No. Although I can check with my team. I wouldn’t have been the one to do that early legwork. If the hotel was out of our price point or didn’t have availability on the dates we needed, I would never have heard about it.”
“It’s worth a try. Anything is worth a try at this point.”
“It just all feels so much more personal.” I set the coffee down and leaned back in the chair. “And impossible.”
Jensen was standing behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. I leaned my cheek onto it, needing the connection.
“I know it does. But don’t give up hope, okay? We’re going to figure out who this guy is and make sure you’re safe again.”
I started back on the photo files, trying to take encouragement from his words. But with every passing moment, that became more and more difficult.