Chapter 7
Ace
If she wasn’t right in front of me, calling me out, I wouldn’t believe this is happening.
I’m a fucking spy. I work for one of the greatest intelligence agencies in the world and she spotted me?
Sweet, shy Shannon Barrow not only figured out that I’m following her, but she got the drop on me and is now standing in front of me with her hands on her hips.
And she looks furious.
For a minute, I’m so shocked, I don’t know what to do. So, I just stare at her. And those gorgeous blue eyes. Those full red lips. Her chest heaving as she demands I answer her. She’s as beautiful as ever, and for a few seconds, I can’t even hear what she’s saying because I’m so mesmerized by her.
“God dammit, Ace, answer me!” Her eyes flash and she throws up her hands in exasperation. Which is when I notice the Mace in her left hand.
Lord have mercy, she’s seriously pissed and I need to say something before I get an eyeful of concentrated capsaicin, which will hurt like a bitch.
“Shannon, let me explain.” I speak quietly, hoping to calm her, but it seems to have the opposite effect.
“Explain? You were in my apartment reading my diary! Who does that? What the hell is wrong with you? Why have you been stalking me?”
Wait, what?
Holy shit, she thinks I’m her stalker? Jesus, this is a clusterfuck. Or she’s truly nuts.
“Shannon, I’m not your stalker. I don’t even know—”
“I have a nanny cam!” Her eyes are blazing. It’s a good thing she can’t shoot bullets or lasers out of them because I would be a dead man. “So don’t fucking lie to me.”
“I’m not lying. I was—”
“You read my diary.” If possible, her eyes blaze even hotter, fixing me with a look that speaks volumes about how much of a line I crossed, despite my good intentions.
She’s spectacularly pissed about the diary. And how had I not noticed a fucking nanny cam? Am I losing my touch or what?
I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to—”
“Wanted to what? Spy on me?” She won’t let me finish a sentence and it’s becoming tiresome.
“Shannon.” I keep my voice low but I hope my tone lets her know I’m done with this unnecessary arguing.
“What?” Her pretty face is drawn in a scowl and the most poignant thing to me is that beneath her anger is something else: disappointment.
“I was trying to help!” I blurt out.
“Help what?”
“You. I was trying to see if there was anything going on that—”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Maybe if you’d let me finish a sentence, you’d hear what I’m trying to tell you.”
“I don’t want to listen to anything you have to say.” She points a finger at me. “Stop following me. Stop moving things around in my apartment. And don’t you ever invade my privacy again.”
She starts walking away.
I have no choice but to follow her, so I do, reaching for her arm. “Would you please listen to me?”
“Nope.” She keeps walking, wrenching her arm away so I can’t touch her, and a few people look our way so I opt to let her go.
“Call your mother!” I yell after her. “She’s the one who contacted me. Ask her.”
She hesitates but doesn’t turn around.
Then she keeps walking.
Great.
I feel completely helpless as the woman of my dreams stalks off down the street, totally upset with me.
Did I fuck this up or what?
I’ve just gotten back to my hotel when Samantha Barrow’s name flashes on the screen of my phone.
Oh, this is going to be fun.
“Hey, Mrs. Barrow.”
“You read her diary?!”
“What did you think I was going to do?” I demand. “Watch her for a few hours, immediately find the stalker, beat him up, and call to tell you everything’s okay? Do you understand how a stalker works? If she even has one.”
“If…” She hesitates. “What do you mean?”
“Well, so far all I’ve discovered is that Shannon decorates with a lot of bright colors and doesn’t think she’ll ever get married again. Essentially, there isn’t any evidence pointing to a stalker.”
She sighs.
“If you truly believe there’s something going on, I’ll stick around a little longer, but now that she knows I’m here and is pissed at me, I don’t know how effective I can be. I wish you’d told me she got a nanny cam.”
“She just did it last night. I didn’t know.”
“Well, what do you want me to do?”
“Shannon isn’t crazy. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know she’s not making things up or having hallucinations.
She showed me the pictures of her teakettle in the morning and then in a different place when she got home.
Short of doing it herself, what else could this be?
She has money, a job she swears she loves, and friends she travels and hangs out with.
There’s no reason for her to make something like this up.
Please, Ace, don’t give up yet. I know she’s being difficult, but it’s only because… ”
“Because?” I press her when she lets her voice trail yet again.
“Her divorce hurt and losing her father gutted her. She’s had a rough couple of years and even though you did what you had to do, I’m sure breaking into her apartment feels like a betrayal of some kind.”
Now I’m the one who sighs. “I should have spoken to her before I did that.”
“Well, what’s done is done. Give her a couple of days to calm down and see if you notice anything else amiss. If there’s still no sign of a stalker, I’ll let it go.”
“All right. A few more days.” I hang up and put the phone down.
This went sideways in ways I couldn’t explain.
I didn’t anticipate the nanny cam, didn’t even consider it since there wasn’t one in my initial visit to the apartment.
I took for granted she was still a sweet, na?ve woman who isn’t very worldly and I was very wrong.
Now I have no idea how to fix it, and worse, if she really does have a stalker, I’m not in a great position to help her.
* * *
I’ve just dozed off when my phone rings. I grab it and blink at the unfamiliar number. It’s local, which is confusing, so I answer cautiously. “Ace Ross.”
“Ace, it’s me.” She’s whispering, but I somehow recognize Shannon’s voice.
“Shannon? What’s wrong?”
“There’s someone in my apartment.”
I jump out of bed, grabbing my jeans as I speak. “Are you safe? Where are you?”
“I’m at a bar. I was going to delete the app for the stupid nanny cam and when I pulled it up, there was someone there that’s not you.”
“Tell me where you are and do not leave the bar!” I jam my feet into my shoes, grab my coat and run out the door as she tells me the name of the neighborhood pub she’s calling from.
I hail a taxi and am there in less than ten minutes, rushing inside and barely breathing until I see her. She’s at a table by the window, staring down at her phone. She looks up when I come in and gets to her feet, rushing to me and throwing her arms around me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I thought it was you… Oh my god, there’s really someone stalking me.”
“Are they still there?”
She shakes her head as she starts to pull away. “No, they left, but the whole thing is recorded.”
“Let’s sit down, okay?” As much as I like having her arms around me, I have to focus. “Show me.”
She sinks into her chair and pulls something up on her phone. A few seconds later I’m watching a shadowed figure moving around her living room. Whoever it is has on a large coat, a baseball cap, and gloves. It’s hard to see anything distinct about them, but my gut tells me it’s a woman.
The person moves quickly, but with purpose, rearranging Shannon’s pillows so the ones from the couch are on the chair and the ones from the chair are on the couch. It’s ridiculous, with no motive I can think of.
“Why would someone do this?” Shannon whispers. “I don’t understand.”
“Me either,” I admit. “Could it be your ex-husband?”
Her eyes darken. “He was the one who wanted the divorce. What could he possibly want from me? He has money, a new wife, and a burgeoning career. It would shock me if this was him, as much as I despise the man.”
“What about a man who was interested in you since you moved here?” I ask slowly. “Someone you blew off.”
“No one has asked me out that I’ve blown off,” she says.
“I went out with one guy at work and then his father died and he moved back to the U.S. So he left me, not the other way around. Mr. Koelzig at the bakery flirts with me every day, but he’s eighty if he’s a day, and the person in my apartment was much thinner. ”
“All right. First thing we’re doing is packing you a bag and going to my hotel. I’ll sleep in the chair, but I don’t want you out of my sight until I get a handle on this.”
“Okay.” She’s quiet now, nothing like the furious woman from earlier today.
“It’s going to be okay,” I tell her. “Promise.”
She just nods, though I can tell by the look in her eyes that she doesn’t quite believe it.