Chapter Four
Liam settled into his hotel room and was reviewing the footage he had shot that day when his phone rang with a call from Nina. Smiling, he answered. “Hey, there.”
“When I got home, there was a note. It’s from him. From Nicholson. I’m sure.” She spoke in a rush, words running into each other.
Liam rose and retrieved his keys and wallet from the dresser. “I’m on my way over now. What’s your address?”
She rattled off the number and street name.
“Are you safe until I get there?” he asked.
“Yes. The doors are double locked and Sky is calm. She would let me know if anyone was around.”
“I’ll call when I’m in your driveway.”
But when he pulled up to the stucco bungalow, the front door opened and she stood on the small porch, arms hugged across her body.
He hurried up the walkway and ushered her inside, then waited while she locked the door. Sky trotted over to greet him, her plumed tail stirring the air.
“The letter was taped to the window beside the front door,” Nina said, and walked to the small dining table to the left of the kitchen.
He read the letter without picking it up. “You think this is from Nicholson?”
“He called me darling. He always did that before. And today, when we were eating lunch, I had the same feeling—not just that someone was watching me, but that he was watching me.”
“Have you called the sheriff? Or Doug?”
She shook her head. “I was planning to talk to Doug soon, but we were so busy today, I put it off. I thought, what difference would it make, since until now no one has bothered me.”
“You need to tell them now. Law enforcement and Doug and Marlena.”
“I will.” She took a deep breath. “When I saw the letter, I was so terrified, I wasn’t thinking straight. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
“You didn’t bother me.” He caressed her arm. “I’m touched you thought of me first.”
Her eyes met his, so full of sadness. “You never let me down,” she said. “I let you down.”
He pulled her close, and she leaned into him, her head resting on his shoulder.
He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes, transported to those brief weeks together when he had fallen for her so fast. He had told himself he would be more cautious this time around, but already he felt that resolve slipping.
She moved out of his arms. “I’ll call the sheriff now,” she said. “But I’ll wait until tomorrow to talk to Doug and Marlena.”
“I’ll stay with you while the sheriff is here. And I’ll go with you to talk to Doug and Marlena.” When she looked as if she might protest, he added, “I was at Lake Placid for some of the harassment, so I can verify what happened. Just in case anyone tries to downplay the danger.”
“Thanks.”
She called the sheriff’s department and explained she had received a threatening letter she thought might be from a man who had previously been sentenced to prison for stalking her. After verifying that Nina was currently safe, the dispatcher said a deputy would stop by to take a report.
Nina hung up the phone. “I guess now all we can do is wait.”
“I’ll wait with you, but don’t let me keep you from whatever you had planned for the evening.”
She looked down a hallway. “I was going to take a shower.”
“Do that.” He pulled out his phone. “I’ll keep myself occupied.”
“Where is Angel?” she asked, as if suddenly realizing the dog wasn’t with him.
“She was sleeping in her kennel when I left,” he said. “All the excitement of the day had her tuckered out.”
“Sky is tired, too.” She glanced to the armchair where Sky lay curled, snoring softly.
She left him, and moments later the sound of running water told him she was in the shower. He forced his mind away from fantasies of her naked in the stream of water and opened the browser on his phone.
A search for Aaron Nicholson brought up everything he needed to know about Nina’s stalker.
Most of the articles he had read previously, but a few of them were new.
A short piece from a national publication revealed that upon his release from prison, Nicholson had settled in Bluff, Utah, with his seventy-four-year-old mother and replied “no comment” to any questions lobbed at him by the reporter.
The shower shut off, and a few moments later the blow-dryer whirred.
Liam went into the kitchen, filled a glass with water and drank half of it, then surveyed the contents of the refrigerator with an eye to suggesting dinner.
He couldn’t stay the night—not unless he retrieved Angel from the Sheraton—but he wanted to stay long enough to reassure himself that Nina was calm and safe, preferably with a law enforcement officer patrolling the neighborhood regularly.
The blow-dryer ceased, and seconds later the doorbell rang. Sky jumped up and barked. Nina came into the room, dressed in a soft tunic top and wide-legged trousers in a deep salmon color, and shushed the dog.
“It’s a sheriff’s deputy,” Liam said after a glance through the window.
Nina opened the door, greeted the officer, then led the way to the table where the note still lay. Liam relocked the door, then followed.
“Dispatch said the note was threatening,” Officer Dale, a twentysomething with a buzz cut and the beginnings of a paunch, said. “This reads like an old friend saying hello.”
“Except that the only person who ever called me darling is a man who just got out of prison after serving three years for stalking and attacking me,” Nina said. “This is the kind of message he would leave.”
“Let’s sit down and you can tell me about the stalker.”
Liam sat on the sofa with Nina. Sky came and settled next to Nina, her head in her mistress’s lap. Officer Dale took the chair recently vacated by the dog. He opened a notebook and looked at Nina.
“The stalker’s name was Aaron Nicholson,” she said.
“A little over four years ago, shortly after the Winter Olympics in Beijing, he began stalking me. I was traveling around Europe and North America with other medal winners, doing various appearances. These notes started showing up at my hotel or were posted at venues where I was skiing.”
“I can see how a note from a stranger could be annoying,” Dale said. “But a note isn’t dangerous. Especially if it doesn’t contain a threat.”
“I believed that, too,” Nina said. “The notes were like this one. He called me darling. Sometimes he talked about how beautiful I was or how much he looked forward to meeting me.” She swallowed hard, her whole body tense.
“After the European tour, we traveled to Lake Placid, New York, for an exhibition show. It was a charity fundraiser, something I was passionate about. A lot of Olympians participated. I began to get the sensation that I was being watched. There were more notes, and then one night I came back to my hotel room and he was there, waiting for me.” She looked down at her hands, knotted in her lap, fingernails digging into her skin.
“He threatened you?” Dale prompted.
“He had a knife. He pulled me into my hotel room, locked the door and held me there for several hours. He cut me with the knife. I finally managed to get away from him and run for help, but I thought I was going to die.”
These last words, spoken in a ragged whisper, squeezed Liam’s heart.
He had been away that night, having flown to Argentina on a new assignment.
He saw the story on the news and hurried to get back to Nina.
But by the time he got there she had been whisked to safety, and he hadn’t heard from her again.
Until now. He took her hand and squeezed it. “Nicholson was captured and sentenced to prison, but he only served three years,” he said. “He’s out now, and his last known address was in Bluff, Utah, only a few hours from here.”
“Have either of you seen Nicholson here in town?” Dale asked.
“I haven’t,” Liam said.
Nina shook her head.
“You have no proof Nicholson wrote this.” Dale tapped the letter with one finger. “It could be someone who heard about the previous incident and is copying him. It could be an innocent fan.”
“Given what happened before, you should take this seriously,” Liam said.
“I don’t see that we can do anything at this juncture.”
“You could have extra patrols by this house, and alert other officers to be on the lookout for anyone acting suspiciously,” Liam said.
“We’re in a whole town full of tourists. What constitutes suspicious behavior is a matter of opinion. As for patrols, we don’t have the staff for special attention to one person.” Dale stood. “I’ll keep this report in our files. If you see Nicholson or receive a real threat, let us know.”
Liam took a step toward the man, but Nina pulled him back. “Thank you, Officer,” she said. “I’ll be in touch if anything else happens.”
As soon as the door closed behind the deputy, Liam balled his fists at his sides and began to pace. “He wasn’t taking you seriously. I’m going to file a complaint. Or maybe go to the press.”
“No!” She grabbed his arm again. “Don’t give Nicholson any publicity. That’s what he feeds on, at least according to the doctor who testified at his trial. I don’t want to do anything to egg him on.”
He forced himself to rein in his emotions. “You’re right. But the fact that that cop didn’t do anything at all infuriates me.”
“What did you expect?” she asked. “He’s right. There’s nothing threatening about the letter. It’s like all the others I received. Creepy only because they kept showing up. Even I dismissed them as harmless at the time.”
“But they weren’t harmless. And they may not be now.”
She nodded. “I’ll talk to Doug and Marlena tomorrow. Though I doubt they’ll do anything, either.”
“If you persuade them this is bad publicity for the resort, they might do something to protect you,” Liam said. “At least they can let people know to look for Nicholson.”
“I’ll try,” she said. “Our best opportunity to stop him will be if we can verify he’s here. That’s a clear violation of his parole.”
“So, we both can keep an eye out for any sign of him and alert others to do the same,” he said. “What are you going to do in the meantime?”