Page 97 of Unseen Danger
He watched Phoenix more intently, looking for something in her expression that would clue him in on the reason for these questions. “No. I always check for tails, whether I’m with D-Chop or not.” A lasting symptom of having served overseas. “There haven’t been any.” He still couldn’t interpret anything from her expression or her eyes. “Why do you ask?”
“Since you’re assisting us in finding the party or parties behind the threats to your client, you should know the additional trail we’ve been following.” Phoenix lowered her hands to her hips. “The culprit, or the person hired to carry out some of the incidents, could drive a black Dodge Ram.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because he was following me.” Nevaeh’s response nearly knocked the wind out of him.
His gaze instantly swung to her face. “What?”
Nevaeh glanced at her boss before continuing, hesitation in her tone. “Someone in that kind of pickup started following me after the fire at PowerSource.”
Jazz nodded. “And I saw the same truck in the lot that night. No one was in it.”
Nevaeh looked at her friend. “I could never get the plate number because it’s splattered with mud.”
“You said ‘he.’” Which meant she’d seen the driver, the stalker. The word stuck in his craw even though he hadn’t said it out loud. Nevaeh had a stalker. The woman who had already been through so much. The woman he—
“Yeah. I got a look at him—not a very good one—when he…” Nevaeh slid her tongue between her lips and glanced away. “When he looked in my window one night.”
“He what?” Branson leaned forward, his whole body tensing with his tone.
Every woman in the room looked at him, along with more than one dog. Several of them protection dogs who stared at him a little too intently.
He let out a slow breath and forced himself to lean back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice.”
Cora smiled. “We understand.” Something in her gaze said she understood a little too much. That she realized he cared for Nevaeh.
He wasn’t exactly doing a good job hiding that from anyone at the moment. He unclenched his fists and forced his hands to rest on his legs. “Did he…,” Branson locked his gaze on Nevaeh’s brown eyes, “…hurt you?”
A grunt drew his attention to Sofia and the smirk on her face. “More like the opposite. She and Alvarez gave him the scare of his life.”
“We did charge out after him, and he took off.” Nevaeh grinned, infusing Branson’s taut muscles with relief. “I couldn’t ID him because he wore a ski mask, but it was obviously a man. Big build. In a black sweatshirt and jeans.”
“Has he come back?” Branson wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer. But he had to know. And had to find out who the man was who would dare stalk Nevaeh.
“Nope.” Her tone was casual. “I don’t think he’ll try that angle now that he knows the welcome he’ll get.”
At least she didn’t seem too bothered by the man. That unexpected courage showing itself again.
“Especially with Flash and me there.” Jazz nudged Nevaeh with her elbow, earning a smile.
“Oh, yeah. Ain’t nobody gonna mess with you two.”
“We think that fits one of our theories as to his identity.” Cora wrote Masked Man in the suspects list on the board. “Given that his vehicle was at the PowerSource Center the night of the fire, and he began tailing Nevaeh soon after, we believe he could have been the one to set the fire and could be tied to all or some of the subsequent threats against your client.”
“But why would he follow her?” Branson glanced at Cora. “If he felt threatened by the additional security and the K-9s around D-Chop, why not target Sofia and Jazz, too?”
“That’s what we wondered.” Jazz’s mouth straightened into a serious line. “We think the guy must believe Nevaeh saw him at PowerSource, maybe doing something to the equipment or being somewhere he shouldn’t have been. Something that could identify him as the culprit.”
Branson swung his gaze back to Nevaeh.
She shrugged. “If I did, I didn’t notice anything suspicious about him. I saw your security people that night, and Peter, of course. The band members. Stagehands. But no one who seemed out of place or up to no good. I checked everyone I saw for IDs.”
“Could one of the band members or stagehands have monkeyed with the pyrotechnics while you were there?” Bristol leaned forward and looked at Nevaeh.
“They were all near that equipment on stage, but I wasn’t watching them very closely since they were cleared to be there.”
“Of course.” Jazz’s tone took on a slight defensive edge as she spoke up for her friend. “We were only supposed to watch for people who weren’t allowed back there.”