Page 13 of You Found Me
“‘You would be too distracted by love to finish’?” Annie repeated, sounding incredulous. “Not only does that make my skin want to crawl right off my body, it’s just lame. Seriously. Sounds like bad porn.”
Ward paused to read the email again. Tension crawled up his back and into his shoulders. He hated stalker cases. They hit a little too close to his own back yard. His mother had a stalker.
He shoved the memory aside. He didn’t have time for it.
“Next one.” His voice creaked a little around the words.
Spencer exchanged glances with Annie, then cleared his throat. “The second letter is a little more aggressive. ‘Sweet Della. Sometimes it seems like you are so close to letting the world know about our true love. I can hear it in every song you sing every note out of those sweet lips is for me. It frustrates me that we can’t tell the world I’m sorry but it does! I can’t wait until the world knows that you are mine. I don’t want to wait forever and I know you don’t either. I love you you love me. The world should know. Soon love soon. Yours now and always.’ He uses that phrase at the end of every message.”
“He’s never met a comma, has he. Firmly delusional,” Annie said. Her voice had shifted from incredulous to tight. “I had a man stalk me like this once. He built an entire fantasy world where I was one of his concubines before we even met. It was…annoying.”
“What did you do to make it stop?” Spencer asked curiously.
“Nothing.” Annie’s gaze hardened, and a sliver of a smile sharp enough to cut ice appeared on her face. “I used him for information and when he’d run out of ways to be useful…the company took care of the rest.”
“Oh.” Spencer blinked. “I don’t suppose we can take that approach here.”
“No.” Ward gave Spencer his best be-serious look. “This is California, not Dubai, and we’re executive protection, not assassins. You said there were three?”
“Yes. Right. Just a second.” Spencer clicked to bring up the next email. “‘Sweet Della. I have to admit your lack of reply is disturbing. I know it’s not you. I know you’d respond if you could but I suspect your hands are tied. The people keeping us apart have no idea what it’s like, do they? Day after day I’m so close I could reach out and touch you but I can’t because you’re surrounded so I wait. Not forever though. I can’t watch you suffer apart from me like this much longer. Please find a way to reach out. I’ll be watching. Yours now and always.’”
Annie leaned back and cradled her coffee as if it could take the sudden chill out of the room. “That didn’t sweep her off her feet? I’m shocked.”
“She never saw the email, so no,” Spencer said.
“He’s escalating pretty fast,” Ward said. Even though it was just text on a screen, he could see the increasing agitation behind the words. If the guy had written these out by hand, the last one probably would have been illegible. “Any chance these emails lead us somewhere?”
“Sadly, no,” Spencer said. “They all originate from the same IP address, which I traced to the Los Angeles Central Library. While they do require you to register to use a computer, none of the names on the user list pan out as someone who could be our stalker.”
“He could have piggybacked on someone else’s session,” Annie said. “It’s what I would do.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’ve done exactly that?” Spencer asked.
“Because she has,” Ward said.
“He’s crazy, but not stupid,” Annie said. “He managed to get past pretty tight coverage at a high-profile event to leave his littlelove note without anyone getting a good look at him, not even the cameras.”
“He’s better than average, for sure,” Ward said. He checked the time. “Let’s go over the plan for today. The house has been set up with high-tech perimeter security and features a gate that’s monitored twenty-four seven. The entire setup was done by Romi Mizrahi, so I figure it’s a pretty solid place to sequester. Ms. Bellamy has personal protection, Greg Diggs, who’s been with her for over five years.”
“Diggs,” Annie said thoughtfully. “Never heard of him.”
Spencer tapped another button and a dossier of Diggs appeared, along with a few shots of the large Black man with biceps made for moving heavy equipment. He loomed behind Ms. Bellamy in most of the shots, every inch the intimidating deterrent he was supposed to be. “Greg Diggs, thirty-one, drafted to the NFL in the third round. His career never really took off and he wound up riding the bench a lot before he retired three years later. He was recruited by Sotera Personal Protection Agency. He did their standard six months of training, then they dumped him into the field with Ms. Bellamy as his primary assignment. He’s been with her ever since.”
“Is he any good?” Annie asked.
“I haven’t met him yet.” Ward couldn’t keep the note of derision out of his voice. “But the lack of training can’t be doing him any favors. Sotera and places like it ruin guys like him.”
Ward drained the last of his coffee and crumpled the cup in his hand. “Okay, time to load up and head out. We have a meeting with our celebrity and her personal protection in ninety minutes. Annie, be ready to do a sweep and risk assessment.”
“Always a good time.” Annie picked up her coffee cup and tossed it into the trash.
“Spencer, I’ll want you to switch out her phone and lock down any tech on-site. If this guy can’t get through the frontgate, he might try another way, so let’s leave him a hole we can watch.”
“I’ve got my tracer ready, and the burner phone is all set to go.” Spencer grabbed the bag of muffins and his laptop and turned off the monitors.
“Good. Hopefully, we’ll nail this down fast and easy,” Ward said. “We keep her safe until we identify the stalker, then take next steps.”
“Which are?” Annie asked as they filed out of the conference room.