by Elle James
Scott had a job in a manufacturing facility, working the night shift making semiconductors for computers. He’d agreed on the PTSD counseling because he didn’t want his marriage to fall apart. He’d told Emily on several occasions that he loved his wife, and he wanted to keep his family together. He’d do anything to make that happen.
Surely a guy who cared that much about his wife and family wouldn’t be out threatening another woman and delivering flowers to her.
Emily left her inner office and took a seat in the outer office where she conducted sessions with individual patients. This room had a couch and an armchair and muted lighting to make people feel comfortable.
Scott arrived looking better than he had in a while, and he actually smiled when he said hello.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
His smile broadened. “I did like you suggested and took my wife out on a date.”
“That’s great. How did it go?”
“Great, but the best part was what I did before the date.”
“Oh yeah?” Emily’s eyes narrowed. “What was that?”
“You know how I said she’s always tired when she gets home from work? Well, because it was my day off, instead of sleeping during the day, I spent time cleaning the house from top to bottom. I scrubbed the bathrooms, mopped the floors, did the dishes, all the laundry and got it folded and put away. When the kids got home from school, I had them do their homework immediately. By the time my wife got home, she had nothing left to do but get dressed and go out.”
“That was a really lovely gift you gave her.”
He grinned. “That’s what she said. I guess I never realized how much work she did on top of a fulltime job. I promised I would help a lot more, and that we would share the responsibility of taking care of the house and the children. I can’t believe she put up with me all these years. Yeah, I couldn’t help her during deployments, but I should have done more when I was home.”
“Scott, that’s huge. I take it she was really happy?”
He nodded. “We ate at her favorite Chinese restaurant, and I took her to listen to jazz music, which normally I can’t stand, and she loves. And the funny thing is…I liked it.”
“I’m glad to see you being open-minded and trying new things.”
“We had the best time, even better than when we were dating as teenagers.” The man practically glowed over his success.
Emily’s heart swelled for him. “Now that you know what it takes, what are you going to do?”
His grin broadened. “I’ve already started. I make sure I pick up after myself and her if I need to. I don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink, and if I’m home when the kids get off the bus, I help them with their homework. I’m spending more time with my kids, and I’m taking pride in my home.”
“How about the nightmares?”
He shrugged. “I still have them, but they’re becoming less frequent. I’m learning to deal with them and not letting them get me down. I’m learning that when I’m down, everyone around me is down.” He lifted his chin. “Life’s too short to be sad all the time.”
Emily nodded. “So, are you thinking you don’t need me anymore?”
Scott shook his head. “Maybe, but I want to keep coming. Dr. Strayhorn, you’re a good listener, and you see things I don’t always see. I really am trying some of the techniques that you’ve given me to deal with the nightmares. And I also want my wife to know that I care enough to keep coming.”
“We can move your appointments to every other week for a while and then go to once a month.”
“That would be good,” Scott said. “I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for me and my family.”
After Scott left through the doorway into the hall, Emily turned to her office on the opposite end from the session room. She’d purposely left the door opened a crack with Cage inside, ready in case one of her patients proved to be her stalker.
She slipped inside and closed the door behind her. “You really aren’t supposed to be listening to my sessions. It violates HIPAA privacy standards.”
“Yeah, but they can’t prosecute you if you’re dead. I prefer to bend a few rules than to risk your life.” He tipped his chin toward the outer office.
Emily shook her head. “It couldn’t be him. That man loves his wife.”
“Could he have multiple personalities, and the one you saw today was the good one?” Cage waggled his eyebrows.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. I’ve never seen any indication of Dissociative Identity Disorder.” She sat in her desk chair and brought up her computer screen. “My next patient will be here in fifteen minutes. I need to make notes.”
“Don’t mind me. I’ll just sit in the corner and keep my mouth shut.”
Emily grinned. She liked having him nearby. And true to his word, he didn’t say anything while she made her notes in Scott’s case file and brought up her next veteran on the computer.
Her next patient was a recovering alcoholic, who spent the next forty minutes whining about how nobody understood him. Emily had seen him off and on for two or three months. Nothing in his file or demeanor made her think that he might be her stalker. He was too busy moaning about his own life to disturb someone else’s.
She had one other patient before lunch, a female who had suffered military sexual trauma at the hands of her first sergeant. She hadn’t told anyone until she had separated from the military. And only then had she revealed what had happened and who’d done it to her for fear that he might be doing it to other women.
She’d been working with self-esteem and self-worth issues ever since and refused to be alone with a man, which Emily thoroughly understood. Like JoJo, she had taken self-defense lessons and had become so good at it she was teaching other women who had gone through the same trauma she had. Day by day, she was becoming stronger, but she still needed help and appreciated when somebody listened and gave her constructive ways to work through her issues.
At lunch, Emily took Cage to the hospital’s cafeteria. “The food’s not great, but it’s fast and easy.” After getting their food, they settled at a table in a far corner of the cafeteria. Cage had selected a hamburger and French fries, Emily a club sandwich with an apple.
“Do you have appointments all afternoon?” he asked.
“I do, unless I have a no-show, which happens more often than you’d think,” she said. “If I do have a no-show, I’ll use that time to look through the rest of my files. What are you doing to entertain yourself?”
“I’ve been texting Swede. He’s still waiting on fingerprints from the crime lab. He thinks they’ll be getting those right after lunch. A latent print specialist was out all morning. He’s been going through some of the criminal databases tapping into guys with restraining orders on them and crosschecking to see which ones had military backgrounds and are veterans. It’s a longshot but doing something is better than doing nothing.”
“Has he had any hits yet?”
Cage shook his head. “It’s like sifting through mud to find a specific speck of dirt.”
“And I really dislike looking at all my patients as if they’re the one. It’s sad when one person makes it bad for everyone else. We really need to nail this guy,” she said, “so we can all get on with our lives.”
Cage nodded.
“Have you thought anymore about where and when you’re going to release Ryan’s ashes?” Emily asked.
Cage shook his head. “Not really, I’ve been pretty busy on this case.”
“You should take your time. He obviously meant a lot to you.”
“Yes, he did. He deserves a real send-off.”
“A hero’s send-off?” she asked.
Cage shook his head. “He was a hero, but he wouldn’t have liked anything grandiose. He didn’t want the twenty-one-gun salute. He didn’t want to be buried in Arlington Cemetery. He just wanted to go where the mountains were high, the air was clear and he could go back to nature. He
loved the outdoors, he loved running, and he always wanted to learn to fly but never got around to it. I figured by spreading his ashes in the mountains, the wind will pick him up and carry him. He’ll finally get to fly.”
Emily stared across the table at Cage, falling more in love with every passing minute. It frightened and exhilarated her at the same time. What if he never returned the feeling? “Ryan was a lucky man to have you as a friend.”
Cage stared out the window, his face so sad it made Emily’s chest ache. “He’d have been luckier if he had lived.”
“True,” she whispered. “But we can’t play God and determine who’s going to come home and who’s going to go.”
Cage shook his head. “No, we can’t. I’m living proof of that.” Cage glanced down at his watch. “When’s your next appointment?”
Emily looked at hers. “Shoot. In five minutes. We need to get going.”
The rest of her afternoon went much like her morning. Once again, nothing in her patients’ demeanors or in their files raised red flags. She didn’t have any no-shows, so she didn’t have the chance to start glancing through the rest of her patient files, which was going to take a long time anyway. After her last patient left, Emily entered her inner office. “Give me thirty minutes going through my files for tomorrow morning, and I’ll be ready to go.”
“Take your time,” he said.
She entered her notes in her last patient’s online record, and then brought up her patient load for the next day. She was tired, and her neck was stiff. Sitting up straight, she rolled her head right then left.
The chair behind her squeaked. Cage’s hands descended on her shoulders and massaged the knots out. After several minutes, she leaned back against him. “You know, I can look at this tomorrow. I have a few minutes before the first guy comes in. Let’s head out.” If she was honest with herself, she’d own up to the excitement she felt about going back to the cabin. Instead, she told herself she was tired and ready to call it a day. Which she was, calling it a day at the office. Once they got up to the cabin, she’d have a whole different outlook.
As she left the VA hospital and walked out to the parking garage, she held her breath, afraid they’d find the rental SUV banged up like they’d found Cage’s truck the day before.
The SUV was where they’d left it. Untouched. Perhaps because the parking lot was busy and people were constantly coming and going, her stalker hadn’t taken his anger out on Cage’s vehicle. Whatever the reason, it was nice to get in and not find a rose on the seat. Maybe because of having the police investigating and the county sheriff on the case, her stalker would back down.
That or he was waiting to catch her with her guard down.
Chapter 13
When Emily gasped, Cage let his foot off the accelerator. “What? What’s wrong?”
She held her hand out, her face contorted in fear. “This was in my purse.”
He looked her direction briefly, “What is it?” and returned his attention to the road.
“It’s a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant on it.”
“Is it yours?” he asked.
She shook her head. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen it. And look, it has the initials JR on it. But it’s what’s on the other side that scares me.”
Cage frowned, his pulse kicking up. “What’s on the other side?” He shot another quick glance in her direction.
Emily swallowed hard, her eyes filling with tears.
“Do I need to pull over?” Cage asked. Not that they could. They were in the middle of the pass. There was no place to pull over.
She shook her head. “The inscription says, I will have you.”
Cage’s brow furrowed. “Like the poem?”
Emily stared down at the pendant and spoke softly. “Roses are red. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet. And I will have you.”
Cage’s gut clenched. “How’d he get to your purse? I was in there the whole time.”
Emily shook her head. “No, you weren’t. We both left for lunch, and I didn’t take my purse. Just my wallet.”
“But you locked the door to your office.”
She laughed. “That doesn’t seem to matter to this guy. Locks aren’t even a challenge. He put this in my purse today.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t in there before?”
She shook her head. “No, I looked in that pocket this morning for my lip balm. The necklace wasn’t there. He had to have done it during lunch.”
“And you say it had initials on the other side—JR?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“This could be the breakthrough we’ve needed. If those are his initials that narrows down our list of potential suspects considerably. Do we need to go back to your office? I can turn around.”
She laughed. “No, you can’t. We’re in the pass. We can’t turn around until we get to the other end. No,” she said, “let’s just go on to the lodge. Besides, if we went back to my office, and I spent a couple hours looking online, we wouldn’t get back to the lodge in time to go up to the cabin. With the stalker still actively pursuing me, I couldn’t stay at the lodge.”
Cage nodded. “And you can’t stay at your apartment.”
“Obviously not. Locks mean nothing to him. Besides, I’ve got a list of names I downloaded onto a flash drive. I can sort them by J and R and I could use those names to tap into the database that Swede is going to hook me up with.”
Cage increased their speed as they emerged from the winding roads of the pass. “Those databases would be better use of our time, anyway.”
Emily shook her head. “Not your time…mine. I have to be the one looking for the names.”
He nodded. “Of course, but Swede can be around to answer any questions.”
“And I’m sure I’ll have them.” Emily dropped the necklace in the cupholder as if it was burning her fingers.
Cage would have Swede look at it to see if he could figure out where it might have come from and who might have engraved it. The letters weren’t just scratched on. They were professionally engraved.
He drove through the town of Fool’s Gold and out the highway toward Lost Valley Ranch. He was reassured to see that the bar still had a clean coat of paint on it and there were no sheriff’s vehicles outside.
Horses grazed in the pasture and a couple of the lodge’s guests were sitting on the front porch. At least at Lost Valley Ranch, everything was back to normal.
Cage parked in front of the lodge, got out and came around to help Emily down.
She reached into the cupholder for the necklace and handed it to him. “Here, I don’t want it.”
He nodded and slipped it into his pocket to give to Swede later. They walked up the steps hand in hand and entered the lodge.
RJ called out from the dining area. “Oh, good, you’re here. We were just about to serve supper.”
Emily shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”
Cage touched a hand to the small of her back. “You need to eat. There’s some food up at the cabin, but nothing like what you can get here that Gunny has fixed for you.”
RJ frowned and crossed the great room, closing the distance between her and Emily. “What’s wrong? Did he show up at your office?”
“He did,” Emily said.
RJ’s eyes widened. “Who was it?”
Emily’s lips pressed together. “I don’t know. He broke into my locked office and dropped a necklace in my purse.”
“How the hell is he getting into all these locked offices, buildings and cars?” RJ shook her head. “Show me.”
Cage pulled the necklace out of his pocket and handed it to RJ. “We really should be protecting it from fingerprints, but I figure as small as it is, whatever prints might have been there are already smudged.”
“JR?” RJ laughed. “Those are my initials transposed.” She flipped it over. “I will have you.”
“It’s the rhyme,” Emily said.
“Oh yeah. Roses are red. Violets a
re blue. Sugar is sweet, and I will have you. That’s not how it goes.”
“That’s how he wants it to go,” Emily said. “I don’t think he plans on taking no for an answer.”
“He’s not going to get the chance to get to you,” Cage said. He would make sure of it.
“Well, the guy’s obviously an idiot.” RJ held the necklace out. “He left his initials on it.”
Cage pocketed the necklace.
“Come eat dinner,” RJ said. “You’re going to need your strength. Swede said he’s got everything set up for you as soon as you’re done eating.”
“I’m not—” Emily started.
RJ held up a hand. “You will eat supper. You can’t let this guy rule your life. You only have a couple short hours before it gets too dark to make it up to the cabin. So, stop arguing and get to the dining table now.”
Emily smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”
Cage guided Emily to the dining table with a hand at the small of her back.
JoJo and Max helped Gunny carry the food out to the lodge guests first, and then everyone went back into the kitchen to carry out the platters for the staff’s table.
Gunny brought out a platter of chicken cordon bleu and set it in the middle of the table. “Emily, I made your favorite. I hope you’re hungry.”
She gave him a weak smile and said, “It smells really good.”
“And I made fresh rolls as well.” He pulled aside a dish towel over a bowl filled with giant bread rolls. The scent filled the room.
Though his stomach was knotted, Cage’s mouth watered.
To go with the main course, Gunny had also made roasted asparagus and a garden salad.
Swede arrived at the table, and they all took their seats.
Cage passed the necklace around and explained what had happened as the lodge staff and the Brotherhood Protectors filled their plates.
“Hopefully, he’s backed off destroying property,” Jake said.
“But he’s still giving her gifts,” JoJo commented. “Which means, he hasn’t given up yet.”
“I feel like we’re playing a game of cat and mouse,” Emily said. “What does he expect? When will he make an appearance? Why doesn’t he get it over with?” She sighed.
