She stepped away from her desk, closer to the couch. “Why’s that?”
“Once you had him thrown out of your studio, he didn’t threaten the guys who helped you, and he got less direct with his communication. He de-escalated.”
My phone pinged. I’m done playing with the lab’s toys for the day. Ready for some supper?
Supper? I checked my watch. We’d lost the whole day. I texted him back. “Mark’s on his way. Will you be okay here tonight? You could always stay with me at the hotel. We have separate rooms.”
She moved to a panel by the door and brushed it with her fingers. “I’ll keep my door locked and alarm system on. I’ll call you tomorrow to set up a time to look at all the stuff. Hopefully there’s something that will help prove it’s Cary that I missed noticing.” She unlocked the deadbolt but kept her hand on the door. “If Cary’s the one who’s been sending me all the messages, how did he hack my phone and emails? When we worked together, he could barely touch the computer without it freezing. Terrance did all the techie stuff.”
“He might have learned since then.” It niggled at my mind like the beginning of a headache, though. He might have gotten more proficient over the years, but he hadn’t likely reached hacker-level skills. “I’ll ask my parents to have one of their private investigators look into Cary. Maybe he hired someone. They might even be able to catch him in the act.”
I reached for the door handle, but Ahanti kept her hand firmly blocking access. “I can’t afford a PI. I’ve put everything I had in savings into the wedding.”
“Don’t worry about it. My parents and I still owe you for saving my life last year.” I hugged her. “Besides, that’s what friends are for.”
She let me out, and I listened for the deadbolt sliding into place behind me. Even once it clicked into place, I couldn’t shake the weighted feeling along my shoulders and down through my chest, almost like my purse was made of iron.
Even though we had a good idea of who her stalker might be, and even though I knew from when I’d watered her plants when she went on vacation in the past that she did have a good security system, I felt like I was leaving her in the Roman colosseum and praying the lions’ cages held.
6
Once Mark picked me up, I took the coward’s way out and called my mom’s cell rather than my dad’s to ask about borrowing one of the private investigators they kept on retainer. Unfortunately, her phone went to voicemail. I hung up without leaving a message. I could wait for my mom, but I wanted someone looking into Cary right away.
I straightened my shoulders despite the fact that my dad wouldn’t be able to see me. My parents had always insisted that proper posture gave you confidence. Now was as good a time as any to test their theory.
I dialed my dad’s number.
“Edward Dawes.”
“It’s Nicole. I have a…request.”
I’d almost said favor, but a favor implied an inability on one side and generosity on the other. A request suggested it was one equal talking to another.
My dad had never seen me as an equal, in intelligence or ability, and maybe that was part of why he reacted so poorly whenever I didn’t do exactly what he wanted me to. Most parents and their children negotiated their relationship as their children grew so that their parents became advisors—sometimes even friends—but their children’s independent decisions and life choices were respected. Or at least tolerated without resorting to the silent treatment. My dad and I had never made that transition. He’d been protecting me and directing me my entire life until I left for Fair Haven.
“I’m on my way to court,” my dad said. “Make it quick.”
It was better than a flat-out no.
I could make it sound like I was working a case, and I’d be guaranteed his agreement, but I didn’t want to play his game. I wanted our relationship—if we were going to have one going forward—to be able to endure the truth.
“Ahanti has been having trouble with a stalker. I have a lead on who it might be, but I need a PI to run some checks and tail him for a few days to see if we’re right. We need to get enough evidence for a restraining order.”
“I don’t know if we have anyone free, and I don’t have time to check.”
On someone who didn’t know him as well, that brush-off might have worked. It didn’t work on me. “I’m happy to call the office and have someone there check for me.”
The ambient driving noises coming through my dad’s Bluetooth eased off like he was slowing down for a turn or a toll booth. “The firm’s resources aren’t there for you to waste on non-cases.”
I closed my eyes and drew in a stabilizing breath because what I wanted to do was blow a raspberry at him through the phone and hang up. Loudly. Right in his ear. The prideful part of me that I’d probably inherited from him felt like hanging up on him and paying for someone myself. But my parents vetted all their private investigators, and they only hired the best. I needed the best.
Mark brushed a steadying hand against my shoulder.
I opened my eyes. I’d given my dad a chance to be generous. Now I’d have to show him that, however low his opinion of me was, I was still his daughter, and I was a stronger person than I’d once been. “Consider it repaying a debt then for the service Ahanti rendered us last fall.”
The background noise picked up again in the time it took my dad to answer. “Call Caroline at the office. I assume you still know the number. And put Mark on.”
Put Mark on? I covered the bottom of my phone with my hand. “He wants to talk to you,” I whispered.
I fished the earbuds out of my purse, plugged them in, and outfitted Mark.
“Cavanaugh,” he said, then winked at me. The man was smart.
“No,” Mark said. “We don’t have anything planned for tomorrow morning.”
A pause.
“Okay, I’ll be ready at six.”
He motioned for me to take out the earbud. I disconnected the call.
Mark’s mouth hung open slightly. “I’ve been summoned to go golfing with your dad tomorrow at his club.”
Golf might be the game my dad invited Mark to, but he was definitely playing at something else. And, as always seemed to happen, I was left feeling like even though I’d won this encounter, I’d somehow played right into my dad’s master plan.
Since Mark would be playing golf with my dad and having brunch at the club afterward, I had him drop me off at Ahanti’s apartment so I could go with her to work. We had so little time to spend together, I wanted every moment I could grab.
