I hail a taxi and am there in less than ten minutes, rushing inside and barely breathing until I see her. She’s at a table by the window, staring down at her phone. She looks up when I come in and gets to her feet, rushing to me and throwing her arms around me.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I thought it was you… Oh my god, there’s really someone stalking me.”
“Are they still there?”
She shakes her head as she starts to pull away. “No, they left, but the whole thing is recorded.”
“Let’s sit down, okay?” As much as I like having her arms around me, I have to focus. “Show me.”
She sinks into her chair and pulls something up on her phone. A few seconds later I’m watching a shadowed figure moving around her living room. Whoever it is has on a large coat, a baseball cap, and gloves. It’s hard to see anything distinct about them, but my gut tells me it’s a woman.
The person moves quickly, but with purpose, rearranging Shannon’s pillows so the ones from the couch are on the chair and the ones from the chair are on the couch. It’s ridiculous, with no motive I can think of.
“Why would someone do this?” Shannon whispers. “I don’t understand.”
“Me either,” I admit. “Could it be your ex-husband?”
Her eyes darken. “He was the one who wanted the divorce. What could he possibly want from me? He has money, a new wife, and a burgeoning career. It would shock me if this was him, as much as I despise the man.”
“What about a man who was interested in you since you moved here?” I ask slowly. “Someone you blew off.”
“No one has asked me out that I’ve blown off,” she says. “I went out with one guy at work and then his father died and he moved back to the U.S. So he left me, not the other way around. Mr. Koelzig at the bakery flirts with me every day, but he’s eighty if he’s a day, and the person in my apartment was much thinner.”
“All right. First thing we’re doing is packing you a bag and going to my hotel. I’ll sleep in the chair, but I don’t want you out of my sight until I get a handle on this.”
“Okay.” She’s quiet now, nothing like the furious woman from earlier today.
“It’s going to be okay,” I tell her. “Promise.”
She just nods, though I can tell by the look in her eyes that she doesn’t quite believe it.
Chapter 8
Shannon
While I’m gratified to discover I’m not going crazy, now that there’s a real threat, I’m both terrified and sad. It’s beyond my understanding that someone can hate me enough to want to scare me like this. Whoever it is knew I was out tonight because all the instances of weird things happening have been when I’m not home, except for the night my phone was temporarily missing.
I have no way of knowing what their end game is, but it can’t be good and now not only am I frightened, but I’m embarrassed by my behavior toward Ace earlier today as well.
He came to Cologne at my mother’s request to help me, and instead I accused him of being the bad guy and got bent out of shape over my stupid diary. In the grand scheme of things, that was ridiculous. Yes, he invaded my privacy, but that was nothing compared to someone possibly trying to cause me physical harm.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” he says as we walk toward my apartment. “Don’t. This isn’t your fault.”
“How do you know?” I ask. “What if it’s because I gave a kid a bad grade and they committed suicide or something and now their father wants revenge?”
He glances at me. “Has that happened?”
“Not that I know of, but what else could it be? I honestly don’t think this has anything to do with my ex, and I don’t have enemies that I know of. I was a kindergarten teacher in D.C. and now I teach high school literature.”
“Your family? Your mother? Your father probably had enemies.”
I stiffen. I hate the idea that my father had enemies. He was one of the best human beings I’ve ever known and I’m not sure I’ll ever get over his death.
“I know you don’t want to hear that,” Ace continues after a moment. “But we have to consider every possibility.”
“I suppose.” I unlock my apartment, and Ace walks in ahead of me, turning on lights and pulling a gun I wasn’t expecting from his pocket. He checks closets, the bedroom, the bathroom, and under the bed. Then he stuffs the gun back in his jacket and turns to me.
“Take what you’ll need for a few days.”
