I recognized one of the twobirthday cards I could see clearly in his grandma’s hand now.
My blood ran cold at thethought of what it meant that she was holding it and screaming at Maisie, but…
It made a horrible kind ofsense, didn’tit?
After all, Ashley had saidhis stalker knew too much about him. Knew how to hurt him, what to threaten himwith.
Who better than his bully ofa sister?
“I’m sorry about this,honey,” she said. “But can you confirm for me that this card is from yourstalker?” she asked, handing over the card with the clown on it I’d seenbefore.
Ashley nodded slowly, takingthe card out of her hand and opening it up. I wanted to go to him, wrap my armsaround him, but I couldn’t. Not yet.
Instead, I moved as subtlyas I could to stand off to the side, close enough to get between any two peoplewho might swing for each other.
“Stalker?” Ashley’s dadasked. “What stalker?”
Ashley swallowed.
I cleared my throat.Anything to make it easier for him, and I thought maybe he was realizing whyhis grandma was so upset with his sister.
That had to be heavy.
“I think I can help here. I’mnot just a friend of Ashley’s. I was hired to protect him from a stalker whilehe settled his affairs in San Francisco and moved back here,” I said.
“Someone’s been sending himall kinds of threatening, cruel notes. He’s got a whole shoebox of them. I hidthem when he moved out of his apartment and gave them to Mrs. Cooper here forsafekeeping.”
The look Ashley gave me toldme I needed to apologize for that, too.
“I didn’t want you stashing themunder your bed and poring over them late at night,” I said. “You’ve alreadybeen through it all once. No need to relive it.”
“Logan, sweetheart, you’re aprofessional soldier. You’ve seen combat. You’ve been hurt. How… howupsettingwould you callwhat Ashley’sbeen through, from your perspective?”
“It’s been awful,” I saidwithout having to think. “I know what it’s like to never quite feel safe, but Idon’tknow what it’s like to knowthere’s one particular person out there who might want to hurt you. Who seemsto know every detail of your life, even your past. Who you’re so afraid of thatyou send away a friend who might be able to help out of fear fortheirsafety. Most ofmy right leg is held together with titanium screws and miracles, but I’m not sure I’dtrade for what Ashley’s been through.”
All of that was the truth.In Ashley’splace, I didn’t knowwhatI would have done.
But I would never have beenin Ashley’splace. I couldn’t ever know what it was like.
All I could know was that I’d seen how upsethe was, and I wouldn’t have wished that on anyone. Not Ashley, not even someoneI hated with every fiber of my being.
“I don’t understand how anyof this is relevant to you slapping Maisie,” Ashley’s mom said. “You’re luckyif I don’t call the police.”
“I’mlucky if you don’t call thepolice?” Grandma said, her voice a dangerous whisper.
Tension hung in the air likethe smell of cheap body spray, grating on everyone in the room.
“Maisie’s the stalker,” Isaid after a moment, since no one else seemed to be willing to speak up. “Isn’tshe?”
It was the only answer. Ithad to be someone who knew Ashley well, who knew his secrets. Hispast.
I’d been telling myself itwas an ex-boyfriend he didn’t remember confiding in, someone who’d been devastatedto lose him, but…
Shit, even Maisie’s holiday linedup with the time the stalker had stopped, didn’t it? Ashley had said she’d beenin Europe.
The last note before thestalker had disappeared had comefrom LA. Where the internationalairport was.
It was her.
