He groaned. “What did you do?”
“Uh! Not me.Chase.He went to the mental health facility where Abby is and tried to get in to see her! The facility staff called me, because he claimed to be our brother, and I’d said no visitors but me.”
He unfolded his arms and leaned forward, his expression creased in concern. “Is she okay?”
Jules nodded. “I saw her yesterday. She doesn’t know Chase was there. But…we have to do something about him. Soon! He’sa wild card, and I don’t like how long this business of watching and waiting is taking!”
Cal sighed. “Okay. I’d planned to visit my mother this evening, but you’re right. Dealing with Hamilton is important to you, so it’s important to me. We’ll see what he’s up to after his route today. Deal?”
Something warm spilled into her chest. His concern for her well-being, his prioritizing what mattered to her, his thoughtfulness toward her. When had she ever had this much consideration from anyone? She hadn’t. Cal was…an outlier. And he was chipping away at the protective defenses she’d erected around her heart. She gave him her best smile. “Deal.”
Three days later, Jules sat next to Cal in the front seat of her car, once again watching Hamilton leave work at the distributor warehouse. They’d followed him every day this week, switching whose vehicle they used, but he’d done little besides drive back to his apartment and stop once at McDonald’s.
She was getting impatient, knowing Chasehadto be doing illegal things worthy of an arrest that would take him off the street. Late at night? Along his delivery route? Because of her own work schedule and Cal’s responsibilities with the sheriff’s department, they obviously couldn’t follow Chase 24/7, so they hadn’t yet caught him red-handed doing anything worthy of arrest. Other than the day he followed Zoey Rogers home—which he’d stopped doing, likely because of the increased police presence around the teenager—Chase had been…boring. Humdrum, normal activity during the hours Jules and Cal were watching him.
She knew in her gut he was up to no good. They simply hadn’t uncovered it. Yet.
But she would. She would stay on the creepy man’s trail until he paid for the emotional distress and life interruption he’d caused Abby.
As usual, when Chase appeared and climbed into his rusted white pickup, they waited an appropriate time, then followed him. Today, instead of going home or to a restaurant or a high school, Hamilton drove to a low-rent part of town, where some windows were shuttered, others broken. Sidewalks sprouted weeds, and pedestrians were few and far between.
“Hang back more,” Cal warned. “As unpopulated as this area is, our presence will stand out all the more.”
She nodded her understanding, and when Hamilton pulled into an alley and stopped there, she drove past without stopping and sent Cal a quizzical glance. “Do I circle around and find us a place to park and observe or…what?”
Cal scratched his chin. “If you promise to stay close to me and do what I say, I’m thinking our move is to leave the car somewhere around here—” he waved a finger to the side streets “—and walk back. We can find a discreet place to monitor his activity, see if he leaves his truck or meets someone or appears to be stalking someone again.”
She considered his suggestion and bobbed her chin. “Okay.”
Ten minutes later, they were ensconced in a deserted building, diagonally across the street from the alley where Chase still sat in his truck. They stayed low, peering through a broken window to monitor their target.
“Hold the phone,” Cal said, when a silver SUV arrived and stopped in the alley. Chase climbed out of his truck and approached the driver’s window of the second vehicle. “Who have we here?”
Jules tensed, and Cal snapped pictures of the SUV.
“What do we do?” she asked, her nerves jangling, every fiber of her being telling her this was the moment she’d been waitingfor. A guy didn’t drive to out-of-the-way, seedy alleys to trade baseball cards.
“Patience, Jules. I’m sending pictures of the SUV and license plate to both my office and the city police marked ‘priority.’ If the owner of the other car has a record, we’ll know in a matter of minutes.”
“But if Chase is up to no good, shouldn’t we act now? Catch him in the act? You can arrest him—”
“Jules.” He put a hand on her arm. “I have to have a little thing called probable cause of a crime. So far, he’s just talking to a friend.”
She narrowed her eyes, studying the interaction. “I don’t know, Cal. They don’t look so friendly to me. Chase looks angry.”
Cal’s phone pinged, and he checked the screen. Before he could read the incoming text, his phone rang. Arching an eyebrow when he checked his caller ID, he muttered, “Well, well. We seemed to have poked a hornet’s nest.”
Chapter 19
Cal raised his phone to his ear. “Wyatt?”
Jules studied Cal’s face, trying to guess what his brother was telling him. Cal’s end of the conversation gave few clues, consisting largely of “really?” and “I see” and “okay.”
“What did he say?” she asked as he disconnected.
“We’re to stand down.”
“Stand down? Meaning what exactly?” She narrowed a suspicious glare on him. Echoes of past conversations with law enforcement were whispering in her head.
