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It was weird, but Grant really wanted to see her interact with people around her without him. Obviously, this guy knew about Grant. He’d escalated when Mia started dating and getting serious, so it wasn’t a far stretch to say that the stalker knew what Grant looked like. That’s why he was currently wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses that he’d purchased this morning at a local Target. He’d also bought a t-shirt that he didn’t normally wear and some athletic shorts since they were eventually headed to Mia’s gym.
Grant didn’t look completely different, but from a distance he was hoping that he would simply blend in with the people around him. Hopefully, the stalker’s attention would be all on Mia anyway.
He hung back a few cars in traffic, even parking in another row at the gym. He’d already coached Mia not to turn around and look at him. That might tip off anyone who was following her. He’d told her to keep her eyes forward as if this was any other day.
Trailing behind her, he stayed at the entrance while she entered the gym area. Grant pasted on a big smile and stepped up to the counter, telling the young woman there that he had been given a complimentary guest pass by one of the members so he could try out the facilities. Mia had given it to him, of course. When she’d signed up a few years ago, they’d included three of them in her welcome folder.
He was certain he was going to get a sales pitch, but it wasn’t as bad as he’d anticipated. The woman showed him briefly around the gym floor, pointing out certain machines and then let him have it.
“You look like you know your way around a gym,” she’d said with a wink before returning to the front desk.
Grant went over to the free weight area and sat down on a bench to do some arm curls and see what people might be watching Mia. She was certainly attractive enough to garner plenty of male attention just by being there, and he needed to evaluate whether it was simply someone admiring or something far more sinister.
As expected, Mia had turned a few heads when she hopped on a treadmill. One older gentleman stared for a few moments but then turned back to his phone while he rode an exercise bike. Another guy doing squats had checked Mia out briefly, but his attention had been pulled away by a friend that was working out with him.
From what Grant could see, no one was watching her in a strange way. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing and minding their own business. When Mia was finished with her workout, he followed behind her, thanking the young woman at the front desk before exiting.
Mia had already told him that she always walked a few doors down to the Starbucks to get a fancy coffee before driving home, taking a shower, and starting work. She would be pretty much home for the rest of the day unless she went out to dinner with a friend or had an appointment.
She’d warned him ahead of time that her life was fairly boring, and that she didn’t come into contact with too many people on a typical day. She did admit that she was on a first-name basis with the pizza delivery guy.
Grabbing her coffee wasn’t any different. The barista at the counter was friendly with Mia, obviously recognizing her from her frequent visits. They joked, but he turned his attention to the next customer without a backward glance.
Grant studied the other patrons around that might be regulars, but everyone appeared to be absorbed in their own world, tapping away on laptops or their phones or chatting with a companion.
When they returned to Mia’s home, he was discouraged that he hadn’t been able to see anything out of the ordinary, but he reminded himself that he’d learned something today.
Although he hadn’t checked out the pizza delivery guy yet, there was a decent chance that whoever was stalking Mia wasn’t someone in the background of her life.
Which, as far as Grant was concerned, meant that Kevin Fuller was a strong subject. He might currently be in prison, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t direct someone else from his cell. Grant was not only going to check out family, but he made a mental note to also look into cellmates or friends that Fuller might have made during his time in jail.
“So today was a bust?” Mia asked. “I can’t believe I’m disappointed that no one is following me.”
“This was just step one,” Grant assured her. “We have several things we still can do. I’m still waiting on a call from the warden. He’ll have some information about whether your ex is getting mail or visitors. That might be just the information we need.”
“And if it doesn’t help?”
“We keep investigating. Eventually, they’ll make a mistake.”
And when they did, Grant would find them. It was only a matter of time.
In the meantime, they’d order a pizza.
17
Mia was nervous. Like sweat under her armpits nervous. She was having Sunday dinner with Grant’s family, and she was about to faint from the stress. She wanted them to like her.
In fact, she wanted them to like her a lot. Grant had said that they’d adore her, but he couldn’t possibly know that for sure. What if they thought she wasn’t good enough for him? What if they didn’t like that she had a past that might be still bothering her now in the present? His parents might not be all that thrilled that she might be putting their beloved son in possible danger. They might think he could do better.
“Relax, they’re going to love you just like I do.”
The two of them were walking up to the front door of the large home with a wraparound porch. There were large oak trees lining the curved driveway, providing plenty of shade on this warm and sunny Florida afternoon. Bright yellow and white flowers were planted in a circle in the front yard along with a little garden statue of a bunny rabbit reading a book.
“You don’t know that for sure. They might take one look at me and hate me.”
“Are you kidding?” Grant laughed. “Mom and Dad are going to be so thrilled that I’m serious about a woman that they’ll probably beg you to marry and have kids with me when my back is turned. Hell, they might even offer you money. You could take it and leave the country.”
They’d never said the “m” word. Yes, they’d talked about being in a committed relationship, but they’d never said just what that might entail. Was he thinking about marriage? Was she? She’d always said that marriage wasn’t all that important, and that it didn’t matter to her.
