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She caught the sharp look Mac gave him as she questioned the comment.
“Mac, don’t you think it’s just a little too late to shield me here?” she snapped in frustration. “I’m not a child, nor am I an imbecile. It’s a stalker, isn’t it?”
It was one of a woman’s worst nightmares.
“Shit,” Mac growled as he pushed his fingers through his disheveled hair. “Damn it to hell. ”
“You were working a stalker case before we moved, weren’t you?” Her voice trembled on the question. “The one that led to the attack on the accountant in Alexandria. ”
He nodded shortly. “We called him the Playboy. Until that attack he had never hurt any of his victims. He played with them. Or more to the point, he played with their lovers and husbands. ”
She shook her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“He focused on women whose husbands or lovers were in the investigative fields. Cops, bodyguards, private investigators. As though he were testing himself against them. He would steal their personal items, then later begin returning them in places where they knew they wouldn’t have left them. It was a dare. He put their men on alert, then began escalating, getting closer and taunting them with the knowledge that he could strike at any time. ”
“Then he attacked one of them?”
“Her husband was a private investigator. He slipped into the house, managed to knock him out, and then attacked her. Then he just disappeared. ”
“Until now. ” Her breath hitched violently as her stomach contracted.
“He must have found out who was investigating the case with the FBI,” Mac snapped. “It wouldn’t be that hard to do. I questioned three of the seven victims. ”
“And he found out you were married,” she whispered. “He’s daring you. ”
“He’s dared the wrong men. ”
Keiley flinched at the murderously cold smile that curved at her husband’s lips. And she didn’t miss the plural at the end of that declaration. The wrong men. She turned her gaze to Jethro and caught her breath. If Mac was murderously cold, then Jethro was icy. His eyes were like winter frost, his expression merciless.
“What are you going to do?”
“We’re going to catch the bastard,” Mac assured her, his voice silky smooth but with an edge of violence as he turned to Jethro. “Do you still have the tracing program on your laptop?”
Jethro nodded.
“Hook it up to the computer in her office in the morning,” Mac ordered him. “I’ll put her to work on that program she installed on my laptop and see what we can pull up. I want you to call the director, let him know what’s going on, and have the files sent here by overnight courier. This time, that bastard is mine. ”
“We can do all this in the morning, Mac,” Jethro said quietly, nodding toward her. “She’s exhausted, and I’m betting she still hasn’t eaten. ”
Keiley shook her head quickly. “I’m not hungry. I want to know what’s going on first. ”
“You’re too tired to make sense of it, Keiley. And we’re too damned tired to go any further tonight,” Mac sighed, moving across the room as Jethro began to pack up the equipment. “We have the prints from here and the balcony door. Tomorrow we’ll courier them out to the Bureau and see if he got sloppy. ”
“I can’t sleep. ” Keiley shook her head quickly, panicking at the thought of even trying to sleep.
“You’re going to eat first. ” His arm went around her, and the warmth of his body immediately began to seep into her. “Then we’re going to lock the doors, rig a few alarms, and pile into Jethro’s bed. Jethro and I will take turns listening for anything and you will sleep. ”
She shook her head again.
“Grab the pizza, Jethro. We’ll eat in the kitchen. I need to check on the dog anyway. ”
“Pappy?” Keiley glanced at him in concern.
“I just want to make sure he wasn’t hurt. I just remembered that he tried to attack the bastard. ”
He should have thought about the dog earlier. If anything happened to the mutt, Keiley would be inconsolable for days.
“Stay here, Kei. ” He pushed her into a kitchen chair and bent to her, staring her directly in the eye. “Right here. You don’t move. Are we clear?”
