"Don't be sorry.Be effective."He stood, signaling the interview was over."Finish what I started.Make them pay for it."
"I'm going to try."
"Trying isn't enough."He walked her to the door."They've been doing this for decades.They're patient.They're organized.And they have more resources than you can imagine."
"I know."
"Do you?"He opened the door.Afternoon light fell across his face."Because I thought I knew too."
Mitch was leaningagainst the truck when she came down the porch steps.
"Seventeen minutes," he said.
"I lost track."
"That's why you have me."He opened the passenger door."You okay?"
Harper climbed in without answering.
Mitch got behind the wheel and started the engine, but didn't move.He sat there, hands resting on the steering wheel, watching her.
"Whoever that man is, whatever he told you—it shook you."
"I'm fine."
"You're not."He said it the way he said most things—without judgment, without pressure, just a flat statement of what he saw."And that's your business.But I've been doing this job a long time, Ms.Warren, and I know the difference between someone who's scared of an ex-boyfriend and someone who's scared of something else entirely."
Harper turned to look at him.His face was unreadable, but his eyes were sharp.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying your story doesn't quite add up."He shifted to face her more directly."You told me you needed protection from a stalker.An ex who won't let go.But you don't act like someone with a stalker.You act like someone running an operation."
Her stomach tightened."I don't know what you mean."
"You check your surroundings constantly.You vary your routes without being asked.You notice surveillance before I point it out."He ticked the items off like a list."You asked me to wait in the car while you interview a former newspaper editor who lives alone at the edge of town.None of that fits the profile of a woman hiding from an abusive ex."
Harper said nothing.
"I'm not asking you to tell me the truth," Mitch said."Whatever you're really doing here, that's your concern.But I need to know if the threat level is higher than you've let on.Because if it is, I need to adjust my protocols."
She weighed her options.Mitch was perceptive—more perceptive than she'd given him credit for.Lying to him now would only make him more suspicious.But telling him the truth wasn't possible either.
"The threat is real," she said carefully."And it may be more serious than I originally indicated.But I can't give you details."
"Can't or won't?"
"Both."
He nodded slowly, processing that.
"Are you law enforcement?"
"No."
"Federal?"
"No."
