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Julie racked her brain. “All the family, of course.”
“Which would be?”
Jeezes, he was barking questions at her as if she was a cadet in military training. She wasn’t sure she liked it. “That would include me, Steve, Daniella, Dale, Daisy, Skylar. Oh, and I think Nash has one, too,” she added belatedly. “I’m not sure if any of the staff have one. Steve might’ve given Wazza and Alex one.”
Aaron made a noise of annoyance, and mumbled something like, “That’s too many people, with too easy access.”
Julie sat down on the couch, suddenly feeling wobbly.
Just then, the door from the hallway burst open. Aaron reacted with lightning-fast speed, and he had his gun in his hand before Julie had time to blink. She looked over her shoulder to see Daniella standing there with Julie’s Akubra, sunglasses, and phone in her hand and her mouth hanging open.
“Sorry,” he apologized roughly, re-holstering his gun. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Is that thing actually loaded?” Daniella asked faintly.
“Of course, it is.” He cast his surprised gaze between Julie and her stepmother. “This is what you hired me for, remember?” he said, frowning.
“Yes, I know, but—”
Aaron broke through Daniella’s questions. “I have reason to believe the stalker is somewhere on the station. Or at the very least, has been on the property recently.”
“How do you know that?” Daniella asked.
“He phoned her. And rattled off some nasty threats. Then he mentioned how Julie was dressed. There’s only one way he’d know the exact thing she was wearing today,” Aaron said ominously, leaving Daniella to work out the rest for herself.
“He phoned you?” Daniella swapped her appalled gaze from Aaron to Julie.
“Yes,” Julie said, much more calmly than she felt. “If you’ll sit down, we’ll explain it all.”
Daniella took a seat on the couch next to Julie, absentmindedly handing over the things she’d retrieved from outside. Julie lay her cell phone carefully on the side table, handling it as if it were about to rear up and bite her. Her stepmother recovered her equilibrium quickly and began asking pertinent questions.
“How did he get your cell number?” Daniella asked, fixing Julie with her piercing stare. “I thought you said he hadn’t contacted you on this new phone?”
“I did…I mean, he hasn’t…I mean, this is the first time he’s called me.” Julie began to get flustered, unable to answer her stepmother’s questions. She’d very much like the answers herself. How had the stalker got hold of her number? She hadn’t given this number out to anyone but close family and friends, and it was unlisted.
“We’ll get to the bottom of that soon enough,” Aaron said, stepping closer. “I’ll make sure you get a new, untraceable phone, but in the meantime, can I hang on to that one?”
“Sure.” Julie gladly handed the phone over, juggling it like it was a hot potato. She was more than happy for it to become Aaron’s problem. It felt like the stalker had invaded her privacy all over again, and she wanted nothing more to do with that phone, especially if it was a link to the crazy man.
Daniella watched Julie hand over her cell, but her mind was clearly on more important things. “Should I recall Steve from the horse trek?” Daniella stood and began pacing across the rug. “Dale and Wazza are out with him, as well. Should I ask them all to come back to the lodge?”
Julie could almost read Daniella’s mind; if the stalker was out there, the more big, brawny men they had around the lodge, the better. And Julie couldn’t help but agree. Not that she didn’t trust Aaron to keep her well-guarded, but there was safety in numbers. Wasn’t there?
“No, you should keep everything going at the resort as per usual.” Aaron replied quickly. “We don’t want this stalker to know we’re on to him. If he was watching while he talked to Julie, then he’s already figured it out. But I have a hunch he wasn’t close enough to see us, otherwise he would’ve possibly mentioned me. And if that’s true, then the longer we can keep him in the dark, the better.”
“But he’s definitely been on the property today at some stage. Could very well still be on the property. That means he could be one of the guests.” Daniella covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh God, he could be right here in our midst and we never even knew.”
“It’s a possibility,” Aaron agreed. “But somehow I doubt he’d be that obvious. It’d take some serious balls for your stalker to just walk in here, especially with you surrounded by family and staff.” Aaron turned around and began pacing, and his last words were almost lost on the two women. “All the profiling usually shows these kinds of crazed stalkers to be lone individuals with a chip on their shoulder. They’re also often socially inept, they don’t fit in well, especially in large groups. Do you have any single guests at the moment?” Aaron lifted his thoughtful gaze from the floor to stare at Daniella.
She tucked a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear as she considered his question. Julie was usually a little jealous of Daniella’s hair. Unlike Julie’s unruly, short hairstyle, Daniella’s blunt bob was always perfectly neat and tidy, with hardly a hair out of place. That rule didn’t seem to apply today, however, as flyaway strands rose up all over her head. This, more than anything else, was testament to how rattled Daniella must be.
“No. They’re mainly couples.” Daniella tapped a finger against her lips. “A few groups of four—that’d be two couples sharing a cabin. And one couple is here with their adult kids.”
“Right. I’ll get Lance to help you go through the guest list and narrow down any potential suspects.”
“Good, because I’d hate to think that he’s been here as a guest, and we never even suspected.”
It was a concept Julie hadn’t even considered. She’d always felt so safe on the station. She loved interacting with the guests, loved to get to know them, and prided herself on making their stays as enjoyable as possible. Now she wouldn’t be able to look at any of them in the same light again. She hated that the stalker could so easily ruin her one safe place. Ruin her easy acceptance of the people around her. At least there was one person she could trust. She knew Aaron would have her back, no matter what.
