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“The message, it’s going to freak everyone out.”
She was dreading having to tell her husband that his sister was in danger.
And not just physical danger.
Knowing what her stalker intended to do—and had already done—was going to crush Samara and put her under enormous amounts of stress. If it were her and she knew that it boiled down to her life or innocent people’s, she would want to offer herself up so no one else got hurt because of her. She knew Samara well, and her sister-in-law more than most would want to make the trade.
She just had to pray that she and Tom could find the stalker before Samara made the ultimate sacrifice.
Chloe knew about Fin and Samara’s childhood, it had been rough, and it had affected both of them in different ways. Fin had abandonment issues, something that had almost ended their relationship after the loss of their first child. And Samara needed to be perfect in all situations, it was a compulsion for her, and Chloe knew she wouldn’t be able to stand back and let themfight her battles for long.
Losing his sister would destroy Fin, and she didn't want anything to hurt her family. She and Tom would work this case as hard as it took to end this before Samara gave in to temptation and gave herself up so no one else would die.
*****
4:22 P.M.
Samara loved the quiet beauty and careful cultivation of growing bonsai trees.
Her therapist had been the first one to introduce her to the art of bonsai. At a time when her life had been so far out of her control that she had felt she only had one option left, turning her attention to learning to make something so beautiful had reminded her that beauty did still exist in the world even if it didn't exist in her world. She was a perfectionist and had jumped into learning her new hobby with both feet. Really, it had been more than a hobby, it had been her lifeline.
Learning to use cuttings or other source material, then using a combination of leaf trimming, pruning, wiring, clamping, grafting, defoliation, and deadwood bonsai techniques. It sounded complicated and actually doing it was even more so. Selecting just the right leaves or needles to remove and pruning the branches and trunk and roots perfectly. Wiring branches and trunks to create the form you wanted. Using mechanical devices to shape the branches just so, grafting in new material, and using the techniques needed to simulate age and maturity.
So much went into creating the most magnificent bonsai and that was what she loved about it. It was a way to keep her mind active without having to think of anything beyond caring for the tree. Caring for them meant watering to the requirements of each different type of tree, repotting, regulatingthe soil composition and fertilization to match each plant. She monitored all of these for each one of her twenty-eight plants every single day.
Of all of her twenty-eight bonsai trees—including the brand new one Aurora and Ashley had given to her earlier today—her favorite was still the first one she’d ever grown. Her little elm tree had pride of place in her yard, it had been a good choice to start out with. You could grow them from seeds or cuttings, and they were a very forgiving plant. Now though, she liked to challenge herself, trying harder techniques and more difficult to grow trees.
She couldn’t imagine not having bonsai trees in her life. They were the only thing that relaxed her. They kept her busy and kept her loneliness at bay, they were the one thing in her life that she could do perfectly and didn't have to worry about making mistakes. She liked that, her trees didn't judge her, they didn't expect her to live up to any sort of expectations.
“Hey.”
A hand fell on her shoulder, and she jumped a mile.
Spinning around quickly, she knocked over her chair and sent the bag of fertilizer that she had been using toppling to the floor where the bag split open, and fertilizer spilled everywhere.
“Whoa, sorry, I thought you heard me come out.”
Samara looked up to Michael’s concerned face and forced herself to calm down. She was so jumpy knowing that her stalker was out there and that she was the bait to draw him into a trap. She knew she was safe here with Michael and her colleagues watching her house, but that didn't settle her nerves and take her fear away. It had been a long few months knowing that someone was out there who was obsessed with her, but now seeing how his obsession had grown, she knew he wasn't going to back down until he had her.
But just because she was freaking out internally didn't meanthat she had to freak out externally. She had to play this smart because she didn't want Michael or anyone else worrying about her.
“No, I’m sorry,” she said, faking a smile and willing her heart to stop racing. “I was just concentrating, getting my new tree settled in, and I didn't hear you come out.”
From the look in his eyes Michael didn't believe her, but there was something else in his eyes. Something that was more important than her getting a start when he came outside.
“What’s wrong?” Samara asked. A bad feeling was brewing in her stomach, whatever was going on was something big.
“Chloe and Tom are here to talk to you,” Michael replied, which wasn't really an answer.
If the FBI agents were here to talk to her and Michael had this look on his face, then they weren't here to tell her that they had identified her stalker and had him in custody. So, what were they here to tell her?
“Fin is here too.”
Her brother was here?
He was supposed to be at work.
Fin loved being a doctor, and nothing but an emergency would have him leaving his shift early.
