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“I’m positive it’s not only someone Steadfast knows, it’s someone he’s created, only to have this creation turn around and attack him a la Dr. Frankenstein and his monster.”
Cap blinked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“From the beginning we’ve been thinking this was an inside job,” I said, leaning my forearms on the table as I got my thoughts in line. “The truck’s license plates pointed in that direction. The thing is, it’s always bothered me that Tru didn’t just refuse to help us in creating a list of HEG members who drove pickup trucks, he also refused to call the police when his daughter was threatened. I get his aversion to cops, but this was a threat against his daughter. He should’ve been dragging every law enforcement agency he could think of into this situation to keep her protected. But he didn’t. His solution was for her to come home to HEG so Daddy could protect her. To me, that makes Truman Steadfast look guilty as hell.”
“Are you saying you think Tru Steadfast hired someone to stalk his own daughter to scare her into coming home?” Cap grimaced before shaking his head. “I don’t know, Luke. You’re not a father, so you don’t know how strong the instinctive drive is to protect your offspring. I can’t imagine Steadfast pulling all this shit just to manipulate his kid into coming back home.”
“Like Steele, you’re measuring Truman Steadfast by your own standards, but you’re nothing like that guy. Steadfast is a control freak and a narcissist. Eden managed to work her way out of his grasp, but there’s no way he was just going to let that lie. I’m sure he’s behind everything that’s happened to her, and that includes this latest attack.”
Cap stared at me like I was crazy. “You can’t possibly believe Steadfast hired someone to fuck him up so bad he’s now partially blind and possibly brain-damaged?”
I shook my head. “I’m saying that the monster he created got out of his control. Remember, Tru didn’t get any threatening messages until Eden shot at the guy who slashed her tires.”
“So?”
“You heard her conversation with Kelsey Crosby, right? She believes her stalker is actually two people working together. I think she’s partially right. I believe there are two stalkers, but I don’t believe they’re working together. First there was one, and now there’s another.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“Think of it as a relay race. First there was the guy who was ultra-violent with his threats—he killed a cat and ultimately wound up slashing Eden’s tires. She shot at him, and I’d be willing to bet at that point, that dude bailed on the job of harassing her. The fear campaign obviously wasn’t working, since Eden reacts to fear with rage until she becomes a fucking danger to everyone, including herself. I’m sure she shot that guy, whoever he was, and with a hide full of pellets he did the smart thing and quit before she got pissed off enough to use real bullets. That was when the latest guy was brought in to harass her, because that’s when the dick pics began. It also happens to be when the threatening packages addressed to Tru first showed up.”
Cap once again reached for the file and flipped it open. “This may or may not have anything to do with the BB gun incident, but Steele did some digging. Apparently two days after Eden Steadfast shot at her tire slasher, a twenty-nine-year-old by the name of Cobee Bruno showed up at a local med clinic with four closely grouped BB pellets lodged under his skin near the base of his skull and nape of the neck. Claimed he shot himself accidentally while loading his pellet gun.”
I slow-blinked. “In the back of his head and neck?”
“Yep. Apparently Cobee’s not too bright when it comes to making up excuses.”
Jesus. “Does he have any affiliation with the House of Enlightened Greatness?”
“As a matter of fact, he does. Head groundskeeper. He’s worked there for twelve years, even lives onsite,” Cap added, glancing back at the open file. “According to our investigation, Bruno was brought into the fold via a New Hope Teen Shelter when he was seventeen.”
“That means Cobee imprinted on Truman first—the first face he saw,” I murmured absently.
“What’s that?”
“You should know that there are no cameras in the meeting hall where Truman was attacked,” I said, waving my comment away with a vague hand. “Again, that’s proof that Truman’s attack is an inside job. No one outside of HEG knows that Tamarack Meeting Hall is the only place on the property that isn’t covered by security. The person who attacked Truman obviously knows this. He could be a New Hope Teen Shelter alum, or maybe he works at bringing in New Hope Shelter kids. One way or another, though, he’s affiliated with HEG.”
“Let’s not forget that Truman knew about the lack of security at that location, too,” Cap added, eyes narrowing as the pieces began to fall into place for him as well. “In fact, no one knows that property better than him, yet oddly enough he got caught at that one unsecured meeting hall alone.”
“He didn’tget caught, Cap.”
“So tell me what happened.”
I sighed and dragged my thoughts into the light. “I believe that Tru Steadfast made sure he went down to that hall by himself. Supposedly he went down there to greet an unexpected batch of New Hope at-risk teens. But both Eden and Kelsey Crosby thought that was very strange. Nobody had heard about a busload of kids coming in, so nothing was prepared to greet these teens that were supposedly coming in. That’s not how standard operating procedure goes at HEG.”
Cap took a moment to absorb this new information. “So what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking Tru needed to check in with his newest stalker in a place where no one would witness their meeting. Maybe Tru was pissed off that Eden wasn’t following the script by refusing to crawl back home to him, so he wanted to give the stalker fresh orders on how best to scare the shit out of her. Or maybe Tru wanted to know if the stalker was responsible for all the harassment that he was suddenly going through. Who knows? Maybe Tru finally remembered what it is to be a good father and wanted to pull the plug on the whole scheme. Whatever the reason, we know for a fact that Truman Steadfast insisted on going to that meeting hall by himself, without any form of security.”
“That’s one helluva red flag,” Cap admitted, grimacing. “But so damn hard to believe. I like the attorney for setting our stalker in motion better than Tru Steadfast.”
“Two reasons why I don’t think it’s Crosby,” I said, counting off on my fingers. “One, he’s genuinely shaken up by Tru’s beating. He’s blaming himself for not being there when the man he sees as a father got attacked.”
“He could be a really good actor. Hell, for all we know Kelsey Crosby could’ve attacked Tru Steadfast himself to throw us off.”
“Not even the greatest actor could pull off an attack like what Tru Steadfast went through, and not have a single abrasion on his knuckles, which leads me to my second reason. I saw his hands, Cap. Crosby sat there cradling his head in his hands, not even trying to hide anything. Even his manicure was pristine.”
“Fair point. Damn it.” Cap’s mouth became a flat line of distaste. “I cannot fucking believe Truman Steadfast would stoop so low that he’d try to frighten his own daughter into coming back home. Talk about a control freak.”
