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Jax presses it into my hands, and I let the little screws drop to the floor like oversized rain drops.
“It’s a tracking device.”
I put it on the table for us all to examine, but I know I’m right. I’ve seen enough of them in my time to recognize one off the cuff.
“I’ll run the device number,” Jax says.
“That’ll tell us where it was boughtfrom, and maybe even when it was installed. When was the last time you took this into a shop?” I ask. I get a good look at the pale shakiness of Dani, and then change tactics. “Go and see Bri,okay? We’ll come in with an update in a minute.”
Once she’s out of the way, I go over to Jax.
“It was bought online and shipped to a garage in Bri’s old town. I think we could make one very educated guess about who put it there, don’t you?”
“I guess that explains how he knew where she was.”
“What do you think we should do with it?” Jax asks.
I think about everything I know about this dirtbag, and a plan starts to slowly form in my mind.
“I think I have a good idea,” I say.
18
“Dani, what’s wrong?”
My unflappable little sister looks as though she’s about to shake out of her skin.
“Are you hungover too?” I joke, but it falls flat when her eyes meet mine.
Something is seriously wrong.
“Sit down. I’ll make us some coffee.”
It’s very rare that I witness Dani in any form of distress. Even in the hardest parts of her life, like when her trash high-school boyfriend broke up with her the day before prom, she didn’t even cry. Sheteepeedhis house, andthrewpurple punch at his white suit.
I hand her a cup of steaming coffee and wait for her to tell me what happened. She takes a while, but I’m patient. I don’t want to pressure her. The only pressure my sister works well with is the kind that she’s exerting on herself. If I say anything now, even as the tension builds to unmanageable levels.
“I saw him again today.”
I don’t need to ask who, but I do anyway. I do because if I didn’t say something, I think I might scream.
“I was leaving the grocery store after a random stop because I wanted some chocolate. And I just couldn’t shake how odd it was that he ends up being wherever I am.”
Whatever silent nervousness Dani started off with has slipped away into steady talking, and I don’t think I could ever get her to stop even if I tried.
“And so I thought, how could he have followed me all the way here? That’s crazy? He shouldn’t be able to do that. No one should. And yet, somehow he had found out where I’d beenstaying and shopping. When he showed up at theapartment, I figured he’d somehow figured out that you were living there and was just late to the party. But this? Finding me at thegrocery store when I just randomly stopped there?”Jacknever had two brain cells to rub together. There’s no way he’d have known.
“So, I asked a friend — sparing all major details of course — how someone would know where I lived if I didn’t give them any details about the move, and they said ‘like, maybe they LoJacked you’. And I panicked, because he was a mechanic. He must have known I was going to visit you. I never thought to even check to make sure.”
Dani takes a shuddering breath and clenches her fist on her thigh.
“He put a tracking device under my car. That’s how he knows where I’ve been going. And I’ve driven to your place and to your work. Which means he has two locations where he could find you easily. And—God,I’ve just led him right to your door!”
“Dani, calm down!”
“How can I? Bri, I’ve basically invited him into your home. I can’t believe howstupidI’ve been.”She hiccups.
“Don’t make me slap you, cause I will.”
