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“Waiting to place an order would have eaten into our limited time. Look at that crowd.” Alison waved toward the throng planning to indulge in a high-calorie Saturday splurge. “Besides, what are friends for if not to lend an ear and provide ice cream?” She motioned toward the treat. “Dig in and give me the scoop on the new information you mentioned—no pun intended.”
Bri picked up her plastic spoon. “It’s relationship related.”
“Ugh.” Alison made a face. “Considering the state of my marriage, I hope you’re not going to ask me for advice.”
“No. This is about a relationship gone bad.”
“Ah. That, I should be able to help you with. Unfortunately.” She scooped up a spoonful of her mint chocolate chip. “What’s the problem—and how does it relate to what happened last week?”
In between bites of ice cream, Bri briefed Alison on her experience with Travis in Idaho and the news she’d received this morning.
“I can’t help but wonder if he’s somehow connected to the so-called accidents that have been happening to me, but ...” Bri sighed and shook her head. “Isn’t that kind of far-fetched?”
Alison swirled her spoon in her softening ice cream, brow wrinkled. “Traveling cross-country seems excessive, unless this guy has gone off the deep end. I mean, why would he wait almost three years to exact revenge?”
“I don’t know. I wonder if getting put on leave for a similar incident brought back all his anger at me for the first one.”
“But this latest episode wasn’t your fault. If anything, he ought to be grateful you cut him slack after the first harassment episode. Gave him a chance to clean up his act. Hisfailure to toe the line, and the consequences for that, are his fault, not yours.”
“I know. But he did have a victim mentality. Nothing that went wrong was ever his fault. That was true both on the job and off.”
“Hmm.” Alison pursed her lips. “You think, in some twisted way, he could be blaming you for the pickle he’s in now?”
Bri drew a jagged line through her ice cream with the tip of her spoon. “I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility, but if heisbehind the incidents this past week, he’s covered his tracks. I can’t prove he had a part in them.”
“Do any of your neighbors have security cameras?”
“No. Most don’t even have alarm systems. It’s a quiet street in a stable neighborhood. And annoying as those incidents were, I can deal with them.” She jiggled her foot, chased an elusive dollop of ice cream around the cup, and gave voice to her biggest fear. “To tell you the truth, I’m more worried about what he may be planning next—if anything. I’m wondering if this could ratchet up.”
Alison stopped eating. “You think he might want to hurt you?”
Bri poked at her ice cream.
Did she?
Was he capable of actually inflicting harm?
“Bri ...” Alison leaned closer, features etched with concern. “Your hesitation tells me the answer could be yes. If that’s the case, it may be smart to take a few precautionary measures.”
She glanced around the shop and lowered her voice. “I have. I started carrying off the job too.”
“Wow. You must be really worried.”
“This was more to appease my sister.” She rested her hand on the slight bulge at her waist, beneath her sweatshirt.
“You want the truth? It makes me feel better too.” Alison pushed aside her paper carton and linked her fingers on thetable. “Is there any way you can find out where this Travis guy is?”
Bri scraped up the last of her ice cream. “Not easily. Besides, for all I know he’s still in Idaho. But if he did leave town, he apparently didn’t tell anyone there about it. And contacting airlines or rental car companies with nothing more than a name would be like searching for a needle in a haystack—if they even chose to cooperate. It’s not like I can use probable cause to get a court order.”
Alison rested her elbow on the table and propped her chin in her palm, her expression somber. “From what you’ve told me about this guy, I do think your concern is valid. People with anger issues can be loose cannons. It’s possible the latest incident in Idaho lit his fuse. He can’t get back at the woman who filed the charges because he’d be the obvious suspect if anything bad happened to her, but he could come after you without much risk given the time elapsed and the distance. Would he resort to actual violence? That’s hard to predict.”
Yeah, it was.
But his fury the day she’d told him once and for all to leave her alone, and his vise-like grip on her arm that had left long-lasting black-and-blue finger marks, suggested he could be capable of inflicting physical injury.
“I guess all I can do at this stage is keep looking over my shoulder. But that stinks.”
“I hear you. At least with Nate I never worried about my physical safety. But he worried too much about me, thanks to my job. Another point of contention between us. For all I know, his concerns about my safety caused some of his issues.” Alison exhaled and shook her head. “Relationships can be a can of worms.”
