stroked her hair back from her face. “I’m going to get a shirt on and see you back home. You still have two more days of school to get through, right?”
“You don’t have to follow me back. I’ll head straight to Courtney’s place and drive right into the garage. It’s a secure building. I’ll be fine.”
He walked into the bedroom and pulled a clean T-shirt from his closet. Yanking it over his head, he returned to the living room and said, “I’m not comfortable with you driving alone at night. It’s late.”
He scratched the stubble of his beard. This whole incident with Ty Russell had spooked him. How the hell had the killer gotten a line on Ty?
As far as he knew, the only time Elise had seen Ty since he’d been in the city was the day he swooped down on her in front of Courtney’s place. He hadn’t seen his name in her phone contacts, and he doubted Elise had anything in her house with Ty’s name on it.
“Well, I guess I could always use a police escort. I’m obviously not very good about noticing a tail since the Alphabet Killer managed to follow me from the Golden Gate to Chinatown that day.”
“He did, didn’t he?” The coil in his gut wound tighter. “You said you were careful that day.”
“Absolutely, and then when I got close to Chinatown, it was such a big mess because of the parade I had to take a million detours. For each turn I made, I checked my rearview mirror. I even drove down a couple of little alleys—nothing.”
“Elise, how many times did you see Ty since he came here?”
“Twice—once on the sidewalk in front of Courtney’s place and just now.” She combed her fingers through her hair. “Why are you asking? I certainly never told him anything about you or where you lived. I didn’t even know where you lived until I followed you here tonight.”
“You followed me here tonight.” He dug his fingers in his hair.
“Um, yeah.”
“There’s only one way your stalker could’ve known about Ty.”
“My stalker?”
“He saw him at Courtney’s place—with you, with me.”
Her head cranked back and forth. “No. That can’t be. He doesn’t know Courtney. He doesn’t know where Courtney lives. How could he? He couldn’t be that good, to be able to follow me around the city when I’m on the lookout for him. No way.”
“He’s not physically following you, Elise. He’s tracking you.” He barreled toward the coat closet by the front door and reached for the shelf for a flashlight.
“Tracking me? How?”
When he turned with the flashlight in his hand, he almost knocked her over.
Her eyes took up half her face as she grabbed his arm. “How is he tracking me?”
“I have a hunch.” He threw open the front door with Elise hot on his heels. “Your car was parked in your garage when he broke in after the attack.”
“My car... Yeah.” She hooked her fingers in his belt loop. “Oh, God, you can’t mean he put something on my car.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.” He nudged her shoulder. “Pull it into the driveway next to mine so we can get it into the light.”
Elise dashed to her car as Sean juggled the flashlight from hand to hand. If the killer had put some kind of tracking device on Elise’s little hybrid, it would explain so much. It also meant he knew where she was staying and he knew she was here—right now.
His gaze scanned the street of empty cars parked at the curb. One car idled in the driveway, but that one belonged to his neighbor’s teenage son who raced up and down the street daily.
Elise parked and exited her vehicle. “Where would he put something like that? Inside the car?”
“Most likely attached to the undercarriage of the chassis.” He handed her the flashlight. “Hold this.”
He dropped to his hands and knees, rolled onto his back and scooted under the front of the car. His nostrils flared at the smell of oil and gasoline, strong even for a hybrid. He thrust out his arm and wiggled his fingers. “Flashlight.”
“Flashlight.” Elise smacked it against his palm as if they were performing surgery.
He trailed the beam along the wheel wells and the undercarriage. He knew a bit about cars, and he didn’t see anything amiss.
Maybe his instincts were off this time.
He shoved out from beneath the car and walked on his knees to the back. He ducked beneath the vehicle and swept the light back and forth. Rolling to one side, he aimed the beam at the wheel well.
“Bingo.”
“What? You found something?” Elise’s voice had risen to a frantic pitch.
He wrapped his fingers around the black box and yanked it from the metal, breaking the magnetic force. Gathering his legs beneath him, he rose to a crouch and cradled the device in the palm of his hand.
As Elise drew closer, he illuminated it with the flashlight.
“What is it?”
“It’s a GPS tracking device.”
She gasped and fell back on her hands. “It’s been there since the night of the attack. He’s been following me, tracking my every move. That’s how he followed me to Chinatown. That’s how he knew about my school. That’s how he found out about Ty.”
“It should’ve occurred to me sooner.”
“That some killer would just happen to have a GPS tracking device handy?”
“He’s a clever SOB.”
“Sean!” She tugged on his arm, nearly toppling him over. “We have to warn Courtney. He knows where she lives, knows I’m staying there.”
“Not anymore you’re not. Give Courtney a call. You’re staying here tonight, and I’ll take you back to her place early tomorrow morning so you can get your things and get to school.”
She jabbed her finger at the tracking device. “What are we going to do with this thing?”
“Oh, I have a plan. If the Alphabet Killer likes games, I’ve got a good one for him.”
* * *
THE SOUND OF the alarm grated against her eardrums, and Elise sighed and snuggled closer to Sean’s warm, smooth back.
She didn’t want to move, didn’t want to face the harsh world outside. But the alarm was insistent.
Sean growled and threw out an arm, his hand groping for the clock on the nightstand. With one well-aimed smack, he ended the sound that had intruded on Elise’s sweet dreams.
She yawned and dug her chin into his shoulder. “You can’t wake up to soothing music or wind chimes?”
“Those sounds would never wake me up. I have a hard enough time with that obnoxious noise blaring in my ear.”
Elise squinted at the green numbers floating in the dark room. “Ugh, I haven’t seen five o’clock a.m. since—since a maniac tried to kill me five days ago.”
Sean swiveled around, twisting the covers in his legs, and pulled her against his chest. He kissed the top of her head. “He can’t continue at this pace. You don’t murder two people and dump their bodies in an alley without leaving a trail of clues.”
She burrowed deeper into his arms and inhaled his scent. She wanted to bottle it and take it with her everywhere.
“Are you going to have to answer some questions about Ty today?”
“Of course,