smiled at her candor. “I never would have known the difference.”
“I would have.” She shrugged. “I set out clean towels and a travel toothbrush for you in the bathroom. Sleep well, Mitch, and thanks for staying.”
“You’re welcome.” The woman was full of surprises behind that thick wall of lawyer, he thought as he unrolled the mat and sleeping bag. It was hard to imagine her roughing it in the woods, but he was grateful.
He studiously kept his gaze averted as he passed her bed on the way to and from the bathroom. When he slid into the sleeping bag, he found himself surrounded by the elusive scent that was uniquely her.
With a sigh, he folded his hands behind his head. The few hours left between now and morning were going to make for one long night.
By some miracle, Mitch did get some sleep and upon waking, he managed not to interfere with Julia’s morning routine too much. After a quick argument against walking her to work, he drove her over and, when he dropped her off at the curb, he made her promise to stay put in her building until they met for lunch. Not only that, but she’d given him her word she’d forward any communication from the stalker. After last night’s emotional roller coaster, he believed she’d cooperate. In the short term, anyway.
Leaving her office, he drove to the west side of town and the house he shared with his oldest brother, Stephen. Braced for an interrogation, Mitch was relieved to find the place empty. He really wanted to avoid a discussion about where he’d spent the night and why. After a fast shower, he pulled on dark jeans, a T-shirt and a blue button-down. His typical off-day wardrobe of concert shirts was fine for the garage but wouldn’t translate well if he needed to blend in at her office. With that in mind, he packed a bag for a few days and grabbed his laptop. On his way out, he left a note to head off any unnecessary and uncomfortable questions from his family.
The extended Galway family could turn the big city into a small town whenever they got the urge. He’d been fending off concerned texts and calls from his parents and siblings since his suspension, as if they were afraid he’d go stir-crazy if he couldn’t fight fires. They weren’t exactly wrong—he missed the sense of purpose at the firehouse—but at just shy of thirty, he’d grown out of his youthful restlessness.
His irritation eased as he thought of Julia’s brother. He’d rather be surrounded by too much caring than none at all. He couldn’t imagine any of his siblings or cousins going missing for years. It just wouldn’t be tolerated.
With his gear in the trunk, he drove back to Julia’s building for a chat with her doorman before he reported in to Grant. The results after an hour of conversation were disturbing. Whoever had slipped that note into Julia’s mailbox had hidden their tracks well. Either the stalker lived in her building or he’d convinced someone in her building to drop the note in her mailbox. Worse, the security video didn’t show anyone other than the mailman near Julia’s box yesterday.
Frustrated, Mitch made notes and sent them on to Grant. The technical expertise involved to erase or alter surveillance was beyond him. Julia would expect better results than Mitch’s fumbling attempts to track down the man who matched her description of an average man wearing a popular hat.
Since he had her spare key, he took his belongings upstairs to her apartment and stowed his bag out of sight behind the privacy screen. Setting up his laptop at her table, again he reviewed the file she’d created, searching for a lead among the pictures and messages the stalker had sent. Not one similar angle, not even in the park. It was as if the creep had tagged along through her daily routine, completely invisible. He read and reread the line that Julia’s assignment to the Falk case wasn’t yet public knowledge.
Mitch got up to pace, but her apartment wasn’t big enough to make it worthwhile. He made a cup of coffee and drank it down as he studied the one picture she’d captured yesterday. It wasn’t any more enlightening today than it had been last night.
Every time he looked through the information, he came up with more questions than potential answers. Who was close enough to Julia and the car-theft ring? Searching for those connections meant digging into her life, which he suspected would go over like a lead balloon if he did that without her. There had to be something he could do.
He sent her a text message to check in and got an immediate positive reply, which eased the tension building in his neck and shoulders. With two hours until her lunch break, Mitch headed out for a walk. Her stalker knew the area and Mitch needed to get equally familiar with her typical routes and favorite places in the neighborhood. He needed to mitigate the stalker’s advantage. Mentally he crossed his fingers her stalker would be bold enough to wear the same orange hockey team cap today.
He left her building and walked the route she took every day to her office, passing her gym and her bank. With the pictures on his phone, he took in the various sight lines and angles. Where had the bastard been hiding?
By the time he’d walked the circumference of the park where she normally ate lunch, he realized just how easy it would be to target her or anyone else. The foot traffic and tourists that made her feel safe gave her stalker similar cover.
Taking a seat on a bench where he guessed the stalker had been watching for her, he used his phone to poke into the key players and time line on Marburg’s current big-ticket case. At first glance, it seemed obvious the stalker was all about the case, with his demands for names and cooperation. But what if Julia was the real goal? Maybe the creep had a fixation with sexy female defense attorneys on high-profile cases.
Mitch wasn’t a cop, but he felt the theory deserved an examination. As he put the text messages and pictures up against the case time line and growing pile of dead witnesses against the perps at the center of the criminal activity, he wound up agreeing with Grant and Julia.
Her stalker was dialed in to the legal issues, determined to have an inside informant on the Falk case. Why?
The criminals organizing the car-theft ring had plagued the city for nearly three years. More than stealing prime cars, it was generally believed that newer recruits committed robberies, arson, battery and even murder against competitors or hapless citizens to move up the ranks.
Only the recent bust at the docks three months ago had restored a measure of peace. The cops had wrangled a number of wannabes and hit the jackpot when they caught a man they were sure was one of the masterminds of the system.
Naturally, Mitch was more familiar with the suspected arsons linked to the operation. They’d been nasty and, in addition to a terrible fatality, at least two fires had been used to divert emergency resources from a bigger crime discovered later. He reviewed pictures of those scenes on news websites, searching for anyone who could be a match to the guy she had spotted yesterday, but there was no distinguishing feature to make a legitimate connection.
Marburg, with all their clout, must have been on retainer, considering how quickly they negotiated the deal for Falk to await trial in a safe house rather than a jail cell. As grumpy as the Philadelphia PD had been about relinquishing jurisdiction, Mitch thought it was a good thing the FBI was in charge of keeping Falk alive to testify against his partners.
How had the stalker learned Julia had been added to the case before it hit public record? It couldn’t have been a lucky guess. As she’d said, Marburg was full of eager associates eligible for the choice opportunity extended to Julia. Was her office really as safe as she thought? Could the stalker have an informant inside the firm who hadn’t gotten on the case as expected?
Mitch pushed to his feet and started up the block, doing his best to walk when everything inside him wanted to run. He had to get to her. Right now. Pulling out his phone, he sent her another text as he rounded the corner. She’d appreciate the fair warning.
When she entered the lobby, those high heels snapping against the marble with every stride, he gave himself a moment to soak up the gorgeous view before she got close enough to be offended. Her suit jacket was gone, and the sleek short-sleeved dress skimmed over