Chapter One
Jessica
“Get out of Enchanted Rock, Jessica Long,” groaned the modulated voice into my ear. “Get out before I send you out on my own. Just a matter of time before I lose patience.”
Frozen in a moment of fear, I just slammed my work phone back down into its cradle, my breath wheezing out. The sun was bright, but a sudden coldness had gripped my soul, a feeling of someone walking back and forth over my grave.
I jumped and gave a little yelp as a hand gripped my shoulder.
My friend Sheila, who was standing right next to my desk chair, retracted her hand carefully. “Woah, there girl. Was it him again? Your stalker?”
I nodded tersely, brushed a long, dark lock of hair from my face. “Yeah. Yeah, it was him.”
Sheila had been helping me out for the last week or so with the books at Curious Turtle, the little art gallery I co-owned and managed in Enchanted Rock. Blake Axelrod, my silent partner, had lately become my eternally silent partner.
He was dead, a heart attack got him. Early-fifties, and he'd just keeled over while out hunting one day. By all accounts, the white tail deer were all breathing a sigh of relief. His funeral had been last week, and I still hadn't been able to wrap my head around it.
The last thing I needed was death threats from some looney-tune while I was sorting everything out and trying to figure where my business was going to be in six months, or if it was even going to be around. One more year with slow tourism, and that might be it. Rent was going up, but my number of customers weren't.
Seriously. Last thing.
Axelrod sure had left me a mess with the financials, too. Which was where my friend Sheila came in to the picture.
Sheila Pearson had been one of my best friends since high school, we'd both been on the cheer squad. She'd gotten her masters in accounting from State, but had never really moved out of town long term. As soon as she finished with grad school, she was right back in Enchanted Rock, or the Rock as the locals called it. Her take on it: why would she leave the mountains? Even Denver was too far away from the Rockies for her, and it was over a mile above sea level. Of course, the wider corporate world's loss was certainly my gain. She actually enjoyed doing this accounting stuff, and I hardly understood it.
“Have you talked to the sheriff about it yet?”
“Yeah, of course,” I replied with a shrug and a long, tired sigh as I crossed my arms. “But, Sheriff Peak says he can't do anything about them. All the calls have been from disposable cell phones and different numbers each time, as far as he can tell. He can't place a restraining order or threaten someone with charges if he can't find them.”
Sheila screwed up her face, frowning like she'd just bit hard into a lemon.
I drummed my fingers on the arm of the chair. “What about those guys your father hired last year?” I asked. “For those robberies?”
“The security guys?” Sheila asked, cocking her head to the side. “I guess, maybe.”
“Think they'd be able to do anything?”
“I don't know. Think you need some extra help with this?” Sheila asked as she sat forward and leaned against my desk. “I mean, the cops can't do anything about it, why could they?”
I was scared, and frustrated, that was why. I didn't think this asshole would really do anything, but having it hang over my head like the sword of Damocles wasn't helping with my sense of well-being, or my levels of stress. “I'm just at wit's end, here?” I asked more than said, wrinkling my nose. “I don't need a babysitter, Sheila, but I'd like something.”
“No,” she hesitantly agreed, “you need some peace of mind. The calls are getting more frequent. That's the second one today. I just don't understand why the sheriff isn't doing anything.”
I laughed. “Want him to bug my phone line or something? I don't think they even can. You've seen those old cars they drive around in, girl. They're not exactly Mission Impossible or James Bond over there.”
“Well, maybe they can watch out for you for a little while? Put a cruiser in front of your house or something? A deputy maybe?”
I grinned at her. “Worried about me?”
She smiled a little, but it quickly faded. “Jess, I'm going to be honest. I kind of am. This has been going on for weeks. Way too long.”
I shook my head, a frown forming on my face. “Well, I don't think I need around the clock protection,” I said. “What I need is someone who can find this guy and get him to leave me alone. That's what I want.”
“Well,” Sheila said, going around the desk to sit down in the other chair across from me, “maybe they can? Maybe, if they answer the call or something, they'll be able to scare these guys? I mean, that's what they do right? Secure things?”