My Deadly Valentine - By Valerie Hansen & Lynette Eason Page 0,26
a thing.” Although he started to relax he didn’t holster the gun because he was far from satisfied that there was no imminent danger. “Where did you find that?”
“On the porch.”
That was shocking enough to command Jace’s full attention. “You what? Haven’t you listened to a thing Logan and I have told you? What part of keep the doors locked don’t you understand?”
“I heard something. And I asked you if you saw anything but you didn’t answer.”
“What are you talking about?” Watching her face and seeing how truly confused and panicky she was, he realized he’d been shouting at her. “Okay. Start from the beginning. What happened, exactly?”
“I—I heard a noise on the porch.”
“A knock?”
“Kind of. Now that I think about it, it was more of a thud.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t remember exactly. I think I talked to the camera again and was expecting you to phone me.”
“I tried. Your line was busy.” He saw her glance at the place on the rug where her phone lay.
“I did get a call, only it wasn’t you. It was him. I—I guess I dropped the phone. The rest you know.”
“All right.” Jace slipped one arm around Rachel’s shoulders, hoping she wouldn’t notice that he was trembling. Every muscle in his body was knotted, every nerve fiber on alert. Even when he’d been caught in the line of fire in the past, he had not reacted so strongly. Not even when he’d been shot.
Whether Rachel realized it or not, the stalker was escalating his approach. He’d not only left the morbid-looking Valentine, he’d actually spoken to her on the phone. That was not a good sign. Not good at all.
Worse, he had somehow placed the card on her porch without being photographed by the surveillance equipment. That, alone, raised the hackles on Jace’s neck.
“Okay,” he said, trying to sound calm and in control. “You stay right here, inside, while I take a look at the porch. If there’s no malfunction of the cameras, they should pick me up and record my actions.”
She was clinging to him. “Why do you have to go out there? He’s obviously gone.”
“Mainly to test the cameras,” Jace explained. “And I want to see if I can figure out how he managed to knock without setting foot on the porch.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible. It’s just a matter of figuring it out so he doesn’t get away with the same thing again.”
Although Rachel shuddered, she did release her hold. “Okay. Go do it. But you’re coming back inside as soon as you’re done.”
“What about the neighbors?”
To his relief she gave him a lopsided smile and said, “Let the neighbors get their own cop.”
Jace nodded. “Right. I’m all yours, at least till we have a chance to alert Logan and tell him what’s happened. I’m going to want him to check the entire system and since he’ll be watching our every move, he can testify that you and I were behaving ourselves. That should quiet the rumormongers.”
He placed a conciliatory kiss on her forehead as he stepped away. “I’ll be right back. And then we’ll see if we can trace that call.”
“Don’t be long. And don’t go far. Promise?”
A few tears slid down her cheeks as he watched, touching his heart in a way that was so tender it almost undid him. “I promise,” he said softly. “I’m just going to the porch steps.”
“What if he’s still out there?”
“I doubt he will be,” Jace told her. “But even if he is, I can handle myself. I’m a pro, remember?”
“You’ve never made a mistake?”
“Only once when it counted,” he replied, thinking of the night he and his partner were ambushed. “And I won’t do that again.”
Rather than answer the personal questions he assumed would ensue, he turned off the porch light and began to open the front door. Just then a startling thought popped into his head. “Hold it. I came in this way. It was unlocked.”
“Only because I had just picked up the Valentine.”
“Lock it after me. Now.”
Her eyebrows arched and she dashed away the sparse tears that had wet her cheeks. “No way. I’m going to stand right here and keep an eye on you, whether you like it or not. You’re not getting out of my sight.”
Jace opened his mouth to argue, then decided against wasting his breath. Judging by her firm expression, Rachel was not going to listen to reason. And, in a way, he didn’t blame her. He was used to this kind of thing and he, too,