Читать книгу Stalker in the Shadows - Camy Tang - Страница 12

FOUR

Monica couldn’t believe it. She’d talked to Phillip numerous times. Although she had a feeling he had another agenda, she’d never gotten any hint that he was dangerous, or that he was lying about his interest in the clinic. She had always prided herself on how well she could read people. Had she been grossly wrong about him? “You need to explain.”

He looked away, staring at some people exercising a few yards away. “I grew up with Phillip. We were classmates in a private school in San Francisco from first through twelfth grade. You get to know someone pretty well when you spend seven hours a day with him.”

“Did Phillip know Clare, too?”

“Not in school. She went to a private girls’ school in San Francisco, and his family lives in Sonoma, but they didn’t become friends until after Clare got her MBA.”

“So if they were friends up here in Sonoma, what happened when she moved to L.A.?”

“He followed her to L.A. only a few weeks later.”

“That doesn’t make him her stalker.”

“I’ve never trusted him. He always seems to be hiding something.”

Yes, she’d gotten that feeling, too, but that didn’t make him a stalker hiding his secret, did it?

Shaun continued, “Clare didn’t consider him a close friend, but they hung out in the same crowd of friends down in L.A., went to parties with the same group of people, that kind of thing.”

“Why would he pose as an anonymous stalker if he was friends with your sister? He had access to her almost any time.”

“She also had a boyfriend and a roommate. And the initial letters threatened to hurt her if she didn’t stop work on the family planning clinic, but he didn’t do anything physically against her—no attacks, just malicious letters. Clare’s roommate said that sometimes Clare thought the guy was only full of hot air.”

“So he only wanted to manipulate her, he didn’t intend to hurt her?”

“Eventually he did intend to hurt her. The stalker’s later letters were more threatening, when she continued to ignore him.”

“But what made you think it was Phillip?”

“Clare’s roommate said that my sister investigated a nasty gift the stalker sent her, a bottle of snake venom. She traced it to a shop on Haight-Ashbury where the stalker had bought it illegally for five thousand dollars. The person who sold it said the man buying the venom matched Phillip’s height, weight, coloring, and he wore a black leather duster coat like one that Phillip owns.”

“Did she ask him about it?”

“Her roommate said she confronted Phillip, who denied it. Clare believed him, but her roommate didn’t. Neither do I.”

“Did you see a photo? Video surveillance?”

Shaun’s eyes slid away from her.

“So you don’t have proof that it was Phillip who bought the snake venom.”

“The salesperson positively identified—”

“Phillip isn’t unusual-looking. Light brown hair, light brown eyes, medium height. And it’s Haight-Ashbury—a black duster isn’t even going to turn heads among the people who shop on that street. There are people there in wild costumes every day.”

“I’m telling you, Phillip is the stalker. Every time I’ve talked to him, he acts like he’s hiding something.”

“Everyone is hiding something, but it doesn’t mean they’re hiding a double life as a stalker. I don’t think what Phillip is hiding is very sinister. I think it’s somehow more self-serving.”

“How do you know this?”

“I’m good at reading people.”

But now she wondered if she could really be entirely wrong. Was he more dangerous a person than she’d given him credit for? She had detected some attraction on Phillip’s side, but that had happened with other men, and she never encouraged any unprofessional interest. It seemed Phillip wanted to get close to her for some reason of his own, perhaps because of her wealthy family and her father’s lucrative business connections. “Do you have any solid proof about Phillip?”

He pressed his lips together.

“Don’t you wonder if your bias about him from your school years might be clouding your judgment?”

Shaun shook his head. “He’s a…he’s slimy.”

She could admit Phillip seemed a bit slimy, but she didn’t think he would send dead snakes to her.

Still, he’d known she’d be at Lorianne’s Café. But anyone watching her could have followed her to the restaurant, too. She wondered if Detective Carter had discovered who had delivered the gruesome florist’s box.

She gave Shaun a hard look. “Phillip Bromley is an investor, and I can’t simply cancel our appointment. It’s unprofessional, which would reflect badly not just on me, but also on the clinic and my father.”

His face sobered at the mention of her father.

“I’ve hired you to protect me, so you’ll just have to protect me when I meet with Phillip. And who knows, maybe he’ll reveal something to prove he’s the stalker.” She was sure Shaun would appreciate that if it happened.

He didn’t answer at first. She could almost read his mind. His protective instinct was warring with his desire for answers.

“Fine,” he said shortly. Then he leaned closer to her. “But you need to do exactly what I tell you. Otherwise you might as well fire me right now, because I won’t be able to protect you.”

He was too close to her. The memory of the kiss came back in a rush. She blinked to clear her thoughts and sidled away from him.

“Fine.” She didn’t look at him.

How ironic that Shaun thought Phillip was a threat when it was Shaun who seemed more dangerous.

Shaun watched the door to Lorianne’s Café from where he stood next to Monica. So far, no Phillip, only a tourist taking photos of the square and a woman with a baby carriage.

Her scent wrapped around him, something exotic, which made him want to move closer to her. She was distracting him just when he couldn’t be distracted.

He remembered the same scent during that moment at their teaching session in the hotel gym. He didn’t know why he’d kissed her. There was something about her that made him want to be closer to her, to let her soothe something inside him. But he couldn’t let anyone touch that pain and bitterness, he had to keep it to himself.

He was glad she’d laughed it off. It was better for both of them that she did. He wasn’t good for any woman, although protecting her and finding the stalker might help him find some peace.

Movement by the door drew him out of his thoughts. He should have been paying attention.

Phillip Bromley entered in an expensive business suit, holding a bouquet of red roses. The sight of the flowers and their vivid color made Shaun’s shoulders hunch and tighten like a bull pawing at the ground. Phillip had on a wide smile, and his eyes were fixed on Monica.

She met him with a polite smile. “Thank you, Phillip. You shouldn’t have.” Shaun thought she should have chucked the flowers at Phillip’s head, but she did hold the bouquet in front of her like a thorny shield, preventing Phillip when he tried to move in to give her a hug in greeting.

Phillip then turned to Shaun, who stood closer to Monica’s elbow than he knew he should. “Hi, Shaun. I saw your father last week at the Zoe banquet.”

“Hi, Phillip.”

“Are you meeting someone for lunch, too?” Phillip asked.

Shaun wanted to say no, to say that he’d been thinking of joining Phillip and Monica, but they had decided beforehand not to make it obvious he was watching over her.

“No, I’m not meeting anyone,” Shaun said. “I’m just here to take a leisurely lunch.”

Phillip gave a bland smile. “My mom went to the baby shower for your brother’s wife. She mentioned that your sister-in-law was worried about you. Something tragic happened down near the border, she said.”

His anger at Phillip for putting Shaun at a disadvantage warred with a flash of images of the drowning van.

“Every job has its stresses,” Monica interjected. “Businessmen have their own types of stresses, while law enforcement has an entirely different set. More physical, those requiring strength of body and mind.” She gave Phillip a bright smile, then shot Shaun a look that said, Don’t let him antagonize you.

Phillip’s neck had reddened at the mention of the “physical and mental strength.” Shaun wondered if Monica had said that deliberately, to contrast Shaun’s larger, more muscular frame to Phillip’s rather pasty, thin body.

The thought made him not mind her stern look at him.

“Well, we should get on with our lunch appointment,” Monica said. “It was nice chatting with you, Shaun.” She led Phillip to a table near the back of the restaurant.

Monica had already spoken to the restaurant owner, her friend Lorianne, about Shaun being her secret bodyguard, so Lorianne had given him a small table next to Monica and Phillip where he could keep an eye on them and eavesdrop on their conversation.

Phillip pulled out the chair to Monica’s right, about to sit down, but she placed the roses on the chair, preventing him. Her purse was on the seat to the left, so he awkwardly moved to the seat across from her.

“I hope you like roses,” Phillip said.

“Oh. Certainly,” she said carelessly.

A part of Shaun felt relief that she seemed to be making an effort not to encourage Phillip’s Casanova moves. She hadn’t mentioned that Phillip had a more than professional interest in her. Sitting only a few feet away, listening to their conversation, was harder than Shaun had expected it to be.

“I bought the roses because they remind me of the dress you wore to the Zoe banquet,” Phillip said. “You looked amazing.”

“Thank you,” she said simply.

“It was the first time I’d gone to the banquet. Do you go every year?”

“Yes. Dad has contributed regularly to Zoe International, and they hold the banquet every year to thank their largest donors.”

“Speaking of your father…” Phillip leaned in with a smile. “I heard a rumor that he was going to expand the Joy Luck Life Spa into a hotel. Is it true?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask him, since I don’t usually work at the spa,” Monica said with a neutral expression.