“One more day. Just one more. I’ve got my stuff moved into the Duggins place and Logan is almost through setting up the cameras. We’d be done already if we weren’t taking pains to make sure we aren’t seen.”

  “In my neighborhood there’s little chance of getting away with anything,” Rachel countered. “But have it your way.” She began to scowl. “You aren’t going to be watching me inside, too, are you?”

  “Only in the living room and kitchen. Don’t worry. Most of the surveillance will be concentrated on the outer perimeter of the property.”

  “Meaning, if he gets by that, I’m on my own.”

  “Not at all.” He’d been waiting for the right moment to go over the entire plan and couldn’t think of a better opportunity than this. “We’ll set up a code system you can use to let us know if there’s a problem.”

  “How about a nice, loud scream? I can do that.”

  Jace had to laugh. “I was thinking more of a word or two that would fit into normal conversation. If there’s no immediate threat, we’d rather capture the guy red-handed, so to speak.”

  “Blood is red,” she said with a grimace. “Just make sure it isn’t mine, okay?”

  He stepped closer and held out his arms, hoping she would accept the comfort of an innocent embrace. Not that it would be so innocent on his part, he admitted ruefully. The more time he spent with Rachel, the more emotionally involved he became, like it or not. And he wasn’t sure if he did like it. After all, she had made her position regarding police officers quite clear. Unless something happened to erase all the damage done by her father’s attitude of superiority, there was little chance she’d ever consider getting serious about marrying a cop.

  That surprising thought brought him up short. Marry? Him? No way. He was just feeling connected due to his professional concern for a crime victim, that was all.

  And then Rachel stepped into his embrace, wiping away every misgiving, every doubt. As Jace closed his arms around her and she slipped hers around his waist, she laid her head on his shoulder.

  The closeness that had developed between them was not simple, nor was it harmless, he realized. Their relationship had deepened in a few short days until it was much more than that of victim and protector. He cared about this young woman far too much to be able to reason his feelings away or laugh them off.

  For Jace, that was nearly as scary as it would have been for him to have become the focus of the stalker’s ire. He wished he could somehow step between Rachel and her nemesis and relieve her of that burden once and for all.

  Sighing, he hugged her and prayed silently for the opportunity to do just that.

  “My car is safely locked in the garage and I have the only remote control so I’ll be able to drive to and from work from now on,” Rachel told Jace.

  “Good. Pastor Logan and I don’t want you to walk anymore, especially not until daylight savings time starts.”

  “I know, I know. And I won’t after today.” Rachel prepared to close the shop. “As soon as I get home, I’ll phone you on your cell. You and Logan will be able to see everything. Right?”

  “Right.”

  “It’ll be okay.” She reached up and patted his cheek. “You’re the guys with the plan. Don’t you trust it?”

  “Sure we do. I just…”

  “You worry too much. We haven’t had a single bad thing happen around here in over a week. Not even accidentally. Maybe whoever was mad at me gave up after he trashed my clothes.” She didn’t believe that for a second. Unfortunately, she could tell from Jace’s expression that he didn’t, either.

  “I promise I’ll take all the precautions we discussed,” Rachel said. “I have my Mace handy, too. Nobody is going to hurt me.”

  “Just see that you don’t panic and use it on the wrong guys,” Jace told her. “I had the experience of being sprayed with it in training and it wasn’t fun.”

  “I’m sure it wasn’t. Becky tells me it will stop a grown man in his tracks.”

  “A normal man, yes. Anybody who’s on drugs or is otherwise deranged may be another story.”

  “Point taken,” Rachel said, smiling. “Look, are you going to get out of the way and let me finally go home or not?”

  To her chagrin he stepped aside without insisting on a parting hug. Such innocent expressions of affection were an integral part of Southern custom and Rachel hadn’t thought much of it until Jace had started emulating the locals. His hugs were definitely not as platonic as most. The mere thought of them made her blush.

  She scooped up her purse and keys and headed for the door. “The back is locked, including the new dead bolt. Come on. Time to go.”

  Although she knew she sounded unconcerned, it was all an act. Inside, she was trembling so badly her stomach was upset and she had a tension headache that ran all the way from her shoulders to her throbbing temples.

  The few new clothes she’d bought to add to those Becky had loaned her had already been delivered to her house and were, hopefully, waiting. There had been little salvageable among her damaged personal belongings, making the incident even more traumatic.

  Leaving Jace to follow at a discrete distance, she started up Main and turned down Third Street, walking boldly with her head held high, knowing that each step was bringing her that much closer to finding out who was so bent on destroying her peace of mind.

  “If that’s all they end up doing, then praise the Lord,” Rachel murmured, trying to reason away some of her fear.

  It was no use. The nearer she got to her house, the more she trembled. Her throat felt as dry as the native creeks in August. Her hands shook like leaves in a gale.

  She paused in the street and stared at the neat, brick-fronted home that she had always viewed as her one sanctuary. Now, it loomed like a forbidding cave filled with unnamed monsters. The windows were dark as if hiding an unspeakable terror that was lying in wait. For her.

  TEN

  Jace took the first official watch. And the second. He figured it was best to give himself something constructive to do rather than simply pace the floor. Besides, he was the one actually living in the house they were using as a base of operations so that made more sense than having Logan come over and do it.

  Jace had been on plenty of stakeouts before. Basically, they consisted of hours of boredom interspersed with a few seconds of sheer bedlam. So far, all he had to show for his efforts in respect to Rachel was a throbbing headache and stiff shoulder muscles.

  He rubbed his neck. Walked back and forth. Grabbed a sandwich even though he wasn’t hungry and ate it sitting next to the monitors.

  The cameras that were trained on Rachel’s place were set to record when there was movement within range. Otherwise, they merely showed a live feed and let him listen to her humming as she spruced up her house after being gone so long.

  If he hadn’t been looking right at the screen when she said “I’ve missed you. Did you miss me, too?” he might have thought she had company. Instead, she was bending over a large, fernlike plant and tipping up a watering can.

  “The woman talks to her houseplants,” he murmured, disgusted by the way his heart had leaped when he’d heard her voice.

  He took out his cell phone and did what he’d been wanting to do for the past hour or more. Rachel’s home number was on speed dial, as was that of her shop.

  She answered on the first ring. “Hello?”

  “It’s just me. You scared me silly.”

  “Why?” Jace saw her stare directly at the hidden camera. Her eyes were wide and she was definitely apprehensive. “Is somebody sneaking up on me?”

  “No, no. You were talking to your fern, I guess, and I thought for a wild second that it was a person.”

  “Nope.” Relaxing, she grinned. “Very few people sit around in clay pots and have green fronds for hair. That’s how you can tell the difference.” She giggled. “It always works for me.”

  “Thanks for the tip.” Jace knew he shouldn’t have called her but something inside him had insisted. “Sorry I bothered you.”

  “It’s no bother,” she said, once again smiling at the camera.

  “You might want to stop talking to that lens as if it was me,” he cautioned. “If somebody is watching, you might scare him off.”

  “Scaring him off sounds good to me.” Rachel sobered and shrugged. “I get the point, though. You want me to seem vulnerable.”

  “It’s an illusion. You’re perfectly safe. I can be there in seconds if you give the word.”

  “Oh, sure, but how am I going to find a way to work Valentine into my conversation to tip you off?”

  “You run a card shop. It shouldn’t be that difficult.”

  “Right. Okay. I just want this all to be over.”

  “Believe me,” Jace said, “so do I.”

  When there was a loud thud at her door, Rachel’s first instinct was to hurry to see what had happened. Then, she had second thoughts. Before pulling aside the blinds and peering out the front window, she flipped on the porch light and grabbed her phone to have it in hand in case she needed it.

  She squinted. Nothing was moving. No one was visible. The moon was full and streetlights also illuminated the area all the way to the street. Nothing seemed amiss.

  “Doors do not knock by themselves,” she said aloud, assuming Jace or Logan could hear her. “What should I do? I don’t see a soul outside. Do you?”

  Pausing with her cell in her hand, she waited for it to ring with her answer. Nothing happened.

  All right, Rachel reasoned, she had two options. She could either leave the door locked or open it and see for herself what was going on. In the movies, the heroine always made the most foolish choices and got herself into all kinds of trouble. She was smarter than that. She knew she could leave the locks engaged and call Jace or Pastor Logan to come over and see if there was anything wrong on her porch.

  “Except that that seems cowardly,” she told herself. “And stupid. If they show themselves and someone sees them do it, all their careful plans to catch my stalker will be for nothing.”

  She put down the phone and picked up the tiny can of Mace. One peek. That was all she needed. If she cracked open the door and didn’t see anything on her porch, she’d slam it again, lock it up tight and no one would be the wiser.

  With trembling hands she twisted the dead bolt till she heard it click. Turning the knob slowly, cautiously, she held the Mace in front of her like a shield and eased open the door. The porch was empty.

  Letting out a noisy sigh she was about to lock up again when she looked down and spotted something white lying on the welcome mat. It was a plain envelope.

  She crouched. One arm snaked out just far enough to grab the envelope and pull it inside before she slammed the door hard and leaned against it.

  Her pulse was pounding. Her breathing was shallow. Her fingers trembled. If it had not been for the previous threatening notes she wouldn’t have been concerned, but she was afraid that this was another one. If it was, it had to have been recently placed there. Why hadn’t Jace seen someone lurking? Why hadn’t he phoned? And who in the world could have gotten past the defenses he and Logan had installed without being spotted?

  She slipped her index finger under the flap and tore the envelope open. Its contents were not another cryptic note, as she had feared. Instead, it was a morbid Valentine. There was a picture of a heart, all right, but it was mounted on a black background and there was a drawing of a dagger piercing it.

  Rachel swayed, suddenly dizzy, as she opened the card. The printing inside swam before her eyes. It was more of the same childish scrawl and this time it said,

  It’s almost time to celebrate, darling.

  Happy Valentine’s Day.

  Her phone jangled. She dropped the card as she answered, assuming the caller was Jace.

  “It’s—it’s a Valentine,” she said in a near whisper.

  Rather than the encouragement she had expected, someone gave a hoarse laugh and said, “I know. I’m glad you like it, sweetheart.”

  Rachel dropped the phone with a shriek, took a deep breath, looked up at the camera and announced loudly, “It’s a Valentine!”

  Jace vaulted off the back porch of the Duggins house and raced across the rear yards of the two other properties that lay between him and Rachel. His sidearm was secure in its holster. One fist was clenched around a heavy flashlight.

  He tried to phone her as he ran and wasn’t able to get through so he stuck the phone in his pocket to free his gun hand. In seconds he was rounding the front corner of her house and taking the porch steps two at a time.

  She threw open the door and welcomed him with open arms. Unshed tears lurked behind the fear he saw immediately. Pushing her aside and stepping in front to act as a human shield, he drew his pistol and crouched, ready to do battle.

  “Where is he?” Jace demanded.

  “I don’t know.”

  Keeping his concentration focused on their surroundings, he insisted on a clearer reply. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Did you see him or not?”

  “No.”

  “Then why did you use the code word? I told you…”

  “I know what you told me,” Rachel answered, sounding almost as miffed as she did frightened. She thrust her hand forward and displayed a black-rimmed card. “This was just delivered. Didn’t you see who did it?”

  “No. The cameras didn’t pick up 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, was on edge, so she must be close to panic. If keeping him in sight would help her cope, he wasn’t going to deny her that comfort.