The Men With the Golden Cuffs (2 page)

“So what brings you in today?” He tried to come up with any reason for someone so obviously harmless to need a security company of McKay-Taggart’s level. They wouldn’t come cheap.

She took a deep breath, as though steeling herself to get through the next few moments. “I have a stalker. Sometimes fans joke about stalking an author, but this one is serious.”

Jake’s arms crossed over his chest. “Have you talked to the police?”

“On several occasions. I have the police reports right here.” She shoved her glasses back up her nose before delving into her bag. She came up with several papers, each one slightly wrinkled. She put them down on the desk, attempting to smooth them out. “Sorry. I’m not the most organized of people. My friends keep telling me to get a personal assistant.”

Jake snatched the paperwork before Adam could get a hand on it. His fingers tapped along the desk. He knocked twice and swept his fingers toward Serena. It was his signal for Adam to keep the client talking while he reviewed the data.

Adam was the soft touch, and Jake the hard hand. Adam was all right with that. It usually meant that he got to play first.

“Do you know the identity of this man? Is he an ex?” Adam asked, allowing his voice to go soft and sympathetic.

She shook her head. “No. I don’t know. What I mean is I have no idea who this guy is. I’m divorced, but I can’t imagine Doyle would do this to me. He’s an asshole, but he’s really upfront about it.”

Adam wasn’t convinced. When a woman was being systematically stalked, the proper place to start was with an ex. “Your divorce was acrimonious?”

The little huff that came out of her mouth told Adam all he needed to know. “My divorce was started by my ex-husband. He blindsided me. I thought we were happy. We’ve been divorced for almost three years. He’s not interested in me physically. Believe me, he made that plain. And this guy seems very interested, if you know what I mean.”

But Adam didn’t buy that her ex was completely uninterested. If he was male and had working parts and the right bent, he would be interested. Adam let it go for now. “Fine. Tell me what happened.”

“It started really simply. I have a Facebook fan page. Uhm, it’s nothing special, just a place where I talk to fans and post excerpts. But a couple of months ago I got a friend request from someone named Joshua Lake. I thought it was kind of cool because he’s one of my most popular characters. I thought it was cute. It was fine at first. And then it got weird.”

“What do you mean by weird?”

Her face flushed. There was no doubt in Adam’s mind that this woman truly believed she was in danger. “He started to send me private messages. I’ll be honest. At first I thought it was a woman. Most men don’t read romance novels.”

“I would assume you don’t have a lot of male fans. Do you often have men who try to friend you?” The internet was full of predators. Social networks often made ripe picking grounds.

“Usually they’re in the business. I know a lot of cover models, agents, editors. It’s people like that. I knew the minute I got the request that this was a fan. He knew too much about my work. This is a person who has read all my books.”

Adam was definitely interested. “You said it got weird? What were his private messages like?”

“At first I thought he was just role-playing.”

Jake pulled out his phone. He pushed off the desk. “Yes, I’d like to talk to Lieutenant Brighton. Please let him know it’s Jake Dean.”

Serena shook her head. “Oh, the officer assigned to my case was named Chitwood.”

Adam waved her off as Jake stepped away, talking quietly on the phone. “I’m sure they assigned someone very junior to your case. We know Lieutenant Brighton from our Army days. He’s sort of our liaison when we have cases involving the local police. I’m sure Jake would just like to get his hands on the source material. I take it the police have transcripts of all the conversations?”

“Yes. Apparently the network kept the conversations on file even after I unfriended him. I blocked him as well.”

Adam could guess what happened next. “And he simply changed his name and came back.”

“Yes. And he was angry. He laid low for a few weeks and then told me that I wouldn’t be able to get rid of him. He called me arrogant for even thinking that I could brush him aside. I blocked him again. That was when he showed up on my personal page.”

Adam frowned. This man seemed very determined. Usually the trollers gave up after the first rejection and went on to find easier prey. “How well known are you?”

“As Amber Rose? I have a following. I make my living this way. I sell tens of thousands of downloads every quarter. But I could be in a room with two hundred people and the likelihood of someone knowing me is very small. Even a successful author isn’t very famous. I’ve never hit the
Times
. I probably won’t, but I have some crazy fan girls. I didn’t get really worried until he sent a friend request to me as Serena Brooks.”

Adam didn’t like the sound of that. “How closely do you guard your name?”

Her hands threaded together in her lap, a sure sign that she was very nervous about the whole situation. “I’ve tried to keep it out of everything. Obviously my publisher, my agent and editor know my real name, but no one else does.”

“Not even your friends?” If this woman didn’t have a few deeply close friends, he would shoot himself. He would bet a lot on the fact that she developed intimate relationships. Perhaps not with many people, but there would be a few who would know all of her secrets.

Her eyes went wide. “Yes. I have two friends who know what I do. Bridget and Chris. But they’re writers, too. We all write romance. They would never give up my name. Bridget has been through the same thing. She’s had some guys write her letters from prison saying they were coming after her when they got out.”

“Is that normal?” It sounded horrible. She wrote romances. The worst she should have to deal with was some fan asking her when the next one would come out.

She shrugged. “It happens more than you would think.”

“And what have the police said?” He could guess. They wouldn’t do a whole hell of a lot. Even with stalking laws in place, unless they knew who the guy was, they couldn’t do much.

“He uses public access to computers. Everything has come from a library, and apparently he has several fake names.”

Adam was pretty sure he could do better than that.
Damn it
. He was going to have to take her case. She actually needed the firm, and not just the firm, but him especially. He was a computer expert. He’d been his unit’s communications expert in the Green Berets. He’d taken that to another level in the civilian world. He considered himself an excellent hacker. If this asshole was out there, Adam was sure he could find him.

“What has he threatened to do to you?” Adam was pretty sure he didn’t want to know, but he had to ask.

Her hands twisted in her lap. He wanted to hold one in his while Jake enveloped the other, the two of them providing a bulwark against the myriad of dangers she faced.

“He hates me. He says I tempt him, and I’m ruining his life. He says I’m dirty, and I should go to hell. He says he’s the one to send me there. It’s odd, really. It’s changed over time. At first it was about the characters. He thought one of my characters should be with someone else. It was fairly typical fan stuff. He said he was coming after me if I didn’t get Melissa and Dan together. He claims they were supposed to be together, but I never intended for those two to get together. Dan is very immature.”

She got animated as she talked about her work. He thought it was adorable, but they were getting off topic. Adam had to bring her back in line. “You said he changed?”

Her eyes widened as though she had to pull herself out of her own thoughts. “Oh, yes. Uhm, the online stalking stayed the same, but then the calls started and the e-mails. Those were about how evil I am. It’s weird. I don’t understand how this person can be invested in my books when he obviously thinks they’re pornographic.”

Adam sighed. “He’s obviously not right in the head. Our resident profiler could explain it better. He’s crazy. That’s all I’ve got.” Adam got out of his chair, unwilling to sit any longer. He walked around his desk and sank to one knee, sliding his hand over hers. He could practically feel her relax. “It’s going to be okay. Let me look into this.”

There was the low sound of someone clearing his throat. Adam looked up, and Jake stood in the doorway, a frown on his face.
Fuck
. He wouldn’t like what Adam had just said.

“Ms. Brooks, what Adam is trying to say is that we’ll bring this case in front of the group. We don’t have the authority to take the case. It has to go up for review.” Jake stared down at them, a forbidding presence.

Adam wondered what the hell had put that look on his face.

Serena pulled her hand back, retreating as effectively as if she’d walked across the room. Her face went blank and polite. “Of course. I appreciate you listening to me. I suppose you have the police reports?”

Jake nodded, but there was a coldness to his stance that Adam didn’t like. “I do. I think we have everything we need. We’ll get back to you.”

She stood, careful to avoid touching Adam. “I’m sure you will.”

There was a defeated slant to her shoulders as though she was sure everything Jake was saying was mere lip service.

“We’ll be in touch very soon, Serena.” Adam barely restrained himself from reaching for her. “I promise. I will call you tonight.”

“Sure.” She turned her head, not making eye contact. “Thank you both for your time.”

She walked out of the room without looking back. The door closed with a quiet click.

“What the fuck was that about?” Adam turned on his partner.

Jake’s face shut down. “It’s about putting the horse way before the cart here. I just talked to Brighton. Everyone at the DPD thinks this is a marital squabble. Her ex-husband recently decided to sue her for a portion of her income. This could really help her case.”

“She told us it couldn’t be him.” Adam could already see Jake’s brain turning. Jake had been hurt before—on a fundamental level. The scars on Jake’s soul ran deep, and no one had been able to make a dent in them yet.

“And yet she gave the cops clues that led them straight to her ex’s door. This is an angry woman, Adam. I get that she’s beautiful, but we need to take a look at this before we get involved. I can already see that you’re in way too deep. Even if we decide to take her case, I think it would be best if we passed it off to Liam or Alex or someone who isn’t going to get emotional.”

Maybe he’d read Jake wrong. For the last ten years, he’d shared everything with Jacob Dean, including women. Jake was the brother he wished he’d had and the friend he couldn’t imagine living without. He couldn’t believe that Jake wasn’t attracted to the woman who had just walked out the door.

“I want to see those reports. And even then I don’t think I can turn her away. She was scared. If you can’t see that then you weren’t looking at her and you’re not who I thought you were.”

Jake shook his head. “Look at that. She’s already causing problems. I knew that woman was trouble the minute Grace walked her into the room. I knew you would react this way. And this is precisely why we’re not taking this case. I left the file with Grace. You can review it. We present to the group in the morning.”

Adam felt his fists clench. “And if this asshole kills her before then?”

“You know the likelihood of that happening is next to none.” Jake leaned in. “Buddy, you have to learn to protect yourself.”

“And you have to learn that not every woman is Jennifer.” There. He’d said it. The name dropped like a lodestone between them. Adam could practically feel the room’s temperature drop.

Jake turned on his heels. “I’m heading out. I’m going to the club tonight. Are you coming with me?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, simply left Adam standing there wondering if Jennifer Kelly was going to haunt them forever.

Serena forced herself not to run out of the office. Tears blurred her eyes as she rushed past the pregnant receptionist. The woman had been very kind. There was something about Grace Taggart that made Serena want to confide in her.

Unfortunately, Grace wasn’t an investigator, and the men of the company didn’t want to have anything to do with her case. Maybe she needed to find a female private investigator. She would feel more comfortable. And she probably wouldn’t make an idiot of herself by drooling over a female PI.

She should never have come. It had been a stupid idea.

“What happened? We expected you to take a little longer.” Chris stood in the middle of the elegantly decorated hallway with a cup of coffee in his hand.

“They were assholes, weren’t they?” Bridget asked. She had a diet soda. She was almost never without a diet soda. She pointed a finger at Chris. “I told you. No one takes this shit seriously. I’m buying a gun.”

Chris’s light blue eyes went wide. “Oh, no you’re not, sweetness. You would have one hormonal day and the lives of anyone who annoyed you would be over. As a person who annoys you on a regular basis, I claim the right to live.”