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Chapter Fifteen

Tuesday afternoon, Logan woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. Sleeping during the day between night shifts never allotted enough time for sufficient rest. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the caller ID. Adam Jamison. Was AJ okay?

“Hello.”

“Hey, Logan. It’s Adam. AJ asked me to call you and fill you in on where we are on her case.”

“So she’s okay? Nothing more happened?”

“She’s fine. We ran into a dead end with the phone numbers. Whoever this guy is bought up a batch of SIM cards or burner phones and is cycling through them. Never sends more than a few texts per phone. He must have anticipated she would block the number. Records show he tried to call her from the first number, probably to test if she blocked him.”

“Does it even lead you to where he bought them?”

“Yes, a store in town. On the same day AJ received the first text.”

“Surveillance? How’d he pay?”

“If you’d let me, I’ll answer all these questions. Cash, and their cameras are pathetic. I’m texting you the best shot.”

“Sorry.” He waited for the text.

“No worries. You know I understand.”

The text came through. It was a grainy black-and-white photo of the top of a guy’s baseball cap. The man was wearing the most generic clothes possible. Average height, average build. Could easily be Daryl; could easily not be.

Adam continued. “The cashier remembered the transaction but said the guy hardly spoke and wore dark sunglasses.”

“I appreciate y’all taking this seriously and investigating.”

“Of course. Stalkers are no joke, and this guy is not taking a hint. I wish there was more we could do.”

“Any news on the grocery thing?”

“Nothing. Looks like he hacked into her account and used a gift card to pay. Again, we couldn’t trace it to anything helpful.”

“Thanks, Adam.”

“Sure thing. AJ said to keep you updated, so I’ll let you know if anything happens.”

The guys hung up, and Logan leaned forward where he sat on the side of the bed. Resting his elbow on his knees he ran his fingers into his hair. How he wished this had incriminated Daryl! But it didn’t. They needed to get this guy to leave AJ alone.

Maybe Logan needed to suck it up and spend more time with her. He couldn’t protect her from a distance. But the idea hurt.

She’d been the one to give Daryl the impression she would choose him since she did before.

But did he have that all wrong? He questioned all of his thoughts these days.

By ten-thirty that evening, as he walked out of the station ready to begin his patrols, Logan had worked his mind into an even more confused state. He couldn’t sort anything out. He knew he shouldn’t hate his enemies, but at the moment he was pretty certain he hated Daryl Turpin. That was the clearest thought he had. His thoughts about AJ were much less straightforward.

It didn’t matter right now anyway. He had a long night of driving around the city waiting for something to happen. Hopefully his biggest challenge would be staying awake.

He took a sip of his coffee and drove.

Not even thirty minutes later, a call came in for another trash can fire. Dispatch relayed the address.

“That’s Will’s house!” And he wasn’t far away. He flipped on his lights and siren and raced toward his best friend’s home.

When he arrived two minutes later, Logan drove onto the grass. A neighbor was trying to put out the fire with his garden hose, but the flames were licking the side of the house.

Logan ran straight to the front door and unlocked it with his spare key. From the kitchen he grabbed the large fire extinguisher Will kept under the sink.

By the time Logan ran back outside, another neighbor had joined the firefight with a tiny extinguisher. It helped, but when Logan released the fire suppressant from the large canister, the flames faltered and flickered out. The neighbor’s quick action had saved Will’s house.

Will and Zara both pulled up from opposite directions. The relief on each of their faces was significant. They hugged, then came to Logan.

“Good thing I had a key on me.”

Will clapped his friend’s shoulder. “For sure. Thank you so much. But I noticed you left them in the door.”

Logan laughed. “I figured getting the extinguisher was more important at the moment.”

He took his keys from the door and went over to the neighbor with the hose. “Thank you for your help. Are you the one who called it in?”

“Yes. Well, my wife did. I came out here right away.”

“Did you see anyone?”

“What looked like a couple of teenagers ran past our house about a minute before I noticed the flames. I can’t say for sure if they did it, but it seemed too coincidental.”

More teenagers. What happened to TPing someone’s house? This was over the line. And again, a member of the Hazel Hill Police Department was hit.