Page 91 of Capturing You

“If he’s been stalking you,” Nathan said, “then I need to know so I can keep an eye on him. I’d rather get him to stop on his own than see him reprimanded. Or fired.”

“So this is unofficial,” she said. “Right?”

“For the moment, if you want it to be.”

Ford gave her a go-aheadnod.

“Okay. He was sort of…stalking me.”

Ford’s eyebrows lifted, and she sighed

“I guess not ‘sort of.’ It wasn’t until I threatened to report him and get a restraining order that he left me alone. Though, to be honest, I’ve had the feeling for a while that he was watching me. Like, I’d look out my apartment window and see him across the street. But that coffee shop is there, so…” She shrugged, not that Nathan could see her. “The point is, he’d left me alone. I tried to report the crime anonymously, but I guess your system made note of my phone number. I don’t want to have to turn him in, but I’m not going to put up with it again.”

“I’m sorry about…all of that,” Nathan said. “Lenny said he likes to sit there to watch the town walk by, but now that I think about it…he was mostly watching the gallery.”

Just as she’d suspected, but how was she supposed to call him on that? He was a cop in Shadow Cove. It was his job to be there, looking out for the locals.

“Thanks for telling me,” Nathan said. “I’ll back you up if you ever decide to file a report against him. The chief’s reasonable. You can trust him to do the right thing, if it comes to that.”

She hated to think how Lenny would react if she turned him in.

The fear of that reaction had kept her silent for too long. If Lenny tried to force himself into her life again, she’d report him to the police.

And suffer the consequences.

“Back to business,” Nathan said. “We’ve got patrol cars driving by your building at night. We’ve informed local business owners and people who live downtown of the fact that there was some trouble at the inlet and to keep their eyes out for strangers. There’ve been no credible reports at this point, and no trouble at your apartment.”

“That’s a relief.”

Ford shook his head. He didn’t have to say anything for her to guess what he was thinking. Some variation ofa lot of good that’ll do.

She didn’t disagree.

“I’ve been doing a little research,” she said. “Did you know there were rumors about a smuggling ring at the Haunted Inlet back at the time of the Ballentine murders?”

Ford tapped the desk to get her attention, then swiped his finger across his neck, telling her to stop talking.

“Uh…no,” Nathan said. “I think that was before I was born.”

She wanted to mention The Network, but Ford had trusted her with the information, and she didn’t want to abuse that trust. “It’s probably nothing, just an old rumor.”

“I’ll look into it. I’ll call if I learn anything. If you need me, call me at this number, anytime. Stay safe, Brooklynn.”

She thanked him and ended the call.

“You shouldn’t have told him about the smugglers,” Ford said.

“Why? He’s a cop, and he wants to help.”

“Or to get information out of you. Now, he knows you’re doing some armchair investigating.”

“You think Nathan is involved?” Her tone was a little mocking, but she couldn’t help it. “Obviously, you’ve never met him. He’s the twenty-first-century version of Timmy Martin.”

“Who?”

“Timmy Martin.” She waited for the recognition to dawn on Ford’s face. “You know, ‘What is it, boy? Is Timmy stuck in the well?’”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”