Page 5

CHAPTER 5

After Sachie had spent hours watching the fire department put out the fire and talking to the fire chief and the police, suddenly they were done. She wasn’t needed. She couldn’t sift through the rubble until they’d conducted a thorough investigation to identify the source of the blaze. The fire chief and the police told her she could go.

But to where?

Going back to her cottage was out of the question. The office where she’d set up her practice was gone. She’d ended her lease on her apartment in Honolulu. She had nowhere to go.

As if she could read her friend’s mind, Kalea called. “Teller told us what happened. ”

Tears filled Sachie’s eyes. “I was just trying to decide where to go from here.”

“You’re coming to Parkman Ranch. Teller will drive you here. You can stay as long as you need to.”

“I can’t do that,” Sachie said. “I’ve already brought trouble to the island. I won’t bring it to your doorstep. You’re eight months pregnant. You don’t need that kind of stress.”

“I’d be more stressed not knowing whether or not you’re safe,” Kalea said. “Besides, security on the ranch has never been better. I insist you come and stay.”

“Just say yes,” Teller whispered into her ear.

“You knew about this?” Sachie looked up into his eyes, suddenly realizing just how close he was. Her heart fluttered and then raced, making her forget what she was about to say.

“I’ve been texting with Hawk,” Teller said. “He wants you to come as well. At least for a couple of nights until we come up with a plan.”

Her frown deepened. “I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to Kalea and her baby.”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Kalea said into her ear, bringing Sachie back to the conversation. “The regional office of the Brotherhood Protectors is located here. They have access to computers, databases and anything you might need to figure out who is making your life a living hell. It’s decided. Teller will get you here in time for lunch. I’ll see you then. And you can help me pick out what color to paint the nursery. I can fly a plane and help run this ranch, but I’m hopeless at interior decorating. See you soon.”

Before Sachie could say anything to the contrary, the call ended. She looked up into Teller’s serious face. “I guess we’re going to Parkman Ranch.”

A smile tipped the corners of his lips. “Good. We have more resources there to start this investigation.”

“That’s what Kalea said.” Her eyes narrowed. “And I want to find the bastard who’s doing this to me and put an end to this nonsense.”

“Then let’s go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can start working on a plan.” He cupped her elbow and led her to his SUV, where they’d left it in front of the auto parts store.

Even before they got there, they could see that the SUV wasn’t how they’d left it. Deeply scratched into the side of the door were jagged words.

YOU FAILED ME!

Sachie clapped a hand over her mouth and stopped. “Oh, Teller. I’m so sorry.”

His lips had thinned into a tight line, and his jaw had hardened to the point it twitched. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Someone else did this. Not you.” He glanced around at the store and pointed. “They’ve got a security camera. Let’s check it out.”

Sachie marched with him into the parts store, praying the camera would give them a clear image of the person stalking her.

A bell rang over the door as they entered.

The young man behind the counter couldn’t have been more than nineteen. He looked up from his cell phone. “Good morning. Can I help you, or are you just interested in information about the fire down the road?”

“Have many people been in here since the fire started?” Sachie asked, leaning forward to read the man’s name tag, and added, “Johnny.”

The guy shrugged. “There have been more vehicles in the parking lot than usual, but mostly to turn around and head back the other direction. Is there something I can get you?”

“I was one of the people who parked in your parking lot,” Teller said. “Someone keyed my door while we were checking out the fire.”

Johnny held up his hands. “I don’t think we’re liable for damage to vehicles parked in our parking lot. You’d have to take it up with the manager. I just work here.”

“Is your manager in?” Teller asked.

Johnny shook his head. “He got a call saying they had a shipment to pick up at the airport. He left half an hour ago.”

“We’re not interested in suing the store for the damage. But we are interested in finding out who did it.” Teller tipped his head toward the entrance. “I noticed there’s a camera on the front of the store. Do you have a security system installed?”

“Yeah, it’s new, but it’s really awesome,” he said excitedly and turned to the computer monitor on the counter. “We can pull up the videos from any of the computers.”

Sachie leaned her elbows on the counter. “Can you pull up recordings from that front camera for the past two or three hours?”

“Sure can.” Johnny ran his fingers across the keypad, his brow furrowing in concentration. “It might take me a minute or two. My manager only showed me yesterday, and I haven’t had a chance to play with it since.” He turned the monitor halfway around so that Teller and Sachie could see the screen while he pulled up a menu and selected an application.

An array of live images popped up on the screen.

“It’s displaying real-time now,” Johnny said, pointing to the image on the left of the screen. “That’s the camera mounted on the front of the building. ”

“You can see my SUV,” Teller said. “The black one on the corner of the lot, closest to the street.”

Johnny enlarged the image from the front camera to fill the entire screen. He squinted at the monitor. “I don’t see anything scratched into the side panel. Is it on the other side?”

“Yes,” Teller said. “On the passenger side.”

“Can you rewind it to display the past few hours?” Sachie asked. “Maybe we can see who was hanging around long enough to scratch words into the paint.”

“I can try,” Johnny said, frowning in concentration as he used the mouse to move the cursor over several tabs, not finding what he was looking for. Finally, he hovered the cursor over the outside image itself, and a sliding bar appeared. “How far back do you want to take it?”

“Start when we got here, about three hours ago,” Teller said.

Johnny slid the bar to the left, backing the time up to three hours before, and then hit the play button. The video moved forward at normal speed.

“Can you fast-forward?” Sachie asked. “At a pace we can still see what’s happening?”

“I can try,” Johnny fiddled with the different options, finally finding one that would play the video at whatever speed they chose. After several tries, they got the speed up where they could see vehicles coming and going and people getting out of parked cars and trucks to either enter the store or walk down the street toward the fire. An hour of the video sped by in three minutes, and nothing jumped out at them. No one moved toward the SUV during that time. Several vehicles pulled out of the parking lot on that end, but none slowed long enough for someone to jump out, scratch words into the paint and get back in without capturing their attention.

“Please, keep going,” Teller urged the kid.

The bell over the door jingled, drawing Johnny’s attention. “I have to help customers.”

“Do you mind if we keep watching?” Sachie asked.

The young man shrugged. “I don’t. My manager might.” He slipped the mouse across the counter toward Sachie. “I’ll be right back.” He left to help a customer find a replacement key fob for his truck.

Sachie took control of the mouse and started the video moving forward again at a swift clip. Another thirty minutes passed, and still nothing.

Johnny rang up the customer’s purchase, thanked him and waited until he’d left the store before returning to Sachie and Teller. “Anything?”

“Not yet,” Sachie said.

At that point, a delivery truck pulled in front of the store and stopped, blocking the camera’s view of the rest of the parking lot .

Several minutes passed as the driver got out, opened the rear doors of the truck and climbed into the back. He stacked several boxes onto a dolly, rolled the dolly to a hydraulic lift and lowered it to the ground. Then he wheeled the boxes into the store.

“Is it normal to receive shipments through the front of the store at that time of day?” Teller asked.

Johnny’s brow twisted. “The time’s about right, but they usually deliver through the rear door. I remember telling the guy he should’ve taken the boxes through the back door. He said someone had blocked the back alley. He couldn’t take his truck through.”

“Can you bring up the back alley camera for that time?” Sachie asked.

“Sure,” Johnny said and took control of the mouse. Moments later, they had a view of the rear of the store. Nothing seemed to be blocking the back of the store. “But that alley serves more than just this store. Someone could’ve parked at the end.”

“Do any of the other stores that use that alley have security systems?” Teller asked.

Johnny snorted. “I doubt it. One is a laundry service. The other sells fancy bird feeders and seed.”

“Let’s go back to the front camera,” Sachie said.

Johnny filled the monitor with the front camera’s video, and they played it all the way to the current time, finding nothing more of interest.

Teller shook his head. “Whoever did it must have known there was a camera on the store and did his damage while the delivery truck was here.” He held out his hand to Johnny. “Thank you for letting us look through the video. We had to try.”

“I’m sorry you weren’t able to find the guy, and I’m sorry your vehicle was damaged.” Johnny shook Teller’s hand and let go. “Do you want me to bring it to the manager's attention?” Maybe the store has liability insurance that would cover it.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Teller said. “My insurance will cover it.”

“I’ll look through more of the footage,” Johnny offered. “If I see anything that sticks out, I could let you know.”

Teller dug a card out of his wallet and handed it to the young clerk. “Thanks, Johnny. You’ve been a big help.”

“Wish I could have done more,” he said, staring down at the information on Teller’s card. “Hey, I’ve heard about the Brotherhood Protectors. They’re a group of prior military guys, aren’t they?”

Teller nodded. “Yes, we are.”

Johnny glanced up, a grin spreading across his face. “I talked with an Army recruiter last week. I’m enlisting at the end of this month. Do you have any words of wisdom you’d care to share?

Teller met the young man’s gaze. “No matter what you do in life, do your very best. Your buddies you fight alongside are your brothers. Have their backs, and they’ll have yours.”

“I will.” Johnny stood straighter. “Thank you, sir.”

Sachie could feel the pride Teller had for his time in the service and the pride Johnny had for his chosen commitment.

They left the store and headed for the SUV.

Sachie grimaced at the scratched words on the side of the vehicle and started to say she was sorry again.

Teller held the door for her and gave her a stern look. “It’s not your fault.”

“It wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t taken me on. The least I can do is pay to have it fixed.”

“Like I told Johnny,” he said as he helped her up into her seat. “Insurance will cover it.”

Sachie buckled her seat belt as Teller rounded the front of the SUV and slid into the driver’s seat.

“Whoever attacked me at my house and set fire to my office had to have known we parked here at the parts store,” Sachie said.

Teller paused with his hand on the gear shift. “He could’ve followed us from your house. ”

“He had to have started the fire earlier, then hurried back to my house, followed us to your apartment and then to the store.” Wouldn’t the office have burned all the way to the ground by then?” Sachie stared across the cab at Teller, trying to make sense of the timeline. “The fire truck was just getting to the fire when we were almost there.”

Sachie frowned. “Could he have tagged your SUV with a tracking device?”

“Maybe.” Teller left the SUV in park and climbed out.

Sachie got out of her side and ducked low, searching for anything attached to the vehicle that didn’t look like it belonged.

Teller slid beneath the chassis and inspected the underbelly.

When he stood, he shook his head. “If he tagged it, he could have removed he device when he scratched the words into the door.”

“Thanks for looking,” Sachie said. “I’d rather not lead him out to Parkman Ranch, even if Kalea assured me they have a great security system.”

They got back into the SUV and buckled their seatbelts.

Teller backed out of the parking space and pulled out onto the street, heading for the highway that would lead them to the ranch .

“Teller,” Sachie said after they left Hilo behind. “I don’t want to stay too long at the ranch. I don’t want anything to happen to Kalea and her baby.”

He nodded. “Understood. We’ll come up with a plan tonight and leave first thing in the morning.”

She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thank you.”

He shot her a tight smile. “We’ll figure this out.”

“I hope we do, before anyone gets hurt any worse than a flesh wound.”

Several miles passed in silence.

“Tell me about what happened that made you move to the Big Island,” Teller said. “Were you experiencing incidents similar to what has happened since you got here?”

Sachie thought through everything that had happened since Luke’s suicide.

“It started as a feeling of being watched all the time. I’d be walking through normal places like a grocery store or shopping mall and feel like someone was watching me. When I turned around, no one was there. My phone would ring, but when I answered, no one was on the other end. Once, I walked by a building with big windows and thought I saw the reflection of someone following me. Again, when I turned around, no one was there. At first, I counted it off as residual trauma from what happened in my office.”

“What pushed you so far that you felt you had to move?”

She closed her eyes, and she was back at her apartment building, inserting her key in the lock. It worked like it always had, and she pushed through the door. “I walked into my apartment one day, and something wasn’t right. A coffee cup stood in the middle of the living room floor. The photograph of my family and me wasn’t on the end table by the sofa. I found it in the oven. When I went into the bedroom, my pillows were gone from my bed. They were in the bathtub, and it was filled with water.”

Sachie shivered at the memory.

“Any messages?”

“No,” she said.

“So, if it’s the same guy, he followed you here, and it’s escalating.”

“Yeah.” Sachie stared out the windshield at the road ahead. “I’m tired of being the victim.”

“Then let’s turn it around.” Teller extended his hand across the console.

She laid her palm in his. “I’m ready.”