Page 25

W alking back with Kate as the shadows lengthened, Rory felt his skin tingle and not in a good way.

Choosing costumes with Kate had been fun, but while he was carrying their packages as they made their way along Endeavor Street to Hazard, he just couldn’t shake the sense that they were being watched.

He glanced back over his shoulder. They weren’t alone on the street.

A half-dozen people spilled out of a blue minivan.

Laughing, they paired off to stroll toward the local bar, Toby and Mac’s, for happy hour.

He spotted a few folks headed into the local grocery mart on the corner: a dad with two young boys still in their soccer gear, and a twenty-something woman in business clothes, clearly stopping in on her way home from work.

None of them paid him or Kate any mind. So why did he feel as if he were on display?

Wait. Just there, out of the corner of his eye, for a split second he saw her . Just for an instant, his stalker gazed at him. He shuddered in reflex, and she was gone.

Had he imagined her?

Was he just paranoid?

No. No way. He knew deep down it was her.

But how?

He shook his head and began to doubt himself. He had to be imagining her here. He had been so careful to leave no indication of where he was going. The only people who knew where he’d gone were his bandmates and Nolan.

No one else from his life had any clue about Hazard.

He’d kept his origins a secret from his fans.

Oh, sure, he had a bio with his “history,” detailing which bands had given him his start and all that.

But in all his public information, Hazard appeared nowhere as his hometown.

He didn’t even claim to be from Rhode Island.

He let anyone who hadn’t known him in his youth believe he was from New York City, with its hustle and bustle and bright lights and energy.

It suited his image. Big city boy in a big city band.

Much better than rock star from Podunk nowhere.

He was just being paranoid because it was October, and everyone was putting out their creepy decorations.

He’d had such a great day that he kept expecting the spider to drop.

But then that tingling started again. He spun around quickly and thought he saw stalker-girl disappear into the maple trees on the green.

The wind had kicked up and the spindly branches waved against the darkening sky as leaves floated down.

Kate stopped, and he halted when he realized she wasn’t beside him. She gave him a raised eyebrow look. “You okay? You keep looking back. You’re not doubting your costume choice, are you? We could go back. I know I saw a Captain America shield.” He heard the teasing lilt in her voice.

“You think of me as a superhero?” He stood a little taller and preened, turning to show off a regal profile.

“Kate laughed. “I don’t know, hmm,” she said, tilting her head and holding up a finger as if in thought. “You know, there was also a donkey costume on the back shelf. I’m sure of it.”

“Ah, thank you so very much. So, I’m either a superhero or an ass, is that it?”

“Donkey,” she said primly, with a grin.

“Uh-huh, guess I better stick with my American Rebel garb.”

“So you’re not a soldier boy, but a rebel?”

“Well, yeah. But you knew that, didn’t you?

” Even while bantering, his mind was weighing his options.

Should he leave Kate and go investigate?

And what if he did come face-to-face with his stalker?

That was the last thing he wanted. Still, he needed to know if he was being followed, because he wasn’t certain she was harmless.

All he knew was that she was determined.

But Kate was laughing, and he owed it to her to pay attention. He would simply need to call QHM Rep Management when they got back to the inn. See how it was all going. See if they had a line on who his stalker was.

He wished Nolan had gotten more information from the stalker before they booted her out of the bus or before she’d showed up at their show. Oh, he knew her name. She’d been IDed by security after she made it onstage and before they had ushered her out that last time.

Sunny Briscoe lived in the great state of New York, or so her driver’s license read.

But Rory knew the address on it was a lie.

He was familiar with that part of the city.

It was around the corner from his apartment—how creepy was that!

Weirder still, he knew that building had been demolished two years earlier and was now a parking garage.

Not for one moment did he believe his prissy stalker-fan slept in a garage. And her name, was it real? Seriously? Sunny? How could someone who darkened his days be named Sunny ? Talk about misnomers.

“You really are distracted,” said Kate.

“I’m sorr…”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I have lots to do tonight decorating the foyer of the inn. Obviously, you’re lost in thought.”

They arrived at the inn, and Kate nearly skipped up the steps. She unlocked the front door, and Rory held it open as she bustled though with her packages. He glanced around, certain again that he could feel he was being watched. But maybe he was just freaked out. It was the season for it.

Colorful Day of the Dead skulls had plastered the display window of Celestina’s Chocolates as they’d passed by.

The bar had gone all out with spider decorations and more of the macabre.

He preferred Kate’s colorful pumpkins lining her walkway.

He hoped she continued with her theme for the foyer.

Somehow, dark and creepy in the inn where so much had happened to him made him tense.

One last glance out the door, and he knew.

Even through the increasing darkness, his eyes locked with a woman tucked away in the gloom of the trees well away from the streetlight.

Stalker-girl had found him.

*

When Rory dashed off as soon as they got inside, Kate decided she would decorate the entryway first before trying on her costume again.

She tucked her packages upstairs and set about collecting candles from her pantry.

What if she set up the foyer as it might have looked in 1776 with only candles for lighting?

With this historical theme in mind, she set about rearranging small pieces of furniture and added a basket to keep the candy in.

The candy, of course, had to be modern, but maybe…

hmm…what if she teamed up with Ivy to buy packaged cookies from the tea shop?

Kate gathered lace and table runners and began tackling a recreation of the inn in its earlier days.

She was tempted to make fake cobwebs but decided she wanted the inn to look welcoming instead of spooky. Of course, mystery cat chose that exact moment to wander through, at least with his shadow.

Kate sighed, accepting that the cat was immaterial and not of this world.

And, strangely, the thought didn’t bother her.

If the cat turned out to be real later, great, but she wasn’t holding her breath.

Still, deciding to take one more chance to check on the food, Kate headed out to the back porch only to find another gift.

She located her dustpan and studied the latest tiny, picked-clean skeleton of what this time appeared to be a tiny lizard.

Okey dokey, then. Kate collected them all up very, very carefully and stepped outside to arrange them along the edge of her window boxes, because no one would even believe they were real.

Once she had her decorations complete, she headed upstairs to take a bubble bath and then play with her new costume.

*

“I’d be glad to come meet with you,” Quin spoke in his deep, confidence-inspiring tones.

Rory was relieved. This was the service that he’d been promised, the reputation he’d hoped the management firm had, the kind of firm that would come all the way out to Hazard to meet with him.

He experienced a moment of intense relief, as he didn’t relish the idea of having to drive into the city.

Although that might be better, certainly more anonymous.

He didn’t need word to get out about his stalker situation.

It would reflect poorly on the band, of that he was certain.

So, maybe he should drive into the city, but then what? Leave Kate in possible danger?

“I’ll be able to meet you tomorrow if you like,” the head of QHM said.

Pulling himself out of his reverie and back into the conversation, Rory only took a moment to decide on a location.

“Let’s meet at the tea shop on Main.” A spur-of-the-moment decision, it kept him from bringing Kate’s inn into his mess any more than he had to.

And he didn’t dare take a meeting at Agate Point.

He wouldn’t allow his granddad to get embroiled in his troubles and start fretting over his safety.

The tea shop seemed right somehow. Surely nothing bad ever happened in Ivy Wayland’s little tea shop. He didn’t know why he felt that way but was confident it would be safe there to meet and discuss his stalker situation.