Trust Me (Last Stand #1)(51)
Author: Brenda Novak

“No.” Jasmine laughed at their miscommunication but sobered quickly. “Sheridan said there was an old Jag in front of her house last night. It freaked her out because she’d never seen it in the neighborhood before, and someone sat inside it for hours, watching the building.”

“Why didn’t she mention it when she came in this morning?”

“She didn’t think the incident was associated with you and I’m sure she didn’t want to add one more thing to your list of worries, not with Burke getting out today.”

“By trying to protect me, you and Sheridan could get me killed, Jasmine.”

Skye saw that her friend was wounded by her words. “It’s a fine line,” Jasmine said after a pause. “At what point are we jumping at our own shadows? Becoming paranoid? Adding undue stress?”

Safe was always better than sorry. But Skye didn’t care to argue about it just now. She was more interested in pursuing the information. “Did she get a good look at him?”

“He had a goatee. She could see that much. And metal rings in his ears, the kind that make those really large holes.”

Memories of the man she’d met in the restaurant surged through Skye’s brain as she got to her feet. “Anything else?”

“He acted as if he wanted to be seen.”

“Did she get his plate number?”

“She tried. She and her neighbor walked out to take a look, but he’d removed them. He laughed as he waved the back of one plate at her and drove off.”

Skye couldn’t resist glancing past her friend to the photos on the wall. Was this guy another one of them?

No. The note he’d given her had Oliver’s initials on it. The Jaguar driver was probably nothing more than an ex-con he’d bribed or hired to help him, someone motivated by financial gain, not bloodlust.

But that didn’t make him any less dangerous. Especially if Oliver Burke was pulling his strings.

“Dad, it’s your turn.”

Picking up his PlayStation controller, David once again tried to focus on the video game he was playing with his son. But his mind was occupied with other things. Lynnette had refused to speak to him when he’d missed Jeremy at school and gone to the house to get him, which probably meant Jeremy had already mentioned seeing Skye at his apartment. He hoped the underwear detail had been omitted, but he couldn’t imagine that it had. His parents hadn’t brought up the incident when they all met for dinner an hour later, but they’d seemed worried. And he’d received a call from Sheridan a few hours ago. She’d told him some guy had been hanging around her place the night before, acting suspicious.

That concerned him most of all. Particularly when he learned that the man’s description fit that of the guy who’d approached Skye at the restaurant.

He’d immediately called down to the station, given them Sheridan and Jasmine’s addresses and asked for a couple of uniforms to do periodic drive-bys. Skye lived too far out. He’d had to contact the sheriff’s department to get some police assistance there. Fortunately, the deputy he’d spoken with, a man by the name of Meeks, seemed understanding and supportive. He’d promised to look into it and call if he saw any sign of a white Jaguar—or anything else that appeared to be amiss.

David hadn’t heard back and was hoping that meant he could relax. But it was early yet. Early enough that he wanted to be out looking himself. Normally, he loved spending time with Jeremy; tonight, however, he was too anxious that those who’d taken over his watch might miss something important.

“You just crashed your car and died—again!” Jeremy laughed. “You’re doing horrible today!”

Because David was too worried about the real kind of dying. He’d tried calling Skye to tell her about the stabbing, hoping to give her a short reprieve from the fear she felt at Burke’s release, but he’d gotten her answering machine at home, voice mail on her cell and some volunteer at the office who said he didn’t know where she’d gone. David was pretty sure he’d heard her in the background. He had the feeling that she was standing right next to that volunteer mouthing “I’m not here,” so he hadn’t panicked. But he wished she’d call him.

Instead, when the phone rang, he heard Tiny’s voice on the line.

Telling Jeremy to switch to a one-player game, he managed to keep his disappointment to himself. “How’s Burke?”

“Pale, puny and weak. Pretty much the same, despite the injury.”

David laughed. It felt good to let go of a little tension. But this wasn’t a laughing matter. The fact that Burke’s looks were so deceiving made him even more dangerous. “Did anyone at San Quentin have information that might help us?”

“T.J., the guy who stabbed him, was more than happy to talk.”

“What’d he say?”

“That Burke’s obsessed with Skye Kellerman. He clipped every newspaper article that mentioned her, talked about her more than his wife and kid, indulged in sexual fantasies that always seemed to revolve around her and had pictures of her taped inside a spiral binder. T.J. said he’d bet fifty bucks Burke kills her before summer.”

David’s heart plummeted to his knees. “Did you tell him we’re watching very closely to make sure that doesn’t happen?”

“More or less.”

“And?”

“He said it doesn’t matter. Even a full-time bodyguard won’t be able to save her, according to him. T.J. claims Burke will simply bide his time and wait for the perfect moment.”

David thought of Eugene Zufelt. If Oliver had caused the incident that took Eugene’s life, he’d turned into a killer a long time ago. And he’d grown bolder and bolder with his attacks, eventually going after women in their own homes—women who didn’t even know him well enough to hurt him as so many of his earlier targets had. Was that because he’d focused his hate and anger on a certain group? Young, attractive women who’d rebuffed him or were likely to?

“Did T.J. have anything else to say?”

“He shared an interesting story.”

“Which is…”

“The details are sketchy, mostly the rumors you find in any prison, but T.J. said that last year Oliver made a very good friend in prison, a guy by the name of Larry Millwood. Oliver and Larry were close, if you know what I mean.”

“Lovers?”

“That’s what T.J. implied. But it all came to an abrupt end when Oliver found out that Larry was making fun of him with another guy, whom Larry was also romantically involved with.”