Joslyn frowns. “Spring Bebe? What does that mean?”
“Just that we hopefully have our own hacker coming on board with Jameson soon,” I reply, pouring my eggs into the skillet for a slow scramble. Giving my attention to Rachel, I continue with my initial analysis of our situation. “But just because he’s smart doesn’t mean he’s not psycho. He’s been pursuing her for almost two years now, with his ultimate fantasy being to kill her. Those dark thoughts don’t just go away, so we have to expect him to come after her again.”
“But when?” Rachel muses.
“Hopefully not long,” I answer as I stir my eggs. “But he might be a little spooked at almost getting caught by the police, so I have an idea.”
Both women give me their full attention. I look up from my cooking, my gaze centering on Rachel only. “We’re going to bait him to come after Joslyn. Going to open the door figuratively to make it impossible for him to stay outside.”
Joslyn gasps. “You want him to come after me?”
“He won’t get near you.”
“Can you guarantee that?” Her eyes are narrowed on me sharply.
“Yes,” I say with a hard edge to my tone. There’s no way I’d ever let that fucker touch a hair on her head ever again.
“How are you going to lure him?” Rachel asks, and I focus on her.
Pulling the pan from the flame, I scrape my eggs onto an awaiting plate, tossing some bacon on top. I’d given this a lot of thought after I’d shown Joslyn to a guest room last night. I turn the stove off, then put the pan back on it. Placing my hands on the edge of the counter, I lay out my plan to them.
“We’re going to put on a show for him, and he won’t be able to resist coming after Joslyn.” I twist my neck slightly to give my full attention just to her. “We’ll get your publicist on it. Announce you and I are a couple. We’ll do a few photo ops. I’m going to brag how you’re absolutely protected now under my watch and this loser isn’t going to get anywhere near you. His ego won’t be able to handle it. His psychosis will demand he prove me wrong.”
“I’ve heard crazier ideas,” Rachel says before taking a huge bite of a donut.
Joslyn, I notice, lets her gaze drift off so she’s staring out the kitchen window into the side yard. Whether she’s contemplating doubts or that I might be the craziest son of a bitch she’s ever known, I have no clue. But while I might have all kinds of enmity for her, I don’t want her to have the stress of worrying about this. I wouldn’t want that on any of my clients.
“I’ll keep you safe, Jos,” I promise, surprised by the way I’ve so easily slipped back into using the endearment by shortening her name.
Those blue eyes come back to me and she nods. “I know. I trust you.”
“Good,” I say with a nod of my head, then turn back to Rachel. “I’ll keep my current schedule. Joslyn will come with me to Pittsburgh and after I finish the interview, we’ll head to her house on the West Coast where we’ll start to set the trap.”
“Pittsburgh?” Joslyn asks with surprise.
“Opening a new headquarters there, and I’ve got a potential employee to interview,” is all I say. She’s on a need to know basis and she doesn’t need to know any more. Certainly not any details about my life and this amazing career I’m still building into something more involved and complex.
She doesn’t deserve to know anything about my life, so I can’t figure out why I’m all of a sudden frustrated when she doesn’t press me about it. Instead, she just nods and picks up a piece of bacon to nibble on. It’s disconcerting because the Joslyn I’d known was a firecracker. Her personality shone through at all times, and she never just sat by quietly while things unfolded.
I let it go, though, turning back to Rachel. “Going to need you to get a few things rolling for me.”
“Shoot,” she says, and I proceed to lay out the details of my plan to take this fucker down.
Then Joslyn can be on her way to a happy life and I can get back to my own.CHAPTER 4JoslynI’ve been to Pittsburgh a handful of times, usually a quick in and out for a show or concert. But it never fails to dazzle when I enter the city from the Fort Pitt tunnel. Before then, it was just a drive on a lazily curving interstate through the mountains and rolling hills.
Then it’s a drive through the belly of a mountain before emerging onto the Fort Pitt bridge. It’s a yellow steel, double-decked arched bridge that crosses the Monongahela River and heads straight for the heart of the city.