Deep Freeze (West Coast 1)

Allie bit her lip and winced. “Yeah.”

So Robert wasn’t the flake she’d thought. She felt slightly better about her ex. “You need to tell me about all calls you take for me, okay? Or write them down.”

“Okay,” Allie mumbled.

“But another call came through tonight. Who was it?”

“Some guy.”

The hairs on the back of Jenna’s neck raised. “What guy?”

“I don’t know. He said he’d call back.”

“Did he say what he wanted?” Jenna asked, trying to keep the fear from her voice.

“No. Just wanted to talk to you and asked where you were and I said I didn’t know.”

Full-blown panic erupted. “Wait a minute, you gave a stranger information that you were here alone?”

“Uh-uh.” Allie shook her head. “I wasn’t alone. Hans and Ellie and Cassie were here, too. So when he asked if I was here by myself I told him ‘no.’” She stuck out her chin, but her lower lip wobbled a bit. “I’m not an idiot, Mom.”

“Of course not.”

Cassie snorted. “Don’t ever give out any information. Didn’t you learn that before when that Paladin creep in L.A. was stalking Mom?”

“This was different!” Allie insisted, but Jenna was suddenly worried sick. The note. The feeling someone was following her…watching her. The missing things at the theater.

“Why weren’t the gates closed?” she asked, trying to keep her cool.

“The electronic mechanism messed up again. Hans tried to fix it,” Cassie said, tossing her magazine aside and looking up at Jenna as if she’d finally sensed the undercurrent of worry in Jenna’s tone. “What is it, Mom?”

“I think we should try to be a little more secure.”

Cassie’s eyes narrowed. “This is so I can’t sneak out, isn’t it?” she charged.

“Hey, Cass! It’s never okay for you to sneak out. We don’t have to discuss it again. But remember, I got a weird fan letter the other day.”

“Just how weird was it?” Cassie demanded.

“Weird enough.”

Allie was suddenly disinterested in the pizza, her little-girl’s fear antennae activated. “The guy that wrote it, you think he was the one who called here?” she asked, furrows etching her brow. She bit her lip anxiously.

“I don’t know,” Jenna admitted, as she walked through the house and locked every door and window. “I just don’t know.”

Allie puppy-dogged her. “Are we safe here?”

“Of course,” Jenna said, but in her heart, she didn’t believe it. Not for a second.

CHAPTER 23

“Do I have to?” Cassie complained as Jenna handed her the phone. The last thing she wanted to do was have it out with her father.

“Absolutely!”

Cassie wanted to squirm out of it, but she dialed her dad’s phone and walked into the den, turning her back on her mother as Robert answered gruffly. She bolstered herself. “Hi, Daddy.”

“Cass.”