Kate Hoffmann - Declan

Rachel held it up to her nose and drew in a deep breath. “You surprise me,” she said.

“That’s good, right?”

She leaned over the center console and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Yes, that’s very good.”

They rode for a time in silence. Dec reached out and grabbed her hand, then brought it to his lips. “I’m looking forward to tonight,” he said. “It’s our first official date.”

“It is,” Rachel said. “I’m actually kind of nervous.”

“Don’t be,” Dec teased. “I promise, I won’t try to kiss you at the end of the evening. And I definitely won’t ask if I can come in for a drink.”

“Good,” she said. “Because you should know, I’m not that kind of girl.”

“No, you’re definitely not that kind of girl,” Dec said.

Rachel’s cell phone rang and she picked up her purse, then set it back down. “No,” she said. “No calls tonight.”

“You should check to see who it is,” Dec said.

She reached in her purse and glanced down at the caller I.D. The lighted display showed a number from the university exchange. She put the phone back, but then decided she ought to take it. “I promise I’ll make it quick,” she said, flipping it open. “Rachel Merrill.”

“Professor Merrill, this is Officer Franklin from university security. I’m afraid we have some bad news for you.”

Rachel glanced over at Dec and forced a smile. “Yes?”

“Someone has broken into your office and vandalized it.”

“I see,” Rachel said, trying to keep her voice calm. “Can you give me more details?” She listened as the officer relayed the damage and the method of break-in. “And what would you like me to do?”

“We’d like you to come down and see if there’s anything missing. We’ve called the police because we understand you’ve been having trouble with a stalker. They’re going to be sending a detective down. Can you meet him in a half-hour?”

Rachel drew in a deep breath. “I really don’t think so. This will have to wait until tomorrow morning. I’m sure you can take care of it on your own.”

“But, Professor Mer-”

She snapped the phone shut and tucked it back into her purse. “Sorry. Just some university business.”

“Everything okay?” Dec asked.

She nodded. They drove on, Rachel mulling over the news she’d received and attempting to act as if it hadn’t bothered her. The stalker was getting much more bold and aggressive and yet the police seemed no closer to finding out who it was. Even Dec had been stymied. Detailed examination of the security tapes from the parking lot hadn’t shown any hint of the person who vandalized her car. Either the stalker knew where all the cameras were and avoided them, or he was just downright lucky.

They were nearly downtown when Dec’s cell phone rang. He reached into his jacket pocket and grabbed it, but she reached out and took it away from him. “Don’t,” she murmured.

“It’s the office,” he said. “I promise to make it quick. They might have something on your case.”

The moment he flipped the phone open, Rachel knew what the call was about. Of course he’d find out about the vandalism. The university police had called the Providence police and they would have called his office. And his office would call him.

She listened to his side of the conversation as she stared out the window, knowing what would come next. When he stopped speaking, she risked a glance over at him to find his mouth set in a tight line.

“So you weren’t planning to tell me what your call was all about?”

“I didn’t want to spoil our date,” Rachel said.

He cursed softly, shaking his head. “You didn’t think I’d find out?”

“I didn’t really think about it. I-I’m sorry. I should have said something, but I didn’t want to ruin this.”

“Baby, we can have as many dates as you want. But this is your safety we’re talking about. That is number one. If you’re not with me on that, then we have a serious problem.”

“I didn’t want tonight to be about you doing your job,” she snapped. “I’m tired of that. I just wanted to have a nice night, just the two of us.”

Dec glanced over his shoulder and pulled across a lane of traffic before guiding the car into an empty parking spot. He turned off the ignition and then faced her. “This stopped being about the job a while ago, Rachel. You have to know that. And maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I’ve been spending too much time thinking about you and not enough time thinking about your stalker.”

“No,” she said, reaching out to touch his cheek. “No, you’re the only one who has kept me together through all of this. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Rachel, my first priority has to be your safety. And I honestly can’t say that it has been. I didn’t have to stay with you. I could have sent you somewhere safe or put an army of my guys around you.”

“You can’t leave me,” she said, hearing a desperate edge to her voice. “I’m not sure I could feel safe without you.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “We’re going over to the university. And we’re going to figure out who is doing this.”

“All right,” she said. “Maybe there will be a clue there. Maybe there’s a witness who saw something. We can figure this out.” But even as she said the words, Rachel had her doubts. Her stalker had pretty much gone unnoticed for the past few months, slipping in and out of her life as if he knew her every move. They weren’t any closer now than they had ever been.

She held the tiny bouquet up to her nose and inhaled the scent of the flowers, closing her eyes. This couldn’t go on forever. Sooner or later there would be a confrontation and whoever was doing this would reveal himself. And then she’d find out whether Dec would ever be a more permanent part of her life.

DEC WATCHED RACHEL THROUGH the glass window of the control booth, standing in the shadows so she couldn’t see him. She was aware that he was there though. Since her show had gone on the air, she’d constantly glanced up to reassure herself. But with each glance, Dec felt more guilty.

He knew from the start he was breaking every professional rule he’d ever laid out for himself. Every instinct had told him to maintain his distance, to keep an objectivity with Rachel until her case was resolved. But he hadn’t listened to his instincts, or at least not his professional instincts. He’d let his desire lead the way. And Rachel’s stalker had continued on without consequence.

A knock sounded on the control room door and Rachel’s producer turned as a skinny young man walked inside. He carried a package, wrapped in brown paper, and a stack of letters. “This is Dr. Devine’s fan mail,” he said. “And a package that came for her this morning.”

“I’ll take that,” Dec said.

The young man handed him the mail, then stood awkwardly in front of Dec, shifting from foot to foot. “Are you watching over Dr. Devine?” he asked.

Dec nodded.

He reached into his back pocket and withdrew another envelope. “Would you give this to her? It’s an apology note. I know it probably won’t help, but I want her to have it.”

“You’re Jerry,” Dec said.

The young man nodded. “The infamous Jerry,” he said with a weak laugh. “Tell her I’m sorry I screwed things up.”

“Why did you confess to something you hadn’t done?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I thought people would look at me differently. Nobody ever sees me around here. I just bring the mail in and clean up the studios and make coffee. Nobody really cares what I do. But for a little while, they knew who I was.”

“You shouldn’t have confessed,” Dec said.