Avalanche by Tallulah Grace

it.”
    “Why don’t we check with Red, before we get your car? He may
want us to leave it at the diner. If your car’s parked here, it’s a red flag.”
    “I didn’t think of that.” Pamela frowned, then nodded.
“Okay. I do have some calls to make, and some loose ends to tie up. Does the
restaurant have Wi-Fi?”
    “Yes, absolutely. We can take Hershey with us. He can stay
with you at Cliffside; we don’t have an event scheduled today. You’ll have
privacy, but we’ll be close by. Does that work?”
    “Yes, thank you. I’m so sorry to be such a bother. I’ve been
dealing with this alone for so long, that it feels strange coordinating with
another person.”
    “You’re not a bother! Stop saying that. I know we weren’t
exactly friends in high school, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends
now. Around here, we look out for our friends.”
    “That’s another thing that’s foreign to me. In LA, everyone
is so busy. The only ‘friends’ I had were the people I worked with. And my
clients. Now, all of that is going away.”
    “What did you do in LA?”
    “I had my own talent agency. It was small, but it paid the
bills. I left so suddenly, I still have clients to place elsewhere.
Fortunately, I have a wonderful assistant who’s been a great help.”
    “What will you do, now? We don’t make a lot of movies, or
television, in Starsdale.” Sharon chuckled at the thought.
    “I really have no clue. I can take a little while to decide,
though. I’m not even sure that I want to stay in Starsdale. It just made sense
to run home, you know?”
    “I get it,” Sharon smiled. “There’re lots of changes going
on around here. You may find a niche that you like, something that will let you
stay.”
    “You never know,” Pamela smiled back. “At the moment, I’m
taking one day at a time.”
    “That’s all we can do.”
     
    ~~~
     
    Red stood at the tree line, bordering Pamela’s property.
From this vantage point, he had a direct line of sight to the porch, where
Pamela said she was sitting when the phone rang. He’d already put in a
requisition for the phone logs on the house line, but he knew better than to
expect any results before business hours next week.
    So far, he’d found multiple sets of prints inside the house,
but he suspected that Pamela was right, they all belonged to her, or her
parents. Or the cleaning people. Or the cable guy, from three years ago. The
one thing he felt certain about was that he would not find any prints belonging
to Chandler Chase.
    Looking down, he saw where the ground had been swept over,
probably by one of several brushy limbs in the vicinity. Whoever was stalking
Pam knew how to cover their tracks.
    Taking another stroll around the perimeter, he looked for
other places where the perp may have stood, watching Pamela as she moved
through her day. The place was much too private, a good thing, unless you were
being stalked.
    He found two other locations with brush marks covering what
must have been footprints. One with a line of sight to her bedroom window, the
other in direct view of the living room window.
    His gut told him the stalker had been here more than once.
He’d probably been here all week, or most of it.
    “Dammit, why did you wait so long to talk to me?” Red
clenched both fists. “He could have killed you, and no one would have known.”
    Mulling it over, Red realized what he’d said. The stalker
could have killed her, at any time. It was so private here, that no one would
hear her scream, or even know to check on her. So why didn’t he?
    Why go to the trouble to make a phone call, send her running
scared, and risk getting caught?
    “Because it’s a game. He wants her terrified, probably gets
off on it.” Red growled, in answer to his question. “If that’s the case, buddy,
bring it on.”
    Red was itching for a fight. He’d love to get his hands on
Chandler Chase, whether or not he was the man stalking Pamela. He hated the
thoughts