The security footagefrom Gracie’s Grounds played for the fourth time on Mike’s laptop screen, the timestamp showing Tuesday morning when Nica had first noticed the man watching her.Gabe leaned closer, studying every pixel of the grainy image as the figure in the hoodie, baseball cap, and sunglasses lingered a couple of doors down from the coffee shop’s entrance.
“There,” Mike said, pausing the feed.“He positions himself perfectly to avoid the main camera angle but watch this.”He switched to the feed from the gas station down the street.The view switched to the convenience store interior, where Gabe spotted Nica grabbing her lunch.His heart was in his throat when he saw the man at the end of the aisle, clearly watching his wife.“Same guy, different angle, but still managing to keep his face hidden.”
Gabe’s jaw tightened as he watched the man’s deliberate movements.Everything about his positioning screamed professional surveillance.“He knows exactly where every camera is.”
“Which tells us he’s either done extensive reconnaissance or he’s had help mapping the area.”Mike made notes in a small leather notebook.“This isn’t some amateur stalker, Gabe.This is someone with training.”His eyes met Gabe’s.“Whoever you’ve ticked off, they’ve either got connections or deep pockets.”
They were parked behind Shiloh Springs Middle School, having just finished reviewing the security footage from the day Nica received the disturbing flower delivery.The principal had been cooperative but concerned, especially after learning someone had infiltrated their building’s security.He’d checked the day’s logs and found a scribbled signature for the flower delivery, exactly like a normal delivery person would do, but the writing was so illegible, there was no way of making anything out of it.
“What did Mrs.Henderson tell you about the delivery guy?”Gabe asked, referring to the school librarian who had accepted the flowers.
Mike flipped back a few pages in his notebook.“Caucasian male, average height and build, probably in his early to mid-thirties.Wore a dark T-shirt, dark jeans, and a baseball cap.You know, the generic delivery outfit for most places.She did mention that he had a navy windbreak on with some kind of logo on the upper left side, but she didn’t get a good look at it.Probably a generic type thing, too, the kind you can buy online.Kept his head down, baseball cap pulled low.Professional but not memorable, which was obviously intentional.”
“Voice?”
“Soft-spoken, no distinctive accent.He knew exactly who to ask for and seemed familiar with the school layout.”Mike looked up from his notes.“But here’s the interesting part—he paid cash for the arrangement when he picked it up, which is unusual, made the purchase memorable.The person I talked with at the florist said she remembered because most people use a credit card for such an expensive purchase, and two dozen roses aren’t cheap.I’m waiting to hear back from the shop owner, because she did the actual transaction, made the arrangement while he waited.She might have more details.”
Gabe rubbed his temples, feeling the weight of the investigation settling on his shoulders.They spent the better part of the morning methodically reviewing surveillance footage from CCTV cameras along Main Street, the school, and every business with cameras in a three-block radius of the coffee shop and the gas station.The pattern at each location was always the same—glimpses of a male figure, always carefully positioned to avoid clear identification.
“The journal quote,” Mike asked, phrasing his question in a way Gabe knew he’d been thinking about it.“How could he have known what Nica wrote?Or even that she kept a journal?Is it common knowledge that she writes her private thoughts in a journal?”
“That’s what worries me most.”Gabe leaned back against the car seat, trying to stretch his legs in the limited space inside the cramped vehicle.Mike closed the laptop and leaned back too.“The only way he could know was if he’s been inside the apartment—my apartment—because Nica’s kept her journal at my place for the past several weeks.When she’s finished, she puts it in the drawer beside the bed.”
“Have you read it?”
Gabe shook his head.“Absolutely not.Her journal holds her private thoughts, and I’d never violate her trust.I hate thinking somebody’s been watching her more closely than we realized.I’ve looked through my apartment, all the obvious places, but I haven’t been able to find any hidden cameras, listening devices, or any kind of remote surveillance, but I’m no expert.I’m a doctor, not some kind of spy.”Gabe grinned, trying to lighten the mood a bit, but it wasn’t easy.He was still so stinking mad.“I leave that sort of thing to you.”
The possibility somebody might have been spying on them, watching their most intimate moments, listening to private conversations made Gabe’s blood run cold.The thought that someone had been watching Nica in their home, in their bedroom, filled him with a rage so pure it was almost blinding.
Mike seemed to sense his emotional state.“We’re going to find him, Gabe.But we need to be methodical about this.”
“Methodical.”Gabe’s voice was tight.“While my wife is being stalked and my career is being systematically destroyed.”
“Speaking of which,” Mike said, pulling out a small electronic device that looked like a handheld scanner, “I want to check something.Call it a hunch, but somebody’s been tracking your movements with remarkable precision.The timing of everything—the break-in at your clinic, the packages delivered to your wife at her family home, the man following Nica—it all suggests they know exactly where you are all the time.”
“What is that?”
“RFID scanner.The kind used to detect tracking devices.”Mike powered it on, and it immediately began emitting a soft beeping sound.“I want to rule out the possibility that they’ve planted some kind of electronic surveillance on you.”
“You think somebody chipped me?Like a dog?”
Mike rolled his eyes, without responding.He motioned for Gabe to get out of the car, and Gabe walked around to stand beside him.He held out his arms, assuming Mike wanted to scan his clothes or perhaps his phone.But as Mike moved the device closer to Gabe’s body, the beeping became more rapid and insistent.
“Hold still,” Mike ordered, his expression growing serious as he moved the scanner over Gabe’s torso.
The beeping reached a fever pitch as Mike held the device near Gabe’s left shoulder.Gabe stared at the scanner’s screen in disbelief.Mike ran the device over the same spot three more times, each pass confirming the impossible result.
“Does that beeping mean what I think it means?”
“There’s definitely something there.Small, professional grade.Hate to tell you this, buddy, but this isn’t some amateur tracking device you can buy online at your local spy shop.”
Gabe’s hand instinctively moved to his shoulder, pressing against the spot where the scanner had detected the foreign object.He felt nothing—no tender area, no memory of when it could have been implanted.The violation made his skin crawl.
“Get it out.”His voice was tight with barely controlled fury.“Now.”
“Nope.”Mike powered down the scanner and set it on the hood of his sedan.“Let’s think about this, Gabe.We just found our smoking gun.This proves someone has been tracking your every move, for weeks, maybe even months.Now that we know it’s there, we can use it against them.”
“I don’t want that thing in my body another second.”Gabe’s medical training warred with his emotional response.Logically, he knew Mike was right, but the thought of some unknown enemy tracking him like an animal made his stomach turn.“What if it’s more than just a tracker?What if—”
