When PI Jake Marshall fails to stop the abduction and subsequent murder of a client who was being stalked, he vows to do everything in his power to identify the man responsible. He'll need all the help he can get, including Kelly, his partner in the agency, and Russ Foster, a library security guard he met at a local bar ... with whom he's becoming personally involved.<br><br>Soon, it becomes even more imperative they find the stalker when a friend of Jake's also disappears and everything points to the stalker as his abductor.<br><br>Can Jake and Russ stop the stalker before he kills again? And how will their search affect their budding relationship, presuming the stalker doesn't target one of them next?

Stalker

Alex had arrived before them and was standing in the doorway, looking very upset. “He shouldbe rattled, especially if Alan’s disappearance has to do with his stalker,” Jake said quietly to Kelly as they walked toward him.


Alex escorted them inside, introducing them to Edna, a middle-aged woman who looked as if she was about to cry.


“This isn’t like Alan at all,” she told Jake shakily. “He would never leave the shop open if neither of us was here and for sure he’d have called me if he had to leave.”


“Nothing is missing?” Kelly asked as she surveyed the various cases.


“No. I checked as soon as I got back and realized Alan wasn’t around,” Edna replied. “None of the cases can be opened without a key, to deter shoplifters.”


Jake was scanning the ceiling for the cameras. Since he knew what to look for, he found them, concealed from casual view by some of the light fixtures. “I’d like to look at the tapes or discs for the cameras,” he told Edna.


Chapter 9