Page 65 of The Wife Stalker

Professor Rayfield was my favorite professor. Always made the class fun and interesting.

Professor Rayfield always took the time to explain things, very patient, great teacher.

Prof Rayfield encouraged me to follow my passion. Amazing teacher.

Were they really talking about her father? When she was growing up, he hadn’t had much patience with her, and as for encouraging a passion? That was a joke. How was it possible that he’d been able to connect so well with his students when he had never attempted to understand his own daughter? She felt cheated and closed her laptop, not wanting to read any more.

She walked into the living room, where she could look out at the expanse of woods. Her father was dead at sixty-eight. A ticking time bomb in his head had gone off. Had he had any warning? she wondered. Any premonition that it was his last day on Earth? She thought of the way he had lived such a careful, sequestered life. He and her mother never relaxed. Both of them brought their work home with them; they never spent time around the tablejust talking, or playing a game after dinner. He took his “morning constitutional” every day, but it had never seemed to her that he enjoyed the time outdoors, rather that he was just checking off another item on his list so he could feel good about being responsible with his health. He loved his work, she supposed, although how anyone could get excited about mechanical engineering was a mystery to her. His only concession to what he called a “frivolity” was his weakness for Laurel and Hardy. It was the only time she heard him laugh with abandon. Her mother used to roll her eyes and tell him to turn the volume down, muttering under her breath about how stupid the movies were. But it had made Piper glad to see that he had a lighter side. She sighed. She hoped he was at peace.

Restless, she decided to write a new blog post for the center, maybe something about living every day as though it were your last. It was an expression everyone had heard but few took to heart. She hadn’t updated the blog in a few weeks, and she noticed that there were comments on older posts still to be approved. She read through each one, approving the appropriate comments and deleting the spam. She froze as she came upon a comment posted a week ago.

Found you! Did you think just because you left California, I’d forget all about you? I wonder what your clients at the “recovery center” would think if they knew you were a murderer. Good thing you’re not still teaching sailing, at least. Now that I know where you are, I’ll be making sure that everyone knows exactly who you are, including that new husband of yours.

Piper took a screenshot and filed it away, then deleted the comment. How had Ava found her? She’d been so careful, even makingsure that the business transfer had gone through several holding companies so it couldn’t be publicly traced to her real name. If Ava showed up here, she would make Piper’s life impossible.

She had to think... It must have been Brent. She knew he’d recognized her when she’d seen him in town. Damn it! He must have gone home and called Ava. But still, how had Ava so easily found out her new name and her role at the recovery center? One thing was for sure—Ava wasn’t going to drive her out of Westport the way she’d driven her from San Diego. This time, Piper would find a way to stop her.

She looked up Brent’s office number online and, taking a deep breath, dialed.

“Pacific Investments,” a male voice with a British accent answered.

“Brent McDonald, please. Pamela Dunn calling.”

“One moment.”

She drummed her fingers while she waited.

“Pamela?” He sounded tentative.

“Hi, Brent. I owe you an apology.” She dove right in, her tone calm and apologetic. “I’m sorry for pretending it wasn’t me when I ran into you in Westport. I was worried about what Ava might do if she found out where I was.”

There was a weighty pause before he responded. “I’m not sure I understand.”

She sighed. “Surely you remember how she acted after Matthew and Mia... She blamed me and made my life a living hell.”

He cleared his throat. “Um, I know she made a scene a few times at the club, but she was grieving. I mean, you have to cut her a break. She lost her daughter.”

“I know, I know. But she started stalking me, following meeverywhere I went, making a scene. She spray-painted ‘Murderer’ on my car.”

He made an odd throat-clearing noise, but she pushed on.

“You know as well as I that what happened was an accident—the authorities were clear on that. But she was never going to let it go, so I needed to disappear, start over again. And now she’s found me. I have to ask: Did you call her and tell her you saw me in Westport?”

She heard a long exhale and papers shuffling. “Listen, Pamela, or Piper, or whatever your name is now, I’m really not comfortable giving you any information. In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if Ava was right.”

Fear shot through her. “You can’t be seri—”

He cut her off. “I’m dead serious. After I saw you on the street, I had a long talk with Ava. She told me some things about you that I never knew. If I’d have known the way you treated poor Mia... Look, I have to go. Don’t call me again.” The line went dead.

This was no good. If Ava knew where she was, she’d start calling Leo and tell him awful things about her—things that would make him suspicious, that would make him doubt her just as Brent was doing. She wasn’t going to let that happen.

Leo knew, of course, that Piper was a widow. She’d told him when they first started dating that she’d moved here from California for a fresh start after she’d lost her husband and stepdaughter in a tragic sailing accident. When she’d opened up to him about the accident, he’d been sympathetic and respectful of her wish to leave the past behind and hadn’t pressed her for details. She’d also told him that she’d changed her name because of a stalker, but she hadn’t volunteered that the stalker was Ava. She needed to clarify this with Leo right away, so that if Ava did reach him, he wouldn’t entertain her ravings.

As soon as he and the kids walked in the door, Piper greeted them in the foyer and wasted no time telling Leo she needed to talk to him alone.

“Everything all right?”

She held a finger up. “Hey, guys. How about I put a movie on for you and then bring in some lunch for you in a little while?”

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