Page 66 of Smoldering Nights
The nausea rose again, hot and heavy, but Izzy pushed it down.“We need to find him before this escalates.If he thinks we’re a couple, what happens if he decides you’re in the way?”
Mitch stepped close, bracing her arms.“He won’t touch you.I swear it.”
“I know,” she whispered.“But that note proves we’re out of time.He’s not just watching anymore.He’s fantasizing.And if you weren’t in the picture...”
“Don’t finish that thought,” Mitch said.“Because I am in the picture.And I’m not going anywhere.”
Her hands shook, but not from fear.From adrenaline.Resolve.“Then let’s catch him, Mitch.Let’s end this.”
Mitch nodded, his gaze burning with the same purpose she felt igniting inside her.
And for the first time since the sabotage started, Izzy wasn’t just reacting.
She was ready to fight back.
Chapter33
The mid-morning sun filtered through the pines outside the shack, but Mitch felt no warmth from it.He sat hunched over his laptop, a notepad open beside him, the security footage from last night frozen on one frame: Noah, standing in the alley, staring at the back door like he was waiting for an invitation inside.
Izzy was in the shower to clear her head, but Mitch couldn’t sit still.He’d already checked the perimeter twice.Reset the motion alerts.Made another pot of coffee he hadn’t touched and rewatched the videos from the Petal Pusher's cameras several times.Something was nagging at the back of his brain, but he couldn't quite bring it to the forefront.Yet.
His phone buzzed beside the keyboard.
Jayson.
He snatched it up.“Go.”
Jayson didn’t waste time.“I dug into Noah’s background like you asked.You’re not going to believe this.”
“Try me.”
“Noah Grady is the grandson of Clarence Grady.Ring a bell?”
Mitch frowned.“Should it?”
“Clarence owned Petal Pushers back in the seventies and eighties.Before Izzy’s dad bought it.The Gradys were kind of a fixture in town back then, but Clarence fell on hard times, lost the shop, lost the house, whole mess of debt.There was a lot of bitterness when Gerald Payton bought the building outright.Rumor was Clarence believed he’d been swindled, but nothing stuck legally.In reality, he had to take less than he wanted for the building because he had to get the bank off his back.And Gerald made the place thrive.”
Mitch’s stomach tightened.“So Noah grew up hearing how his grandfather felt like he got screwed over?”
“Exactly.Then the kid disappears for years, military stint that didn’t last, and bounces around jobs.Records are thin after that.But here’s the kicker, when he moved back to Summerville, guess where his first job application was?”
Mitch already knew.“Petal Pushers.”
“Bingo.Gerald Payton turned him down.There isn't a ton of information about why, but some notes from some gossip columnist, remember those were all the rage back in the day?Anyway, in the local paper from about ten years ago, the columnist said Payton turned Noah down because he didn't know a thing about flowers or plants, and he gave off a weird vibe.But get this, he still hung around for a while.Offered to help with deliveries, kept showing up at community events where Petal Pushers was listed as a sponsor.”
“Son of a bitch,” Mitch muttered.“He’s been fixated for a while.”
“Yeah.This wasn’t some recent obsession.It’s been brewing for years.Maybe it started with the shop, but it twisted into something else.Something personal.”
Mitch’s jaw clenched.“My guess is it grew when Gerald Payton passed and Izzy came back to run the shop.Noah may have thought at that time he'd be able to step in and recoup money he believes his family is owed.”
"I wondered that as well.How long has Izzy had the shop?"
Mitch took a deep breath."About two years, I think she said."
Jayson whistled."So Noah's been stalking her for two years?Hoping to get his hands on the shop?That doesn't seem likely."
Mitch nodded."Maybe he saw Izzy and began to fixate on her instead of the shop.His focus changed.After all, he didn't have the money to buy the shop.So, what did he think he'd do?"
