Page 65 of Risk Assessment
“Dylan it’s Gabe. I have news. Connor did a search on Raleigh’s security system, and it was definitely hacked. Hetraced the hack to Calvin Clark’s office through the IP that was used.”
“So, itisClark?” Dylan asked, confused. He was moving toward the door Raleigh had disappeared behind. He’d been watching her the whole time and she’d been right there chatting with everyone and then suddenly she slipped through a recessed door.
“No, we just pieced it all together. We think it’s Calvin’s assistant, Josh Lyndsey. He has quite a history. As a matter of fact, he didn’t exist until a couple of years ago. Before that, he was Robert Joshua Quinn from Raleigh’s hometown in Connecticut. Looks like he’s had some mental issues. He’s been in and out of medical facilities for a while now. We’re trying to find out his diagnosis but it’s hard to break doctor patient confidentiality. But listen to this, another stalking incident involving him was reported.”
Fear and horror made Dylan’s feet move faster.Raleigh, please be safe.
Gabe continued. “There’s a gap after high school. It seems something happened with his sister that made him take some time off. It seems she passed away but we’re light on details.
“When Josh, or Robert, finally went off to university, and he met Mandy Collins. Connor got in touch with her, and she said that Quinn stalked her for the whole of her sophomore year. She was so wigged out she transferred universities, but she launched a complaint against him before she left, and the campus police investigated.
“They wanted to arrest him for stalking, but his family put him in a mental institution for evaluation. He stayed for six months before the institution released him. Said he was fine as long as he took his meds. The he dropped off the grid, and no one had a clue where to find him.
“A few years later, he popped up in Bedford Hills as Josh. Mandy Collins seems to have been his first victim, and Connor is still trying to find out where he disappeared to for the missing time before he became Josh, but you can bet he was out there stalking some woman.” Gabe asked, “Where’s Josh now?”
Dylan’s gut tightened, and his heart rate shot through the stratosphere. “I don’t know.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Come now, honey. You don’t need to be coy with me.”
She shot off the pew. Her heart missed a beat, and her belly twisted into knots. The handkerchief. It smelled of rose…the same smell as the linen spray her stalker used. She was going to be sick.
Joshwas her stalker. His eyes had taken on a weird glow, and his expression had changed entirely. Her body was locking up, becoming paralyzed with fear. Her mind was going blank and her vision was starting to tunnel.No!She had to fight. She needed to move, get away.
“Josh,” she said as she stumbled along the pew. “Why?”
“Ral, it’s okay. I’m here now. It was my mistake. I shouldn’t have left you alone for so long. I thought you could handle it, but obviously the stress of it was too much for you. I know you used the cop to make me jealous but then he took advantage of you.” Josh got up and followed her.
She looked around wildly. The door was behind her. She’d have to get around Josh to make it out. Was there another door? There on the other side just before the altar. A fire door.
“Really, you should’ve said something to me, and I would’ve rescued you earlier.” He frowned at her.
Her heart had gone ballistic in her chest, and her breath was coming in short gasps. The organ started playing, the sound was deafening. The wedding was starting. No one would hear her if she screamed now. She made it to the main aisle and started toward the front of the chapel.
“There is nothing to be afraid of,” Josh called after her. “We’ll just have to speed things up a bit. I’m quite sure your family will understand completely. Your parents, David and Bree, may I call them that? It’s just I feel like I know them so well already. I remember them at high school graduation. They were so proud of you. I just know they would not want you with that ridiculous, plebeian cop. I’m sure they will be fine with us announcing our relationship, even if it’s a tad premature.”
High school? What the hell was he talking about? He wasn’t in her high school. Surely she would have recognized him. She raced around the front pew and hit the door at a dead run but it didn’t move and she ended up smashing her shoulder into it.
“We really don’t have a minute.” He reached into his pocket as he walked along in front of the pews.
Where could she go? The other door. She started down the aisle, but Josh ran the last few steps and grabbed her arm. She swung around to hit him, but he blocked her punch and the pain shot down her arm to her hurt shoulder. She tried pulling her arm free, but he yanked her back and twisted her arm behind her back. His grip was like an iron vise. Where the hell had all his strength come from?
She tried to hit his face with her free hand, but he blocked her. She squirmed in his grasp, but the pain shooting through her twisted arm was agonizing.
She tried to punch him again, but he pushed her face first into the wall and leaned into her back, holding her there. Shecouldn’t reach him with her free hand. She heard plastic rustling and realized it was a bag of some sort.
“Ah, here we are,” he said loudly.
Her entire body froze for an instant—what did he mean?—and then she was all movement. She brought her foot up and slammed her heel down as hard as she could, hitting the top of his shoe. He yowled in pain.
She wrenched her arm and started to scream at the top of her lungs, but it was too late. No one could hear her. The organ was booming away.
He dropped the bag and punched her in the kidneys. She fell to her knees and couldn’t breathe or make a sound.
He stood above her, eyes bulging. “Look what you made me do! This is all your fault!”
He took a step back and bent down to rub his foot. Raleigh pulled her feet underneath her and tried to run but he grabbed her ankle and pulled. She hit the ground hard. “You are making me hurt you. Stop it!” He stood quickly and smoothed out his hair. Then he picked up the bag again and brought out the syringe.
