Page 27 of Risk Assessment
He sat down on the stool next to her. “Gabe needs a copy of the guest list. He wants to be able to cross-reference the names on it with any names the team pulls up from other stalkingincidences. Any ideas on how I can get a copy? It’s not like I can ask Jenn,” he said with a small smile.
“That’s easy. I’ll ask Donna. I’ll email her and say I need a copy to make sure I get the spelling of everyone’s names correct. Let me get my laptop.”
She stood up and started to move away and then jolted to a stop.
Dylan stood up behind her. “You want me to get it for you?”
She turned and looked at him. Biting her lip, she nodded. “I feel so stupid, but I just can’t get myself to go back to that room.”
He put his hand on her back. “You’ve had a big scare tonight, and you’ve been under pressure for quite a while. Terrorized, really. It’s okay to not want to see the evidence of that. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. Give yourself a break.”
She nodded and took a big breath.
“Are you sure you’re up for this? We can start everything in the morning after you’ve had a chance to rest.”
“No, it’s fine. Working always takes my mind off things. Anyway, it will be good to focus on something else for a while. Besides, I checked my cell when you were on the phone. My boss, Max, says I should write up tonight’s event like Lydia wants, but I don’t have to use her suggestions. It’s a compromise. I’m not totally convinced, but Max is usually the voice of reason so I’ll think on it.”
“Okay. Let me get your computer bag.” He started out of the kitchen.
“Dylan?” Raleigh called.
He came back into the room. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for believing in me. It means a lot.”
He nodded quickly and made his way to the bedroom. Guilt hit him like a two-by-four in the gut. She was thanking him for believing in her while Gabe ran a deep background check to make sure she was legit. She deserved better. Unfortunately, thereality was that being prudent was the smart, safe thing to do, whether it upset her or not. Now, if he could just convince his conscience of that.
He brought her the computer bag and watched her set up in the living room. “Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m good.” She looked up at him. “Actually, I could use a drink. Do they have any soda?” she asked as she kicked off her heels and settled on the sofa.
He nodded and walked back to the kitchen. He grabbed her a can from the fridge, brought it back to the living room, and set it down next to her.
“Thanks,” she mumbled as she continues plugging everything in.
“I’m going to go…” He wanted to say he was going to check the room out in greater detail, but he didn’t want to upset her. Fortunately for him, she was already involved in reviewing emails and was too distracted to notice.
He left the room and moved down the hallway to the master bedroom. He stood at the threshold and looked the room over with a cop’s eye. It was time to get down to business.
He’d thought about asking Gabe for a tech crew but had dismissed the idea. No need to tell the whole wedding there was a stalker in their midst. Besides, that would just put the stalker on his guard and make their job harder. Not to mention the Harrises would have a meltdown and blame him. He wanted no part of that mess.
His first visual sweep of the room brought nothing specific to his attention. Nothing looked disturbed or out of place. He tried to visualize Raleigh’s apartment and the things the stalker had done there. They were all subtle, things you would question yourself the first few times before you were sure you didn’t do them. He ran his eyes over the room again.
There. A slight imprint on the pillow.
Raleigh probably hadn’t laid down before they went out to dinner, her hair had been too neat. So the stalker had lain on the bed. And the red rose inserted into the middle of the white floral arrangement.
What else? He let his gaze roam slowly over each surface. The remotes on the dresser where all lined up in a row. They were equidistant from each other, and the tops were in alignment. Could’ve been the housekeeping staff, but he didn’t think so.
He moved into the room. All the drawers were closed, as was the closet. He couldn’t tell if anything had been moved around in them, and he wasn’t about to ask Raleigh. She’d been through enough today. It didn’t matter right now anyway. He was just trying to get a feel for the guy.
He went to the bathroom and did the same thing. He studied everything, looking for telltale clues.
Raleigh’s makeup was lined up very neatly in a row, running from tallest item to smallest. That had to be the stalker as well. Hadn’t Raleigh mentioned that the yogurt in her fridge had been alphabetized? The bottom edges of the towels were perfectly aligned on the rack, and the toilet paper was hanging with the flap over, but again, that could’ve been the hotel staff.
He’d turned to leave when a scent hit him. It was faint but undeniable. Something a little too sweet for his taste. It wasn’t Raleigh’s perfume. She smelled like citrus and wildflowers. This was the same scent the stalker had sprayed in the bathroom at her house. It didn’t seem like the kind of scent a person would wear. Was it a bathroom spray? No, this was subtler. Some sort of household cleaner?
A linen spray. He’d seen them at the farmer’s market in one of those kiosks. For spraying the sheets and towels to keep them smelling fresh in the linen closet. Jenn had had different sprays for each room in her place. He’d never understood that. This guy was obviously some sort of obsessive-compulsive personality.
