“Most female stalkers want a bond. It’s common they pick someone they work with, or who has a caring, mentoring role of some sort over them. Perhaps a teacher or a therapist.” Marcus shrugs. “Does she work under you?”

Carolina nods. “She’s an intern, and I guess I took her under my wing. When I think about it now, I can see there were times she’d get intense, or overly familiar, but I put it down to her being young and, to a degree, naïve. There’s something almost childlike about her.”

Marcus taps his fingers against his thigh. “It’s odd, though. Why suddenly do something so aggressive? Has she done anything like this before?”

“Not so far as I’m aware,” Carolina says. “I mean, she screwed my boyfriend, so I suppose that counts as not too friendly behavior.”

“Not the same thing, though,” Marcus says. “Her having sex with your boyfriend probably wasn’t an act of aggression against you. It’s more likely it was her way of feeling close to you. As if you shared something, as fucked up as that sounds. So what changed?”

“Do you have Joseph’s number?” I ask Carolina.

She nods and hands me her phone with the number on the screen.

“Can I call him from your phone?” I ask her.

She nods again.

He answers on the third ring. “Hey, babe.”

“She’s not your babe anymore,” I snarl.

“I’m hanging up.”

“No, wait. I need to ask you something.” I put him on speaker.

His sneering laugh sets my teeth on edge, but I don’t respond.

“Did you say anything to Lexy? Anything at all that could have made her upset?”

He scoffs, “Of course I did. I told her she was a crazy bitch.”

“I mean before then. Did you ever say anything to her about Carolina that may have made her angry?”

Silence. It tells me more than words could, but I need the details.

“Joseph. Do we need to play games with guns again? What did you say?”

“Christ, okay. You’re a psycho, you know that?”

“Talk.”

He sighs, and then he spills.

“About a week ago, before I saw the room, we were hanging out. I was getting sick of her constantly asking me about Carolina. It was starting to get really boring, and so I said to her that Carolina didn’t give a shit about her. I might have lost my temper a little, and it made me more blunt than necessary, but I told her that Carolina wouldn’t give her a second thought outside of their interactions at work. I may have hinted that Carolina thought she was creepy.”

Carolina stands and waves her arms in the air. “What the fuck?”

“I know. Listen, I’m sorry. Okay? I fucked up. I have to go, though. I’m late.” He hangs up abruptly.