“I advised her to get a new phone, or at least a new number, and she did. But then he started showing up more, and she would hide in her bathroom and pretend not to be home, but she was scared. She started keeping a journal of everything he did. Finally, it got so bad she decided to move out and sublet her place. But then she still had to see him at work, so she had to be careful driving home, and she was always worried he’d follow her and find out where she lived, so sometimes she’d end up at my place. This was in the summer, like late June.” He turned his coffee mug. “Then everything died down, and I didn’t hear from her for a while. I thought she was okay, and he’d backed off. But then she called me Sunday and said someone was following her again—”

“When Sunday?”

“I don’t know. Late. She woke me up.”

“You mean—”

A woman stopped at the table. Short black hair, blue eyes, baseball cap.

Leigh’s jaw dropped. The woman slid into the booth beside Cooper, and Leigh’s mind swirled with a mix of shock and disbelief.

“Vanessa. Do you have any idea—”

“Yes.” She leaned forward, resting her hands on the table. They were clenched in tight little fists. “I do. Now can we please get out of here? It’s not safe.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Roadhouse Motel was a two-story establishment that advertised low rates and free Wi-Fi. The crime scene van pulling out of the lot as they walked over wasn’t much of an endorsement, and Leigh wondered how on earth they’d selected this place.

Still holding her breath against the diesel fumes, Leigh followed them past an open-air stairwell, and Cooper dug a key card from his pocket as they stopped in front of room 119, which had a DO NOT DISTURB sign hooked on the door.

Cooper slid the card into the lock and pushed open the door.

“I need to talk to Vanessa alone,” Leigh told him.

He sent Vanessa a worried look.

“She’s my client.” Leigh dug a twenty out of her purse and held it out, figuring that if he really had been mugged, he could probably use it. “Is your car here? Why don’t you go get some gas or some snacks or something and give us a few minutes.”

He ignored the money and leaned around Leigh. “Van?”

“That’s fine.”

“I’ll be back in half an hour.” He gave Leigh a warning look. “Don’t open the door for anyone.”

Leigh stepped into the room, noticing the mildewy smell as she locked and latched the door.