And think of something he must have, because the police let him go almost immediately, without even taking his statement. The female officer who spoke to him appeared distracted, a little edgy after he left. What had he said to her? Was he some kind of Confidential Informant, colluding with the cops while working his way up the criminal underworld? Jesus, everyone else in town but Rose seemed to know him.

After giving the gun and her statement as evidence, she went to the hospital to make sure Alex was going to be okay. Sure, the guy had been stalking her family all day, but someone had put him up to it. Someone had hired him. And that same someone must be concerned about what Bellamy was up to.

Alex came around after an hour or so. The doctors finished their tests, told him he’d need to stay for observation for a few days. Several broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a cracked collarbone, and concussion. It could so easily have been her lying there, stiff and drifting along on a cocktail of painkillers.

“I told Helen,” said Rose. “She’ll get in touch with Susan for you. Shouldn’t be long.”

“Huh?” Alex’s expression somewhere far away on a cloud of medication.

Rose rolled her eyes. “I said your wife, Susan, is on the way. She won’t be long.”

“Aw, yeah. That is so…I can’t think of the word. Susie-Q. Kiss you, miss you, Susie-Q,” he replied through a series of drugged induced giggles.

Rose cleared her throat, then clicked her fingers to get his attention. “Alex, stay with me. It’s Rosie.”

“Hey, Rosie. You ride good, you know. Why don’t you buy some job…jump…jodhpurs. Yeah, that’s ’cause you got nice legs, you know. Women who ride are hot. Real hot. Susie-Q used to ride. I think she—”

“Okay, Alex, I need you to focus. It’s important.” His glazed eyes flickered open. He didn’t seem to know where he was. “You were following me today. That’s when you saw me ride. Do you remember?”

“Following you, yeah. You don’t look much like your mom, you know. I think you should be careful.”

“What do you say that?”

“That guy you were with…”

“Bellamy?”

“Huh?”

“Bellamy. The guy who was with us, the guy you’ve been following—what do you know about him?”

“A ghost.”

The heavy thwump in her stomach nearly knocked Rose off her feet and she swallowed hard against the starchy walls of her throat. “W-what do you mean?”

“I couldn’t find any trace of him. My friend in the agency ran his picture through their facial recognition whatchcallit, and…nada.”

The odd sensation of relief poured down her back. “That just means he isn’t on their system. It doesn’t mean he can’t be traced.”

He sighed, smiling to himself, eyes closed. “Jodhpurs.”