“Yes, the stalker thing has gotten to me,” she admitted. Which was one reason she was heading out early for Dallas. She would take three days to drive there. Three days to clear her head. Then she would have a week or so with Detective Jeremiah—she absolutely loved that name—and hopefully her stalker will have moved on to someone else by the time she got back.

“They say you haven’t really made it big until you have a stalker.”

“Well, according to the police, I don’t have one.”

Yet, she did. At first, she thought she was imagining things—or losing her mind. A picture was moved. Books out of order. Dishes rearranged. But she couldn’t explain fresh flowers waiting for her on the dining room table. Or the box of chocolates that were sitting by her coffeepot one morning. Or the love letters that started appearing. The police thought she was a diva wanting attention. There was no evidence of a break-in. No fingerprints. Nothing taken. She’d had the locks changed three times. She had a security camera installed. A security camera that mysteriously stopped working at the most inopportune times…like when a dozen roses were left in her kitchen during the night. Black roses this time. Or when the doll was left just inside her front door…the doll whose hair had been chopped off and its belly ripped open, revealing benign cotton stuffing inside, stuffing that had been spray painted red. The police took notice after that, but she suspected the detective assigned to the case thought she might be doing it all herself, like stopping the camera long enough to plant the flowers…the doll.

She got a gun after that incident. That didn’t help her fall asleep though. Especially not after reading the latest love letter that was left for her. She couldn’t tell who he was in love with or who he was mad at. At first, she thought it must have been Brianna. Brianna had been fun and flirty…and sexy. But after reading the last letter, she thought maybe it was Clair. Clair had been engaged. Clair met someone new…her fiancé’s best friend. Clair fell in love…and broke a heart in the process.

Her stalker had a broken heart, he said. Her stalker, while saying he loved her, was mad at her. Her stalker thought she needed to be punished.

She thought she needed to get away. And fast.

Chapter Three

“I can’t believe you’ve never heard of Danielle Stevens. She’s like the hottest thing out there right now.”

“I don’t go to movies,” she said as she dodged two officers bringing in a guy in cuffs.

“Standing in a grocery store checkout, surely you’ve seen her picture on magazines,” Reid said as he struggled to catch up with her.