He opened his hands up. “Such as…did this start out as a publicity stunt by her?”

Harper stood up. “Are you seriously suggesting that she staged this whole thing?” She narrowed her eyes. “Seriously?”

“It was mentioned…yes.”

“What? Like she hired a stalker? For publicity? And then had him rape a woman? Really? You think this was staged?”

“It was mentioned as a possibility. Hell, everybody’s just looking for answers.”

She tried to keep her temper under control, but the words were out before she could stop them. “Answers? Nobody took this seriously at the beginning. You certainly didn’t.” She took a step closer to his desk, pointing at him. “You had no interest in catching this guy! You wanted to hide her until she left town and took her stalker back with her. Even after he raped a woman!”

Mize glared at her. “Detective…” he warned. “Sit down and shut up before you say something you’ll regret.”

Harper ran her hands through her hair. “He was in the goddamn house with us! He could have killed us so easily because we’re sleeping, thinking we have backup outside!” She turned her back to him, taking a deep breath, then stared up at the ceiling. Was that it? He’d been in the house while they were sleeping. Had he opened the door and peeked in at them?

“Do you want me to take you off of this detail?”

She spun around quickly. “No, sir.”

He studied her, his eyes narrowed. “This one is getting a little personal for you, isn’t it?”

She frowned as she sat back down. “What do you mean?”

“The note targeting you…the doll in the police uniform…the knife. It’s been suggested that we turn Ms. Stevens over to Springer, get you out of the way.”

She was surprised at the panic she felt. Reid was her partner. She trusted him to have her back. But she didn’t trust him—or anybody else—to keep Dani safe.

“No, sir. I’m okay.” She swallowed down her panic. “I think that Ms. Stevens would prefer I stay on.”

“Is that right? Based on what?” He spread his hands out. “I’m not trying to place blame or anything here, Harper, but you haven’t exactly kept her out of harm’s way.”

She was too shocked to respond to his statement. Was she to blame?

“I’ll give her the opportunity, at least,” he continued. “She wanted a female officer to shadow based on an upcoming role of hers. Now that she’s apparently in real danger, she may prefer a man on this assignment. We’ll let her decide.”

Harper had no doubt as to what Dani’s decision would be. Did she? Or was she being presumptuous? Maybe Mize was right. She hadn’t exactly kept this guy away from Dani.