“You don’t think she’s going to be in the line of fire when she leaves here? Are we going to just wave goodbye to her at the city limits and hope she gets as far as Fort Worth before he’s upon her? Then it’s no longer our problem.”

“Watch your tone, Detective,” he warned. “You’re on thin ice as it is.”

God, he was being a goddamn prick and she didn’t know why. It was as if he had no intention of catching the stalker. They weren’t even trying.

He pointed at her. “You are on babysitting duty only. That’s it. They’re working on finding a place for you to stay for a few days. Reid will be there for backup. What the plan is—without putting her out there as bait—is to occupy the two rooms adjacent to yours. If this crazy son of a bitch tries something, you’ll have backup. There will only be one entry. There’ll be cameras. So if he finds you, no way he gets close. We’ll be monitoring the parking lot. We’ll have eyes everywhere. So we’re not just sitting back playing defense, Harper. If the guy comes around, we’ll get him. If he doesn’t…well, then it’s out of our hands, seeing as how she’ll be leaving town and all.”

She nodded. She didn’t like what he was insinuating, but at least they were doing something to try to catch the guy.

“What should I tell our rape victim from the other night?” Reid asked. “She’s called to see if we had any suspects yet.”

“Tell her the truth. There are no suspects.”

Harper wanted to contradict him. That wasn’t the truth. They had a suspect. An unnamed, unknown clown who was stalking Danielle Stevens. They could try to hide them away again, however she didn’t believe for one second that Dani’s stalker wouldn’t find them. He always did. Maybe this time, they’d be ready for him.

* * *

“A hotel? Is that safe?”

“I guess you got your wish. They must be out of safe house options.” Then she shrugged. “Not that they’ve been all that safe, right?”

“So we’re back to square one? Hiding me away until I leave town?”

“Not exactly, no, but it won’t be a five-star hotel. More like a small motel.” Harper sat down at her desk. “All the details haven’t been worked out yet. It’ll take a few hours to get set up.”

Dani scooted her chair closer. “I’ll get to stay with you, right? I mean…”

“In the same room or in the same bed?”

“I’d prefer both, actually.” Their eyes held. “If it’s okay with you,” she added quietly, hoping that it was.