Maggie nodded. “He saw online where I worked and sent them there. But when we did meet, he started telling me how he was all alone in the world. He’d cut ties with all his family, claiming they were the ones with issues. I asked him about close friends, and he claimed he didn’t really have anyone to speak of, that he was a loner. He was really good-looking, but he talked himself up so much that immediately my college psychology class notes started swirling in my head. Narcissistic. Self-righteous. He gave me all the wrong feelings.”

“He sounds like a real douchebag,” Quinn said.

“You think? So after that night I tried to gently disassociate. He thought our date went beautifully. Didn’t notice a thing and claimed it was love at first sight for him, that I was an answer to his dreams. I was like, whoa there, cool your jets, buddy.”

Quinn laughed softly. She could just imagine Maggie’s feisty side coming out.

Maggie waved her hand in the air in a dismissive way. “Talk about some alarm bells. I was nice, but I told him I’d decided I wasn’t ready to get into another relationship so quickly after breaking up with Charlie’s dad.”

“He didn’t take it well?”

“At first he said he understood, but then he sent me more than three hundred text messages over the next two days. When I didn’t reply, he started coming to my job and leaving notes on my car along with a red rose. He kept sending gifts. Candy. Concert tickets. Once he even showed up at a restaurant I was having dinner at and invited himself to sit down. Thankfully it was with Trina from work and not a guy, which would’ve most likely set him off. Then one day in the grocery store, I turned, and he was there, silently watching me. It sent a chill up my spine. I got firm with him then and told him if he didn’t leave me alone, I’d call the police. That’s when he went off the deep end. From then on, he was leaving a black rose on my car. No notes anymore.”

She paused and inhaled deeply. “Then he was in my house, Quinn.”

“Oh my God. Were you there?”

“No. It was after days of rain, and Charlie was going stir-crazy indoors. So we went for a ride and were gone probably just over half an hour. When I got home, at first everything was fine. I gave Charlie a bath, put on his pajamas, and then carried him into my room so he could be close while I showered. I went to lay him on the bed, and there was a black rose.”

“Maggie . . . ,” Quinn said.