She Was Their Target, page 17
“No. I don’t need to. It’s just that…”
Zachary saw the truth before she could finish the thought.
She knew that he had been to Bridget’s. She had either seen it on her tracking app, or Gordon had called her too. He cleared his throat and looked away.
“You were there again,” Kenzie said quietly.
“I’m sorry.”
“Right after your session, you went straight over there. How could you do that?”
“Because… we had just spent an hour discussing her. I didn’t want to…”
“But you did. You did want to, and that’s exactly what you did.”
“You know how… how when you have a scab, and it itches, and you want to scratch it or peel it off? And you know you shouldn’t, because it will hurt and will probably open it up and make it bleed again…?”
Kenzie nodded.
“It just… itches. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to go there and upset her or Gordon, or hurt you, or defy Dr. B. I just… I was going crazy with the itching. And it was the wrong thing to do. I have been doing so well this last week, since Gordon called you and I increased my meds and stepped everything up. I just couldn’t stay away. I had to…”
“Scratch your itch.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you know what the consequences are going to be. Gordon is not going to put up with it forever. They’ll file a protective order, and then you’ll have to stay away or end up in jail.”
Zachary swallowed and nodded. “I’ll do better,” he promised.
Kenzie just shook her head sadly and went back to her work.
39
Zachary was in bad shape going home. Depressed? Despondent? He was so angry with himself. With his stupid brain for not working the right way, but making him repeatedly do the things that he knew he shouldn’t. For how weak he was in resisting the compulsions. He would never do anything to harm Bridget or the twins, but to keep going back there like some psycho stalker, making Bridget and Gordon worry about what Zachary might do next. Escalate? Go into the house? Try to stop Bridget on the street? Touch or try to take one of the girls? TV always portrayed people with obsessive thoughts or stalker behavior as being bad, truly mad and evil. But that wasn’t what Zachary was like.
He was so upset that it took him a while to notice the car tailing him. He was checking his mirrors and watching his surroundings just as he always did. Constantly vigilant about who or what might be going on around him.
But his distraction had nearly made him miss it this time.
A dark car, black or blue, keeping a few cars back from him but making all of the same turns. Just a coincidence? He didn’t think so. If it was a coincidence, it would have ended up behind him at some point. Not always back a few cars. And while the driver might have been just going in the same direction or headed to the same neighborhood as Zachary, he thought it was unlikely they would be sticking with him for so long.
He turned right twice in a row, effectively doubling back the way he had come. He watched behind him. No car. He drove for a couple of blocks, breathing slowly and evenly, trying to keep his heart rate down. If he’d had a smartwatch, it would be sending all kinds of alerts out now. Maybe he would get one in the future. It could be set to notify Kenzie or Dr. B if he had a panic attack. Though he wasn’t sure what they would do when they got the message. Kenzie could look at the friends app, find out where he was, and then come to him if she wanted to. But if they weren’t together when he had the panic attack, the chances were, it would be over by the time she got there. They might seem like they lasted an eternity, but it was usually only a few minutes. And then he didn’t want to talk about it. He wanted to take a pill and go to sleep.
He was sure that he had lost the car and that he had imagined things. Someone had just been going in the same direction as he was. Just a coincidence. But then he saw the car pull in a couple of blocks behind him. Staying well back so as not to attract his attention or be noticeable. But it was there, and it was the same car.
Zachary swallowed and looked around, assessing his surroundings.
They had picked him up at the police station. So were they cops? Did Campbell send them out at Gordon’s request to see what Zachary would do after their meeting? Whether he would go straight back over to Bridget’s again and leave another note? He hadn’t left a note that morning. He hadn’t even stopped. Not for very long. He had just driven by, looking at the house, trying to reassure himself that all was well and he didn’t need to keep checking in on them.
But Gordon had obviously looked out the window and seen him, or had reviewed a surveillance camera and found Zachary on the video. He’d put money into upgraded security systems after the kidnapping. Even though the twins hadn’t been kidnapped from their home, and there wasn’t much they could do about making sure that they weren’t snatched from a parking lot again, other than sending a couple of bodyguards along with Bridget whenever she went out.
Zachary pressed his foot down on the gas. He gently raised his speed, forcing the following car to do the same if they wanted to keep up with him. They would have to close the distance, or he would get away from them at the higher speed. He decided to take the highway. That would force them to either close in enough that he would be able to identify them, or to drop back and let him go.
Or maybe he would get pulled over for speeding, for once, and they would have to abandon the chase because of the traffic cops. He took the next opportunity to turn off toward the main street and, in a few minutes, he had worked his way over to the nearest freeway exit.
After merging, he pressed his foot to the floor and shot forward.
When Kenzie was in the car with him, he had to be careful how fast he drove. Despite the fact that Kenzie drove a hot little sports car, she was cautious about breaking the speed limit by more than a few miles per hour. When Zachary was on his own, he moved a lot faster. He didn’t weave in and out of traffic, but he definitely got into a lane that he could move quickly in and went as fast as the flow of traffic would allow.
Today was different. He wasn’t just moving as quickly as his lane would allow. He pressed the gas pedal to the floor whenever he had empty lane in front of him and, when he ran out, he quickly switched to the lane with the best traffic flow without signaling, only dropping his speed as much as necessary to make a safe lane change. There were a few honks from irritated drivers who felt like he had cut them off or was moving too quickly but, generally, by the time anyone could hit the horn, he was long gone, the noise way behind him.
To begin with, the dark car tried to keep up. They didn’t close the distance enough for Zachary to get a good look at the driver, license plate, or any identifying features from the car.
After a few minutes, they were lagging far enough behind him that he could barely make out their position in his rearview mirror. He kept going and, eventually, he couldn’t see them anymore. He dropped his speed and watched for them to reappear in his mirror, but they did not. He timed another ten minutes just going with the traffic flow and waiting for them to pop up again, but they did not. He took the next exit and doubled back toward Roxboro.
He frowned as he continued to watch for them. They might have taken an exit before him and be traveling back toward home or sitting on the shoulder waiting for him, knowing that he had to go back to Roxboro sooner or later. But he didn’t see them.
Were they cops? If they were, he would have expected them to do a better job keeping up. And maybe even to pull him over to give him a ticket or a stern warning. But there was no sign of the police on the highway. Who, then? Had Gordon hired another PI to tail Zachary? So that they would know where Zachary was and what he was doing, and could assess better how often he was showing up at the house, what he was doing there, and if he was a threat to Bridget.
That was probably it. Gordon had decided to quit waiting around and take action. No longer satisfied with just passively checking his security cameras to ensure that Zachary wasn’t near the house, he had called Campbell to give him a heads-up, had called Kenzie to put her on notice, and had put a tail on Zachary.
In which case, it was nothing to be concerned about. He could come and go as usual and not put himself or Kenzie in danger. Maybe if he knew that someone was watching him, just waiting for him to show up at Bridget’s house again, it would be a deterrent. He would be able to convince his malfunctioning brain that going back there was not only wrong, but dangerous, and that he would have to give up watching her and take up a new hobby.
Back in Roxboro, he continued to watch for the tail car. Since he didn’t know for sure who it was, he didn’t want to lead them back home. He didn’t want anyone showing up there, threatening him or Kenzie. Leaving notes in the mailbox. But the Godfrey case was closed. Those characters would not be bothering him anymore. And Gordon would not threaten harm, just to file a protective order against Zachary.
After stopping at the house, Zachary watched the cars and sidewalks around him, watching for anyone who was watching him or lying in wait. Home was a safe place. He needed to keep it that way.
40
Even after sitting outside to reassure himself that no one was surveilling him, Zachary was still anxious after entering the house. He kept looking out the windows, trying to identify anyone or anything unusual. Were there cars on the street that he didn’t recognize? Someone out walking a dog while actually casing out the house? Anyone looking at the house numbers trying to identify which one was his?
He saw a couple of school-age kids walking down the other side of the street. One of his neighbors got home from the grocery store and walked up to their door with bags of groceries. All normal Saturday activities.
His phone rang, making Zachary jump. He checked the caller ID. Jennifer. He swiped to answer the call.
“Jennifer? Everything okay?”
She sighed heavily and didn’t answer. Of course everything was not okay. “I was just… wondering what you have found so far. It’s been a while since you told me anything.”
“Uh, sure. Sorry about that. I have been occupied with the case, not something else. I just don’t have any conclusions yet, and I didn’t want to bother you with anything unimportant or undeveloped.”
“So you have some leads?”
“I have a few things I’m looking at. I was wondering… about Kristin’s watch.”
“Her watch?”
“She had a new watch, didn’t she?”
“Yes. She got it a couple of months ago and loved it.”
“And I was just wondering if you have that. If I could look at it.”
“You have her laptop and her phone. I’m sure there’s a lot more information on those. I doubt if there’s anything at all on the watch.”
“It was a smartwatch. It stored and transmitted… certain information.”
“What kind of information?”
“Information about her health. Heart rhythm, breathing, blood pressure. Stuff like that.”
“Oh. I didn’t know it could do all that. How do you know that?”
“Apparently, anyone on Rx was put on real-time monitoring. So if we could get her watch, we could see what her heart health was like before she went into surgery and, if she was still wearing it, get more information about what happened before she died.”
“Why wasn’t that in the medical examiner’s report? Shouldn’t they have pulled all of that information?”
“They might not have realized what kind of watch it was or that it was recording any of that information. I’m sure if they had known, they would have included that information in their report.”
“I guess it would be in the bag of personal items they gave me when they… released her. Can you hold on for a minute, and I’ll get it?”
“Sure,” Zachary agreed.
He watched out the window while she put down the phone and looked for the watch. Still no suspicious behavior that he could see outside. He could relax. No one had followed him.
Eventually, Jennifer returned to the phone. “I can’t find it.”
“It wasn’t with her personal effects?”
“No. I’ve looked through everything in the bag and I shook out the clothes to make sure that it didn’t get caught on something. They must still have it.”
“That doesn’t seem likely… but I guess it could have been mislabeled or put in the wrong place. Can you call the medical examiner’s office and see if they can find it? I wouldn’t think it would take them too long to realize they had a watch that hadn’t been properly accounted for.”
Jennifer hemmed and hawed, obviously not wanting to do that.
“This is important information,” Zachary urged her. “Vital. If you want to know what happened to Jennifer, it could provide a lot of the answers.”
“Can’t you call them?”
“They won’t talk to me. Only to you. And if you’re going to call them to give them permission to talk to me, you may as well ask them about the watch.”
Jennifer growled something under her breath. Zachary didn’t ask her what she had said.
“You’ll call them, then?”
“I suppose so. But not right now. I’m…” Jennifer hesitated. Zachary had a sneaking suspicion she was casting around for a good reason why she couldn’t call the medical examiner’s office now. “I have a stack of other jobs I need to do, including several other phone calls. I have a demanding job.”
“Okay. Let me know what you find out.”
Zachary sat down with his computer to go through the social networks he had posted to about Rx and any side effects people might be experiencing with it. There were disappointingly few answers, and a lot of rants about how he was trying to smear the name of a good product. A lifesaving product.
He tried a few searches on the various platforms for any negative messages about Rx. There weren’t a lot of them. Either everybody thought that the product was wonderful, or the company was shutting down any negative publicity as soon as it appeared. He imagined that threatened lawsuits would get most of them taken down quickly. By the platform, if not by the person who had posted them.
There were a couple of recent messages from BombshellBlake. Frowning, Zachary tapped one of them and a video began to play. It was a face that was familiar to him. Brittany “the Bombshell” Blake had stayed at the same vacation resort as he and Kenzie had before Thanksgiving. They had ended up snowed in, and a series of unexpected events had resulted in their getting to know Brittany much better than expected. While Zachary had thought initially that the social influencer was just a spoiled rich girl, he had learned that she worked hard to get what she had, and was otherwise a pretty normal, nice person.
And her fans had been the ones to break through the snow to get them out of there. They had saved Brittany’s life, and maybe several others in the process.
He listened to Brittany—perfect, fit Brittany, who worked out every day to stay slim for the cameras and was extra careful about what she ate—talk about being “body positive.” She encouraged her followers to be happy with their bodies and not to give in to the messages of companies like TrimProGenix, the makers of LipoSlayerRx, and think that there was a shortcut to achieving the perfect body. There wasn’t any such thing as a perfect body, and people should accept and be happy with the bodies they had, wherever they were at in life.
Brittany expounded on how all races, colors, weights, and shapes were equally beautiful. Pictures flashed across the screen of Brittany hugging larger women, taking selfies with singles or groups of people with different cultural backgrounds, disabilities, and body shapes. Brittany the Bombshell apparently loved and approved of everyone and didn’t want anyone listening to the toxic propaganda from companies like TrimProGenix.
He watched the second video, which was similar to the first. Both videos had a number of positive comments from people who approved of her message. But they also had a lot of detractors. People who couldn’t accept such a message coming from a skinny girl. Or who were “tired of all of the Rx bashing.” Even though Zachary hadn’t seen any as he had searched through messages about the drug. Even when he had asked about side effects, he wasn’t getting very many responses. He had to wonder what had happened to everyone who had previously spoken out about Rx.
As he watched, the videos posted by Brittany disappeared and were replaced by error messages that the content could not be found. Zachary refreshed the screen and searched for any messages posted by Brittany. There were a few older ones, but the two recent videos were gone. And so was anything else with any reference to Rx.
Even with her millions of followers and her influence over social media, the Bombshell was being shut down.
“Crazy,” Zachary muttered under his breath and shook his head.
He tapped Brittany’s name and the command to direct message her. He obviously wasn’t going to have any success posting to her publicly on the Rx issue. Whatever they said would be taken down. And he would probably be banned. Brittany might be able to get away with speaking out about Rx and staying on the platform, but a newbie account that had just been opened the day before? He would be kicked out before he could say two words against the drug.
It took a while to decide what to say to Brittany in the message and, even after he had thumb-typed it, he wasn’t happy with it. But his exact words didn’t matter. He needed to reach Brittany and see if she could be of any help to him. She was obviously familiar with Rx and what TrimProGenix was doing. Maybe she could help him figure out what to do next.
He switched apps and tapped Kenzie’s name to call her. She didn’t pick up. So she was probably too busy at the morgue to answer, or she was in her car on the way home already. He got her voicemail greeting and waited to leave a message.
“Hey, Kenz. You’ll never guess who I just ran into online. And who is against Rx. I’ll tell you when I see you!”
