Love me to death

out of women, it wasn’t a guarantee and he’d get only one chance.

He pulled his wallet out of his front pocket and opened to his private investigator’s license. “Sean Rogan, private investigator. I was retained by a woman who is being stalked. This morning, she received one dozen red roses delivered by one of your drivers. There was no signature, but the message disturbed her greatly. Do you have records of who ordered such a delivery?”

She looked closely at his identification and frowned. “I’m not supposed to give out any information.”

“I understand. I’ll file a police report on her behalf and they’ll come back with a warrant.” He pocketed his ID.

“I don’t know-well, I only work afternoons. I can call my mother, who owns the store.”

“Do you keep records of deliveries?”

“Of course.”

“I have the name and address the flowers were delivered to.”

She nodded. “I can look it up by delivery address.”

Sean gave her Lucy’s address and waited a minute while she typed. “Yes, we have one dozen long-stemmed red roses going to that address this morning.”

The tension in his stomach increased tenfold. “Do you have a name?” That he kept his voice professional was a testament to his training.

“Mr. Lorenzo was a walk-in customer and paid cash,” she said.

Sean straightened. “Lorenzo?” he snapped.

She fidgeted and stepped back. “Y-yes,” she said. Sean must have sounded furious, because she looked like a doe caught in the headlights.

“Cody Lorenzo?” he said, forcing himself to sound calm.

“Yes.”

What was Lorenzo up to? After accusing Lucy of getting Prenter killed, maybe-maybe- Sean could see him sending flowers to apologize. But there was no I’m sorry on the card. What was he doing watching Lucy at the ice rink? Why send a cryptic message? The cop had to know it would disturb her.

Yet it happened far too often-ex-boyfriends, and sometimes ex-girlfriends, unable to let go, resorting to stalking. And Lorenzo was a cop-they had access to information the average John Q. Public didn’t. When a cop turned stalker, it rarely ended well. They often used their resources to bully their victims.

Sean would not let Lucy be bullied by anyone, particularly Cody Lorenzo.

“Mr. Rogan?” The clerk bit her bottom lip.

Sean attempted to smile but wasn’t sure if he pulled it off. “Thanks. I may need to talk to the person who helped Mr. Lorenzo this morning, in case I have more questions.”

She handed over a card for the shop, with a number on the back. “That’s my mom’s number. She’ll also be here tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you for your time.” Sean handed her his card. He was still fuming about Lorenzo, unable to figure out what he was up to-other than scaring Lucy-but on his way out, some long-stemmed white daisies caught his eye.

Sean turned back to the clerk. “Can I get one of those daisies in a bud vase?”

TWENTY-THREE

Lucy was silent as Sean drove back to her house. She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that Cody had sent her the flowers.

He must have followed them after church. It would also explain her intense feelings of being watched for the past couple of weeks. But they’d broken up last year! Why now? Because of Sean?

She felt ill. She’d trusted Cody-was her judgment about people that bad? How could she not know the truth when she saw Cody all the time?

She looked at the daisy in her hands and took a deep breath, doing her best to accept that Cody was stalking her.

Sean said, “The good news is that when confronted, most stalkers will sulk but stop their harassment. Lorenzo has a lot to lose; he’ll back off.”

“You’re probably right,” she said quietly.

“You going to be okay?”

“We were friends. I thought so anyway. How could I be so wrong about him?”

“This isn’t about you, Lucy, I don’t have to tell you that. It’s about him.”

In her head she understood that, but her heart told her she was an idiot to have trusted Cody for so many years. To have dated him. Slept with him. He’d been so good to her.

I will not cry.

Sean stopped his car in front of her narrow house. “Come here,” he said, taking her hand, kissing it, then kissing her lips. “We’ll fix this. I promise. I know it hurts, but you’re strong, Luce. I’ll talk to him-”

She frowned. “He’d see that as a threat and dig in his heels.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Stalkers aren’t always reasonable.”

“He gets out of line even an inch, we go to his boss. Right now, we don’t have enough. While you and I think the message was disturbing, he could argue that it was innocuous. So we put him on notice and go from there.”

“Okay.” She was still worried about Sean confronting Cody, but right now she couldn’t explain to Sean that she needed to be the one to talk to Cody about the flowers and unsettling message. She knew exactly what to say.

“Neither of us is going to let that guy intimidate you,” Sean said, then kissed her again. “You’re okay?”

“In many ways, I’m relieved it’s Cody. I know him, and while I don’t understand what he was thinking, I can handle the situation much better than an unknown variable.”

They went inside. Though she had agreed with Sean, it didn’t make sense that Cody would send her flowers, then accuse her of conspiracy to commit murder. What possessed him?

Kate was sitting by herself at the dining room table with a beer and stacks of papers in front of her. She looked up at Sean and said, “Did you find who sent the flowers?”

“Cody Lorenzo.”

Kate stared in stark disbelief. “Cody?”

“That’s what the florist said. Paid cash.”

“That fucking bastard. Dammit! I need to talk to him-”

“I am going to do that,” Sean said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kate said. “Considering …” her voice trailed off, but her eyes went to Sean and Lucy’s clasped hands.

“Kate, with all due respect, I can handle Lorenzo.”

“What about me?” Lucy said, frustrated. “This is between Cody and me. I’m not saying I’m going to do something stupid and confront him in a dark alley, but I think I need to be the one to talk to him.” Sean opened his mouth, but Lucy cut him off before he could speak. “I understand your reasons, and you’re right, except that I’ve known Cody for three years, and I can find out what’s going on.”

“You’re not seeing him alone.”

“I’ll invite him over here. You both can be in the kitchen eavesdropping, but I will talk to him. Agreed?”

Neither Sean nor Kate liked the idea, but then Kate said, “Lucy has a point. Cody has been a friend of the family for a long time.”

“Fine,” Sean relented, but didn’t sound happy.

Lucy dialed Cody’s number on her cell phone. His voicemail picked up. “Cody, it’s Lucy. Call when you get this message. It’s important.” She hung up, her stomach still unsettled. “I’m going to change,” she said. She just