27. Veronica

Chapter 27

Veronica

I typed furiously, eyes locked on the screen. The house was almost too quiet, but I didn’t mind. I preferred it this way when I was deep into something. Reed sat beside me, her knees tucked to her chest, staring at my screen like she hoped it would magically spit out an answer. We’d been at it for hours now, combing through data, message boards, and social media trails to find something—anything—about this Doug guy.

The creepy stalker who had freaked Reed out.

“I don’t get it,” Reed muttered, her voice tight with frustration. “He’s not some criminal mastermind. He’s just... normal.”

“Which makes it worse,” I replied, not looking up from my screen .

Doug Townsend appeared to be a generic everyday guy with some freakish tendencies. I’d tracked him to the hotel where Reed worked at briefly, which was an absolute dive. Not going to lie — I was pretty pissed she worked there at all, but I’d respect the fact that she wouldn’t take my money. He looked like he was a penny pincher. He drove a used car on its last legs, had a studio apartment in Las Vegas, and had traveled to Sacramento for work.

“Normal guys don’t obsessively track your every move and then buy a ticket to Arizona.”

Reed flinched, her eyes darting to me. “You found that out?”

“Yeah, babe,” I smirked, leaning back in my chair and tapping the edge of my keyboard. “Pulled up his email history. He’s not exactly careful with his security. Doesn’t even use two-factor authentication.”

Doug appeared to be pretty dumb, which was a bonus for me. He was decent-looking if you liked a guy who looked like he worked at Office Max, wore socks to bed, and collected cat fur. However, he seemed like a creep. Reed said he gave off bad vibes.

I refused to see the irony of her situation versus mine. Eli did not give bad vibes or look like he worked at Office Max. Granted, he obsessively tracked my every move and stalked me. The irony was there.

She stared at me for a moment, then laughed. “You’re terrifying, you know that?”

I shot her a grin before returning to my screen, my fingers dancing across the keys again. It was funny—this guy, Doug, was just a regular, average dude. No criminal record, no alarming past. He worked at some tedious sales job, had a membership for pears, and liked to post about his cat on Instagram. But beneath all that, you’d never suspect he’d start to follow some poor hotel worker around.

He had tracked Reed’s social media like a hawk—checking her location whenever she tagged herself anywhere, commenting on random photos with little hearts and fire emojis, but under three different accounts, two of which had female names. The kind of stuff that seemed innocent until you looked closer. And now, we’d found a one-way ticket to Phoenix. He was coming here.

I took a deep breath, trying not to let it freak me out. I clicked over to the chat window with Arabella and Calia. Our trio always had our back when it came to digging into things. Reed and I quickly filled them in on the situation .

Me: Found out Doug bought a ticket to Arizona.

Arabella: Ew, what a creep. Are you guys okay??

Calia: Wait, so he’s coming to Arizona? That’s seriously messed up.

Me: I’m looking into his digital footprint, but I’ve not found anything to show that he’s done anything like this with another girl. Nothing like that.

Calia: God, why can’t people just be normal?

Arabella: Reed? How are you holding up?

“Tell them I’m okay.” She’d been looking over my shoulder at the chat window.

Me: She says she’s fine, but I think she’s full of shit.

Reed scoffed beside me, looking over my shoulder at the text window. “I’m not full of shit. I am fine.”

Narrowing my eyes at her, I waved a hand over her face. “This isn’t fine. You’re wound all tight. You should relax.”

“Just because you’re getting laid and all relaxed doesn’t mean that the rest of us are.” She wrinkled her nose at me .

I blushed, thinking of Eli and last night. Eli definitely made sure I was relaxed, and I couldn’t wait for him to do it again.

“Ew,” she made a face but laughed. “I’m happy for you, Ronnie. He seems like he loves you.”

I was startled and then asked, “Do you think so?”

“Absolutely. He was in a panic yesterday when you were having your breathing thing, and he came with you to the airport. The way he was walking around like a bodyguard.” She fanned herself. “Why can’t I get a stalker like that.” She pouted. “I get the creepy one. It’s not fair.” She gestured towards the chat, which had piled up a little with messages.

Arabella: Did you see Reed’s Insta?

Calia: That Doug guy posted on it.

Arabella: Is your man gonna him and on his grave?

Calia: Reed? V?

Arabella: Wait, we can come there and help. Cally boo?

Calia: Sure. Ride or die.

Me: Easy there. Don’t hurt yourselves .

I was already pulling up Reed’s Instagram to see what they were talking about. Reed was scrolling through old messages on her phone, her face tight with concentration.

“Do you see anything new?” I asked.

“Not really,” she muttered. “Just the same old messages. I know you flagged his other two accounts, but look at this.” She turned her screen toward me, showing me a series of comments he’d made on her photos. Then, the most recent one caught my eye.

Doug: Arizona? I hear the sunsets are beautiful this time of year. Maybe I’ll see you there ;)

I pulled up his flight information again, checking the date and time. He was scheduled to fly in tomorrow, but I didn’t like that he’d figured out she had come to Phoenix. I still hadn’t found out how he’d done that yet.

“I don’t like this,” I said softly, my voice serious. “It’s wild that he knew you came to Arizona.”

Reed’s hands tightened on her phone. “What do we do?”

“Eli will take care of it,” I reassured her, my tone firm. “I’m going to find out where he’s staying, and we’ll set something up. ”

Me: I see the message. You guys are always welcome.

Calia: I’ve got class. Ttyl. Catch me up when I get out.

Arabella: Message me later too!

I switched tabs and began digging into his credit card history, looking for hotel bookings or rental car confirmations. It was a long shot, but Doug had been careless before—there was a chance he hadn’t covered his tracks entirely. My fingers flew across the keys as I hacked into the reservation systems.

A few minutes later, I had it. Bingo.

“He’s staying at some cheap motel outside of Phoenix,” I said, showing Reed the details. “He’s booked it for the whole week. Looks like he’s planning to stay awhile.”

She paled slightly. “So he’s coming for sure.”

I nodded. “Yeah. But don’t worry. I’m not sure he knows where you are.” I winked at her. “And we know where he is. Too bad for him.”

“You really mean that Eli or your cousins are just going to.” She made a dramatic slicing motion across her throat .

“Would that bother you?” I asked, watching her carefully. I knew Reed, had known her for years, and she ‘knew’ my family was in organized crime, but having it in your face was a different story.

“No.” Her mouth set. “I might have said differently a while ago,” she admitted. “But I talked to someone at the police station, and you know what they said?”

I could guess, but I let her tell me, watching as her shoulders slumped and tears threatened to spill over.

“They said that he hadn’t threatened me or even bothered me. I couldn’t even file a report that he had harassed me or scared me or anything, Ronnie. There was nothing I could do. I’d left my job, left my home because I was scared, and the cops did nothing.” She looked off to the side for a minute as if gathering herself. “The cop said that I was lucky,” she spat the word out. “Lucky.”

My phone buzzed on the desk. I picked it up, seeing a new text from Eli.

Eli: You find something?

Me: Just found out Doug is flying in tomorrow. Has reservations to stay at some rundown motel. Creep bought a one-way ticket here.

Eli: We’ll take care of it.

Eli: Be good.

Eli: Or don’t. I’ll punish you later like you like.

I blushed hard and put the phone down. Reed looked over, curiosity flickering in her eyes. “Eli?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Okay,” I said, sitting up straighter and focusing back on the task. “Now that we know where Doug’s staying, we’re done with that bozo.” I smacked my hands together. “It’s time for vacay. Relaxation. Let’s forget about him.”

“Really?”

“Yep. We need a strategic outline for our afternoon. Take out,” I ticked off a list. “Rom-com, and then binge shopping with Max’s credit card.” I nodded solemnly. “Let’s start with takeout. What will it be?”

“Pizza?” she asked hopefully .

“Let’s go, bestie.” Dragging her off the bed, I set off to make the most of the afternoon. If it started with pizza, that would be easy enough.