Page 20 of Mountain Shadow

It’s not the alarm that’s making me feel safe.

It’s him.

Ignoring her other purchases, Sarah went straight to the kitchen area to organize her new tea boxes. “Is it okay if I make a cup of tea?”

How someone could live without tea was beyond her.

“Please,” he said. “Consider this your home.”

It took her a minute to figure out what was wrong. He didn’t own a kettle.

“You can use the microwave,” he said helpfully.

Sarah groaned inside. “You can’t make tea in a microwave. That doesn’t work.”

“You can’t?” Jens looked at her intently, as if debating whether she was serious or not.

You bet your fine ass I’m serious.

“You really don’t have a kettle?”

“How about we boil some water in a pot?” he asked, his expression openly amused now.

“If I’d known you didn’t have a kettle, I would have bought a kettle, rather than those fancy walking shoes.”

“Look,” he said, turning on the tap. “You fill this with water, and put it on the stove. It’s exactly the same as a kettle.”

“Fine,” she conceded grumpily. “But only because I really want a cup of tea. Would you like one too? I make the best—”

She froze as her phone started ringing, then shook herself. Only a handful of people had this number, and her stalker wasn’t one of them.

“Hello?”

“Sarah? Thank God you picked up. It’s Joshua.”

“Joshua! How are you?” she asked. Jens was looking at her intently. “A colleague,” she mouthed.

“Not good. Listen, I don’t know where you are, and I don’t want to know. But the station was broken into last night.”

“What? How did that happen? Is everybody okay?”

“Yes, nobody was here. The police are going through the tapes to figure out what happened. But there’s no doubt this is your guy, Sarah. He left a picture of you … with a penknife through your forehead and the words ‘where are you, Sarah?’ printed neatly along the bottom.”

Sarah felt the ground beneath her shift. She would have fallen, except Jens was there, guiding her onto one of the chairs. He pressed her head gently down between her legs.

“Sarah? Are you there?” Joshua’s voice sounded so far away now. “I just thought you should know.”

“I … I’m still here,” she faltered. “Thanks for telling me, Joshua. Will you call me again if there’s any news?”

“Of course. Take care, Sarah.”

She said goodbye and cut the connection. She would have dropped the phone, except Jens took it from her and placed it on the table.

“That was my production manager, Joshua. My stalker broke into the radio station. What am I going to do?” she asked. Tears filled her eyes.

“He doesn’t know where you are, Sarah. That’s one piece of good news. But he also hasn’t given up on finding you. It’s time to call Damien, and involve the police here as well.”

Sarah nodded, knowing she couldn’t delay any longer.