Page 61 of The Stalker Snafu

“I thought you already had months to do it?” I asked, urging myself to write a new diary entry detailing the events of last night, but my hand didn’t want to move.

I wasn’t even sure where Noah and I stood.

Were we broken up now?

That thought sent a wave of nausea through me, and I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I’d face Noah later.

Teresa grumbled as she tapped a few keys harder than necessary. “It’s the principle of the matter. Now I’ll be thinking about serial killers and child predators while passing the gravy to my abuela.”

That didn’t sound appealing.

“Have you picked a criminal to focus on yet?” I asked, hoping this would get my mind off a certain lying dirtbag who gifted beautiful pens to his gullible girlfriend.

“Of course not! There are literally thousands of creeps and psychos out there. How am I supposed to choose just one?”

I thought it over, unable to stop myself from turning the pen and tracing Noah’s engraving. “Well, you’re supposed to be focusing on the super smart ones, right?”

“That’s what Professor Davidson said she wanted.”

“Then search for the greatest heists or serial killers of all time and see who pops up.”

Teresa hummed before snapping her fingers. “Better yet, I’ll just check in with the FBI to see who’s at large right now. They must be good if they haven’t been caught yet, and there’s nothing cooler than writing about current events in the criminal world, right?”

I could think of a few things. But I nodded like I agreed with her, tucking Henrietta back into my diary and slamming it shut. I wouldn’t think about pens or engravings or lying boyfriends right now. I wouldn’t think about our fight last night or how I’d probably lost my job. And most importantly, I wouldn’t think about why Noah hadn’t texted me yet.

I’d told him to leave me alone. That was on me.

So, I stuffed the diary into my bookbag—out of sight, out of mind—and focused on Teresa and her homework. “There’s probably less information about current ones. You need someone who’ll give you fifteen pages’ worth of subject matter.”

“Don’t underestimate my ability to BS papers,” Teresa said as she typed. “Right now, all I need is a name and a crime.”

I nodded distractedly and lifted Mr. Elephant onto my belly, wondering if it was time to get him a lady friend.

Teresa sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh my God. Em?”

“Hmm?”

I could call the lady friend Ellie, and then maybe she’d be Mrs. Elephant one day. Mrs. Ellie Elephant.

Teresa didn’t say anything more, and when I glanced over at her bed, she was as pale as a ghost. I sat up and set Mr. Elephant aside. “What’s wrong, Teresa?”

“This can’t be real,” she whispered, jerking the laptop closer and blinking at the screen. “What the hell am I looking at?”

A string tugged at my gut. “Spit it out.”

She looked over at me, dumbstruck. “Did you know your boyfriend is on the FBI Most Wanted List?”

My heart skidded to a stop before jumping back into a gear twice as fast. I blinked back at her, until the reality of what she’d said sank in and I snorted a laugh. “Very funny, Teresa. You’re hilarious.”

She grabbed her laptop and practically flew across the room before crashing down next to me. She pointed a shaking finger at the screen, right at a small grainy picture of Noah Kincaid’s unsmiling face. It was taken from an angle, but there was no doubt in my mind it was Noah.

I double-checked the website address, but it looked legitimate. All I could do was stare.

“The website says his listing was added today,” Teresa whispered, using the trackpad to zoom in on my boyfriend’s face. “At close to four in the morning.”

The picture was definitely Noah. I checked the website address again, but it was the same.

“What did he do?” I asked robotically, unsure where to even start. What to think. What to do. “He was just here.”