If you haven’t read Chapter One, it started here.
Chapter Two
Riley considered shooting himself in the foot. Just to spice things up a little.
He returned to Madeline Cooper’s house at six in the morning. While it shouldn’t have, finding the lights on at the house when he arrived surprised Riley.
Madeline had seen him the day before parked across the street from her house. Today, Riley decided to wait down a side street. He had a view of her driveway and the front walk. He'd see her whether she left the house in her SUV or on foot.
The precaution was probably unnecessary. She saw him on her jog, but made no indication his sitting there was out of the ordinary. And she couldn’t have noticed him at the pizza restaurant the night before.
Still, he was far from careful yesterday. She could have very easily questioned him. He’d prepared for those questions, but a woman alone could be unpredictable. She might not have believed his cover story. The possibility she wouldn’t approach him and just call the police remained her most likely reaction. He definitely didn’t want to deal with the Charleston cops right now, although he would have given anything for something to break up the monotony of the morning.
He looked down at the pad on his clipboard.
7:00AM – left in Expedition with children.
7:15AM – arrived at Elk Valley Elementary School.
7:40AM – arrived at Harris Teeter grocery store. Spent approx. forty-five minutes in store.
Riley smiled. He had enjoyed watching Madeline load her groceries into her Expedition. She talked to herself. More specifically, she looked like she scolded herself for something.
Maybe suburbia is getting to her too. “I certainly talk to myself more now than I did.”
He looked back at the clipboard and sighed as he read the last entry.
8:50AM – returned home.
He looked at the clock on his car radio, ten o’clock. “And still no activity,” he said and started a new doodle on his pad.
This can't last. He'd only watched this woman for one day, but Riley knew when someone was up to no good and Madeline wasn’t. His best hope for ending this early would be for Tanner to turn something up on his background search. Riley’s gut told him Tanner wouldn’t find much. But if he were lucky, he’d find something Riley could use to convince Anthony Peretti to back off the woman.
***
Maddie looked for the Acura as she left to take the kids to school. The car wasn’t parked in front of the Hamilton’s and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maddie chided herself. Her imagination ran away with her yesterday. It had been nothing.
“How many more days ‘til we see daddy?” Casey asked from the backseat on the ride to school.
“Two.”
“Two more days, Sarah!”
“Will we see Grandma and Papa Earl?” Sarah asked.
“I’m sure you will.”
“I hope we can go to the zoo,” Sarah said.
“I want to go swimming.”
“I can’t wait to see daddy.”
“Me too.”
She tried to drown out the kids’ excited chatter with her own chant. They deserve to know their father. Tears stung her eyes. She blinked furiously to relieve the burning of the tears and push them down where they wouldn’t be seen. She blocked out the kids’ voices while she fought to regain her control. She refused to allow Sarah and Casey to see her cry.
After leaving the school, she headed to the grocery store. She deserved to indulge and wanted to pick up the ingredients for a chocolate cake.
On the way to her truck, she saw him. It surprised her so much she nearly dropped her eggs, which really pissed her off. How did he follow her without her knowing?
“Why the Hell didn’t I see you sooner? What do you want from me?” She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep, calming breath. She actually talked to herself in the middle of the parking lot.
“At least wait until you’re in the house.”
She sped back home, terribly flustered over the man several cars behind her. What was she going to do? She contemplated her options while she unloaded her groceries.
Kelly’s suggestion to call the police came to mind. It certainly made sense, but the man hadn’t broken any laws. The keystone copes had a very narrow view of what constituted stalking. Her search online showed only a few parking and speeding tickets, but they weren’t outstanding - the fines had been paid. Nothing else, no reason the police would do any more than placate the “hysterical little lady.”
You could walk out there and confront him, she thought, lugging the last bag into the kitchen.
She mulled the idea over. It would let the guy know she was on to him. He might back off. She also could find out the reason he was out there or, at the very least, maybe verify that Robert was behind this. But, it was dangerous to blindly approach someone like that.
Her other option would be to call John, her childhood friend’s brother. She grew up with Kelly Sharpe and her older brother had adopted her as his little sister. Up until he left for the Navy, he’d protected Maddie as fiercely as he had Kelly.
Problem was John subscribed to the BFI method of dealing with problems. Brute force and ignorance. If this guy did work for Robert she’d be better off handling him with finesse than with John.
She finished with the groceries and headed for her study. She glanced at the paperwork piled on her desk. She should sit down and work. The case was so close to breaking wide open. Instead she moved to the windows. No sign of the car on her street.
“Where are you?”
She headed upstairs, grabbing a stack of newly folded clothes on her way. First she looked through the windows in Sarah’s bedroom. It was directly above her office and had the advantage of the bay-style windows around a curved, turret style wall. From this room she had a better view of the side road. Finally she spotted the object of her quest.
What to do with it? The question rang in her head and she pushed her fingers through her long hair. She would get nothing done until she found out as much as she could.
She left through the back of the house. She’d take the long route and perhaps keep the element of surprise on her side. If she could keep him off balance she just might get something of use to figure out what’s going on.
7:13:58 PM 
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