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and in unison their heads swivelled to look at her. She grinned at them
impishly. Before the fireworks start, Ella and I are just going to go into
the house. We ve tied up the bad guys with some duct tape we found in
Jarrod s car. Once you re done, you can come inside and explain to us
why Jake s not dead and where the cut on Stephanie s face has gone.
With that, the two women walked away.
Stephanie and Jake watched them disappear with equally stunned ex-
pressions, then looked from Jarrod s body to Murray s. Sure enough,
they were trussed up like turkeys, duct tape neatly binding their arms
and legs. Finally, they looked at each other, eyes narrowed,
considering&
Jake ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Reaching out, he gently
put his hand on Stephanie s shoulder. I m sorry Steph. I guess I m still
recovering from our recent scare and I m a bit angry at myself too, but I
shouldn t be taking it out on you. If I d been home this afternoon in-
stead of trying to hunt down Jarrod on my own, you wouldn t have been
alone and found that file or gone running off.
168
His hand was warm and heavy on her shoulder, a comforting weight.
She let it rest there a moment while he spoke, but then stepped back,
suddenly unsure of how she felt. A million questions raced through her
mind. Paula was right. Why wasn t he dead? And why did he have a
complete file on her? In all the excitement, she d forgotten about that.
She was just going to ask the first of many questions, when the
screeching of tires drew her attention. Two police cars had come to rest
in front of Paula s house, little bits of debris stirring in their wake. The
officers quickly exited, took up protective positions behind the vehicles,
and drew their weapons, pointing them at Jake.
Step away from the woman and no one will get hurt. One of the of-
ficers said in an authoritative voice.
Looking from the police to Jake and back again, Stephanie started to
explain. No! There s been a mistake. She reached out to grab Jake s
hand.
Step away. The stern, uncompromising voice had Stephanie jerking
her hand back. Stay back, ma am. You re safe now. We ve got him
covered.
Slowly Jake raised his hands and Stephanie stepped back, still sputter-
ing in protest even though her words fell on deaf ears. The police cau-
tiously approached Jake, guns trained on him. After being issued orders
to kneel and to put his hands on his head, he was cuffed and dragged to
his feet.
As the police holstered their weapons, Stephanie grabbed one of the
officers by the arm, pleading with him to listen. What s going on? He
hasn t done anything wrong. Look over there, those are the bad guys.
The officer glanced towards where Jarrod and Murray lay. Other police
were now dragging them to their feet and a general sense of confusion
seemed to be filling the air. Ella and Paula had come back outside and
were now standing on the porch, watching the proceedings with
concern.
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Ma am, we ve had a report of an armed man, a possible hostage situ-
ation, and a stalker all at this address. Apparently this man, Jacob Sin-
clair has been stalking a local woman and threatening her with bodily
harm.
But that s me! I m the woman he s been stalking! She shouted in
frustration while gesturing wildly. The officer raised his eye brows and
realizing how that had sounded, she tried to back pedal. No. What I
meant was that I m the woman that was being stalked, but it wasn t this
man who was doing it. I m Stephanie Fields and the stalker is that man
over there, Jarrod Simpson, except he s been going around calling him-
self Jack Simms.
The police officer looked from Jake to Jarrod and then back at
Stephanie, obviously not sure what to make of things. Another police
car pulled up and Stephanie didn t know whether to laugh or cry when
she saw Officer Carter get out and walk over.
Frowning as he was briefed on the situation, Officer Carter scratched
his head then began to question Stephanie. Miss Fields, you left a
rather frantic message for me this afternoon, claiming that Mr. Sinclair
was the stalker. Do you care to explain that?
Stephanie stared at Jake for a moment. He seemed to be holding his
breath. After a brief pause, she responded. Did I say Jake? I guess I
was so upset that I didn t know what I was saying. I meant Jack, my
friend Paula s new boyfriend. Jarrod Simpson has been in town for the
past few months posing as Jack Simms. He struck up an acquaintance
with my friend and assistant, Paula.
And how did you determine that he was the stalker?
I, ah, recognized his voice on the answering machine.
I see. And how did you end up over here?
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Stephanie thought quickly and began to give a much edited version of
the day s events. Well, once I realized that it was Paula s boyfriend, I
hurried over to her house to warn her. After talking to her I got back in
my car and Jarrod, or Jack, was hiding in the back seat and forced me to
go to Ella s, then Jake and Paula both arrived, but Jarrod had a gun and
shot at Jake, then took us hostage and brought us back over here.
Carter raised his eye brows and Jake jumped in to continue the story.
I was actually only nicked by the bullet and a bit stunned from falling
off the porch. Once I got my wits about me, I got in Stephanie s car and
came over here, remembering that Jarrod had said he needed to get some
things from his vehicle. I found Stephanie s cell phone on the floor of
her car and called the police to meet me over here. Then I waited in the
bushes for Jarrod to arrive and managed to disarm him.
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