Hard Case V: Blood and Fear (A John Harding Novel Book 5) by Bernard Lee DeLeo Page B

I can’t have this – strangers invading my house. Like Pam said, I’ll be dead or in prison without solving anything.”
    “How old is Callie by the way?”
    Doug took a deep breath. “She’s a senior, and just turned eighteen as she reminds us in every second sentence. Callie will protest everything I do, but Pam and I will make sure she understands the danger we’re in. It’s not her fault, but I can’t risk someone burning our damn house down, or kidnapping Callie when they get frustrated.”
    Amen to that. “I will pursue this until I have your answers, Doug. If it’s a simple overzealous ex, we’ll let the police handle it from there. They’ll warn him off while you and I keep a lookout for him here. If it’s more complicated, I’ll bring my team in on it. I’ll call you tomorrow with how well I do.”
    Doug nodded complacently. Pam waved and led her husband away toward their house without another word.
    “Damn, John… apparently all those blows to your thick skull haven’t short circuited your reasoning ability,” Della prodded me.
    “I have a job to do, Mrs. Sparks,” I replied, complete with dusting off my shoulders comically. “I’d suggest you stay inside, and mind your own business. I’ll be walking your twins and Al into school tomorrow as always. They will be safe or I will be dead.”
    Della gripped my arm. “I know that, John. I could tell on your features that guy going into Doug and Pam’s house put you on the scent big time. Has Darin been walking with you too? I’m worried about that boy.”
    “He does sometimes, but he’s in his last year at this level. Although he gets a kick out of walking with us, he doesn’t do so on a regular basis. He’s been great since Terry Nelson disappeared.”
    Della reached up to pat my face. “Yeah… Terry Nelson disappeared alright. They haven’t found him in any landfills, so I expect you had to place him somewhere he wouldn’t be found.”
    Damn it! See, this cloak and dagger stuff only works to a certain extent before something gets noticed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Della. Terry’s probably on a beach somewhere drinking Mai Tai’s, and getting wasted.”
    Della snorted while turning to her house. “Yeah, I’ll bet that’s where Terry is. Goodnight you two. I’ll have the twins ready in the morning.”
    Lora leaned into me as we negotiated the walk to our door. “I hope the stalker thing is something simple. You have allowed your downtime to die again.”
    “We can’t have guys running around in our houses when we’re not there. If I get a good ID of him on our security cam recording, I’ll turn him over to the police. I want to see for myself whether this is an overzealous boyfriend, or perhaps Callie played around in the wrong sandbox on the Internet.”
    “Doug is a little intense.”
    “I’ll get something to eat while I go over my cam feeds, and find out if maybe Doug needs to be worried.” Al met us at the door. “Hey Al, how do you like the two high school girls across the street?”
    “The younger one, Nadine, is nice. The older sister is a stoner. She usually has the redeye express going whenever I see her. Is she in trouble?” Al followed me toward the kitchen. Lora motioned me down, showing me the plate she had ready for heating.
    I angled my satellite laptop where I wanted it, and tapped into my security feed. I let Al cycle through the hours I suspected on screen while I forked food into my mouth. The break in happened during the nearly two hours Pam was at the grocery store from noon to two.
    “There he is.” Al pointed at the left screen. “He’s staying real close to the houses. He moves like you and your guys do… real quick like… and then stops in between, sensing movement.”
    He sure does. “Good eye. Back it up a moment to where he comes into view. Then let’s get a frame by frame from there. He wore a hoodie, but his face isn’t covered. Watch for any turn toward our