you have a security system at home?”
“Yes.”
“Use it. Be aware of your surroundings at all times and take no chances with your personal safety. Do you carry a gun or Mace or—?”
“I have a small pistol that I keep in my nightstand,” Lorie said. “And I carry Mace in my purse and I’ve taken a couple of self-defense classes.”
“Put my number into your home phone speed dial and your cell phone so you can contact me instantly if you need me. At this point, I think providing twenty-four/seven private security would be premature.”
“Yeah, I think it would be.”
“If you get another letter, a phone call, sense someone following you or anything that raises a red flag in your mind, get in touch with me immediately,” Maleah told her. “In the meantime, I’ll ask for an okay from Powell’s to work on your case and then I’ll call Mike.”
Lorie stood. “Thanks, Maleah. I appreciate your doing this for me. I guess I’m lucky that you decided to stay in Dunmore for a while.”
Maleah got up and walked Lorie to the front door. She patted Lorie on the back. “Be careful, okay? But don’t worry any more than you can help. At this point we have no idea what we’re dealing with, whether the person who sent you the letters is some goofball who thinks this is funny or some nut job who gets his cookies off scaring women with threats or if we have the real thing on our hands.”
Lorie opened the front door and then paused for a moment. “The real thing being someone who is going to kill me.”
“Someone who plans to kill you,” Maleah corrected. “We won’t let that happen—you and me, the Powell Agency, and the sheriff’s department.”
After Sunday evening church services, Mike sent his kids to take their baths and get ready for bed. Tomorrow was a school day, the first day back following their spring break, which had come early this year. He’d probably have a couple of hours of alone time after he tucked his kids in, time to kick back and watch a little TV or read a few chapters in the latest David Baldacci novel. For now, he needed to load the dishwasher and set it to start in the middle of the night. Later, he’d put out plates, bowls, cups, and silverware on the kitchen table for breakfast and afterward he’d gather the clothes he needed to drop off at the cleaners in the morning.
Just as he headed for the kitchen, the doorbell rang. Who the hell? It was nearly nine o’clock. When he opened the front door, he was surprised to find Jack’s kid sister, Maleah, standing on his porch.
“Hi, Mike. Got a few minutes?” she asked.
“Sure, come on in.”
He escorted her to the living room. “Is there a problem? Something with Seth or—”
“Nothing personal. I’m fine. My nephew is fine,” Maleah told him. “I’m here on business.”
Frowning in confusion, Mike stared at her. “Explain.”
“May I sit down?”
“Sure. Please sit. Believe me, my mama taught me good manners. I just forget them sometimes.”
Maleah sat on the sofa. Mike eased down onto the wingback chair directly across from her.
“You know Lorie Hammonds, I believe,” Maleah said.
Mike nodded. His gut tightened.
“She has hired me, as a representative of the Powell Agency, to investigate two threats made on her life.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“No, I’m quite serious.”
“Don’t tell me the Women for Christian Morality folks are after her again. Believe me, those ladies are harmless.”
“I’m not familiar with that group, but I doubt they’re involved in this situation. Lorie has received two letters, one a month ago and a second this weekend. Both letters were identical, both were death threats.”
“Did you see the letters?”
Maleah nodded. “Yes, one of them, the most recent. Unfortunately, she threw the first one away thinking it was a crank letter.”
“Hmm…I wouldn’t take anything Ms. Hammonds says too seriously. She tends to be melodramatic sometimes. Actually,