Yuletide Stalker Read online

  “I doubt she was bored,” Linc said with a fond look at Maddie, who lay on her side, her hand under her right cheek. “She’s tired. We were up late last night, and she got up early this morning to help prepare dinner. Don’t wake her.”

  He waved the Kingsburys on their way, locked the door and returned to the living room. Stopping by the couch, he looked down at Maddie. What was he going to do about her?

  “Maddie,” he said, and when she continued to sleep, he touched her shoulder and shook her gently. She sighed deeply and turned on her back. He decided to leave her where she was, and went to the closet under the stairway and brought a blanket. When he spread it over her, Maddie opened her eyes and stretched. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the empty room.

  “Have Ahonui and Steve gone? That wasn’t polite of me to go to sleep. I’m sorry.”

  “No need to be. I’m sleepy, too.” He took her hand to lift her off the couch. She caught her feet in the blanket and stumbled against him. His arms closed around her waist.

  “Sorry I’m so clumsy,” she said, kicking her feet free of the blanket. When his hold tightened around her waist, Maddie lifted her eyes to his. Throwing caution to the wind, he kissed her.

  “I hope you didn’t mind,” he whispered.

  She shook her head, and the fine strands of her hair swirled over his shoulders. “I didn’t mind at all,” she answered softly. “It made my Christmas complete.”

  He kissed her again and this time she responded with intensity. Linc quickly scanned his future—a future he couldn’t envision without Maddie. Why was he reluctant to tell her he loved her? Would he be taking advantage of her to ask her to marry him at his age? And if she said yes, would he always wonder if she’d married him out of gratitude? Still, he reasoned, the way she responded to his caresses was more than gratitude.

  Linc told himself that he was acting like a love-struck teenage boy when he didn’t want to go to work after the Christmas break. He had ten days with Maddie before she went home, and he had to force himself to leave her. Should he tell her how he felt about her and ask her to stay? But in a few weeks time, it was too soon to expect Maddie to make a decision about marrying him. When she had no family to advise her, would he be taking advantage of her youth if he proposed to her?

  Since he had no justifiable excuse, he went to the office the day after Christmas and immersed himself in some work that had to be completed before the first of the year. He had turned off his computer and was locking his desk ready to go home to Maddie when the phone rang. He was ready to leave his office, when Ahonui spoke over the intercom.

  “There’s a man on the line. He won’t give a name, but he says he has an urgent message for you.”

  “All right,” Linc said impatiently. He walked back to his desk and pushed the talk button on his phone.

  A guttural voice said, “Don’t think she can hide behind you. If we need to, we’ll remove you, then take our quarry.”

  The caller hung up, and Linc slumped against the desk, still holding the phone in his hand, too stunned to move. The voice had seemed disguised to him. He wasn’t sure whether the caller was a man or a woman.

  Ahonui came in immediately and looked at him—a strange, excited light in her eyes. He tried to compose his features, wondering if she’d listened in on the call. He didn’t want this warning to be circulated around the office.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked.

  “Yes. Is there anything else needing my attention before I go home?”

  “No. I’ve been wanting to take Maddie to lunch or dinner before she leaves Hawaii. How much longer will she be here?”

  “Her return flight is scheduled for the fourth of January. I have several things planned for her, but I’ll tell her about your invitation.”

  With this further threat against Maddie, he’d have to guard her more closely. He wasn’t sure that Ahonui would be able to protect her. Maybe he should just stay away from the office and watch her.

  He sensed Ahonui’s eyes boring into his back as he left the office, and he wondered if she’d listened to the phone call.

  In the car, Linc used his cell phone to call Detective Warren. When he told her about the call, she said, “I’ll try to trace it, but chances are, it came from a pay phone. There’s little hope of finding the caller if that’s the case, but we’re keeping our eyes on the Sanale family living in Honolulu. I’ll be in touch.”

  Although Linc usually obeyed the traffic laws to the letter, his foot pressed heavier and heavier on the accelerator the nearer he came to home. He considered himself a sensible man, so why did he keep having these horrible images of Maddie in danger? Had she been kidnapped already? Short of sending her home, which he couldn’t bear to think of, what could he do to keep her safe? He was driving twenty miles over the speed limit when he reached the driveway to his house. He turned off the highway so quickly that the car tilted and almost overturned.

  Shaking his head, he slowed to a reasonable speed. He didn’t bother to put the car in the garage when he reached the house but stopped in front of the veranda. He switched off the engine and jumped out of the car in one swift movement. The front door stood open and he hit the floor of the living room in a run.

  “Maddie! Where are you?” he called as he ran through the downstairs.

  Bounding up the stairs, he called, “Roselina. Maddie. Where are you?”

  Roselina wouldn’t go away and leave the house open unless it was an emergency. He stepped into Maddie’s room and surveyed the beach front. A blanket was spread out on the sand, but he couldn’t see Maddie. Had she been sunbathing and someone had taken her?

  He ran from the house, but his heart was pounding in his chest. Gasping for breath, he slowed his steps to a brisk walk toward the beach. She wasn’t on the blanket. He reached in his pocket for his cell phone to call the police when he heard Roselina’s voice.

  “What are you doing home so early, Mr. Linc? We hoped to surprise you.”

  He turned and went limp with relief. A table and grill had been set up in a small grove of palm trees that had blocked his view. Roselina walked from the guesthouse with a tray of meat and cooking utensils. Maddie was behind her carrying hamburger buns.

  The two women stared at him in alarm, and he realized his appearance must be frightening. Maddie rushed to his side. “What’s wrong?”

  He hugged her in a tight embrace that lifted her feet from the ground.

  “Thank God,” he said, and he felt tears running down his face. His arms tightened. Only when he held her in his arms was he convinced she was safe!

  Pounding him on the back, Roselina said, “Put her down, Mr. Linc. You’re squashing her, as well as the hamburger buns.”

  “Sorry,” he said, releasing Maddie. She tossed the mashed rolls toward the table and took hold of his hand. She sat beside him when he slumped down on the sand.

  “What has happened?” Maddie insisted as she wiped the tears from his face with a napkin.

  “I received a threatening phone call about you just as I was leaving work. I rushed home, and when I couldn’t find either of you, and the house was open, I thought you’d been taken.”

  “What kind of message?”

  “Something to the effect that I couldn’t hide you all the time.” His hands were shaking, and he bowed his head on his flexed knees. Maddie rubbed his bent shoulders.

  “I’m all right, so try to forget it.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t forget it. We’re dealing with a predator who has a warped mind. I don’t know how to keep you safe.”

  Maddie was more concerned about Linc than her own safety at the moment. “I should have gone home when you asked me to.”

  He shook his head. “I would worry even more not to be able to check on you. I have work that has to be completed before the end of the year which will take a couple of days for me to finish. After that, I’ll stay home to look after you. I’m so upset now I can’t think what to do, but I�
�ll come up with something.”

  “‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble,’” Maddie quoted one of her favorite Scripture passages. “God will look after me.”

  TEN

  Linc forced himself to go to work the next day, after warning Roselina to be on guard, and to keep the doors locked.

  “I’ll watch over her the best I can, Mr. Linc. You’ll have to get hold of yourself.”

  Linc hadn’t forgotten his training with firearms in the navy. On his way to work, he stopped at the police station and got permission to carry a gun.

  Maddie felt like a prisoner because Linc had told her not to leave the house, but she didn’t want to cause him any concern. She settled down in his office and tried to organize the materials she found in the library.

  The phone rang around midmorning. When Maddie saw on the Caller ID that it was the corporate offices of Carey Enterprises, she answered.

  After a brief greeting, Ahonui said, “Linc received a threatening phone call yesterday.”

  “I know. He told me about it.”

  Ahonui didn’t respond for several seconds. “Oh, he did! And you’re still in his house! Aren’t you concerned about his safety?”

  “Linc’s safety! I thought I was the one who was threatened. He didn’t say anything about a threat to him.”

  “Naturally, he wouldn’t, and I don’t want you to tell anyone that I warned you, or I’ll be in danger, too. The caller threatened Linc’s life if he continues to harbor you. For your own good, as well as Linc’s, you should go home.”

  Maddie’s mouth was so dry she couldn’t speak, and she hung up without answering. She didn’t want to risk Linc’s life. What should she do? What could she do?

  She wondered briefly if this was something Ahonui had trumped up just to get rid of her. Maddie could hardly believe that Ahonui could be jealous of her, but Linc had been very attentive to Maddie when the Kingsburys had visited on Christmas Day. But she had to admit that she had never detected anything more than friendship between them.

  Roselina had been sweeping the veranda, and she hadn’t heard the phone, so Maddie didn’t have to explain about the caller. If Linc was threatened, Roselina could also be harmed for helping her so she was on her own in this decision.

  Linc didn’t come home for the evening meal, for he had to attend a Chamber of Commerce dinner. After Roselina and Maddie shared a quiet dinner, Maddie went to her room to pray and seek God’s guidance. Even if she didn’t want to go home, she couldn’t live in Linc’s house any longer. That posed a problem, for she didn’t have enough money to stay any length of time in a hotel. And would it even be safe for her to be alone?

  But as she prayed, Maddie realized that she was never alone, for God was with her. She asked for some tangible assurance that He was watching over her. She picked up her Bible and it fell open at the thirty-second Psalm. She scanned the verses, accepting the message God had for her.

  The Psalmist had acknowledged,

  You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

  And God had answered,

  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

  Maddie didn’t doubt that this was God’s promise to her at this time. But, God, which way should I go?

  While she waited for God’s answer, Maddie remembered the example of Gideon in the Old Testament.

  God had called Gideon to command an attack on the enemies of the Israelites. Because his family was insignificant, Gideon couldn’t believe that God had asked him to undertake a task that he believed was doomed for failure. When God persisted, Gideon assembled an army, but he still wondered if he’d misinterpreted God’s message.

  Maddie opened her Bible to the book of Judges and read Gideon’s words to God.

  If You will save Israel by my hand as You have promised—look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that You will save Israel by my hand as You said.

  The next morning, Gideon squeezed a bowlful of water out of the fleece. Still unsatisfied, Gideon put God to the test again. He laid the fleece out once more and asked God for one further assurance. The second night Gideon prayed that the fleece would be dry and the grass wet. When this happened, Gideon knew that God had indeed spoken to him, and he led his army to victory over the enemies of the Israelites.

  God, my request is simple—please put the answer in my mind while I sleep so I’ll know what to do when I wake up in the morning.

  Maddie turned off the light and snuggled beneath the soft blanket believing that the next day she’d have the answer. She hadn’t gone to sleep when Linc came home, and when he tapped lightly on her door, she answered and assured him that she was all right.

  Of course, Maddie thought even before she opened her eyes the next morning. Stella Oliver, Miss Caroline’s friend. Before she’d started to Hawaii, she had promised Miss Caroline that she would visit her friend, but in all the excitement of Christmas, the promise had slipped her mind.

  Stella Oliver, who operated a facility much like VOH in Honolulu, would be able to advise her on what to do. Since God had provided the answer, Maddie believed He would also guide her in getting in touch with Mrs. Oliver.

  Roselina had some medical tests to take that day, and she was concerned that she shouldn’t leave Maddie alone. She insisted that Maddie should go with her, but when Linc was consulted, he thought that Maddie would be safer at his home with all the doors and windows locked.

  “I’ll be all right,” Maddie assured her when Roselina was ready to leave. “I have plenty of things to do. Lock all of the doors, and I’ll be all right.”

  Maddie had already looked up the telephone number of Open Arms Shelter, the facility where Stella Oliver worked. When Roselina’s car was out of sight, she called Stella.

  As soon as she identified herself, Stella said, “Oh, yes. In her Christmas letter, Caroline indicated that you’d be calling. When are you coming by to see me?”

  Roselina didn’t expect to return until late afternoon, and Maddie believed she could visit Stella and be home without Roselina or Linc knowing about it. She hated to deceive these two people who had been so kind to her, but she was doing it for their own safety.

  When she asked for directions, Stella said, “I’ll send our van after you. We’re located in a dangerous section of town, and I don’t want you riding the bus or in a taxi.”

  As best she could, Maddie explained how to reach Linc’s home, and within an hour the van from Open Arms Shelter arrived at the door. She took the spare key from Linc’s office and locked the door behind her. The bus driver was a taciturn man, which suited Maddie’s mood. During the hour’s drive she fretted about how angry and worried Linc would be if he came home and found her gone.

  The location of Open Arms Shelter in no way compared to the Valley of Hope, which was located in an alpine valley. VOH consisted of twenty or more brick buildings situated among well-kept lawns. Open Arms Shelter was in a four-story brick building surrounded by decrepit warehouses, many of them vacant. Maddie saw several apartment houses on the street. The shelter fronted on the sidewalk. Although appalled at the surroundings, Maddie conceded that the inhabitants of this section of town certainly needed a place of refuge.

  She was admitted through a bolted door into a narrow hallway, where Stella was on hand to meet her. She invited Maddie to her office on the second floor. Stella Oliver looked nothing like Miss Caroline, but Maddie felt the same confidence in Stella’s presence that Miss Caroline had always instilled in her.

  Stella was probably ten years younger than Miss Caroline. Her hair was dark brown with only a few wisps of gray, while Miss Caroline’s was totally white. Caroline was a small woman. Stella was tall and angular. The problems of their residents seemed to have left an indelible path on each of their wrinkled faces. Stella’s
eyes were dark brown and Miss Caroline’s were a brilliant blue, but each woman’s eyes expressed the compassion and love in her heart.

  “And how do you like our state?” Stella asked when she assured herself that Maddie was comfortably seated.

  “Very well, until the past few days. I hesitate to bother you with my troubles, but I do need some guidance. I can only stay a short time, so I’ll get to the point right away. Since you know Miss Caroline, I thought I could come to you.”

  “Of course you can. Caroline speaks highly of you, and I know she’d want me to help you. But I can’t imagine why you would be having trouble in Hawaii.”

  “Did you see the notice in the paper a few weeks ago about the investigation into the death of Stanley Horton ten years ago?”

  “I believe I heard something about it on television or radio.” Stella peered closely at Maddie, her eyes questioning.

  “Stanley Horton was my father. Lincoln Carey, a close friend of my father, is the one who invited me to visit him in Hawaii.”

  “Yes, Caroline mentioned that.”

  Continuing with the escape of the two men involved in the possible murder of her father until Linc’s threatening telephone call, Maddie told Stella about the frightening incidents she had encountered.

  “It’s troubling me that I’m putting Linc in danger by staying at his house, but it will be useless for me to go back home until I know the outcome of the investigation of Daddy’s death. With all of this on my mind, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on my studies at all.”

  “I can see why this would be a problem to you,” Stella agreed. “What can I do to help?”

  “Let me take refuge at Open Arms Shelter for a few weeks. I’ll be willing to work to pay for my keep.”

  “We can always use volunteer work, so that wouldn’t be a problem, and you’re welcome to stay here. But I wonder if this area is safe for you, either.”

  “Not even if I stayed inside all the time.”

  “This is a rough neighborhood, and the man who’s threatening you might be hiding in this area,” Stella said. “Open Arms Shelter was organized for abused children and teenage girls. It’s sort of like a halfway house. They stay here until the welfare representatives can find homes for them, so we have different people in and out almost every day. It will be easy for them to innocently mention you, and your enemies would soon learn where you’re living. However, you’re welcome to come, but shouldn’t Mr. Carey know where you are?”