080

I was still asleep when Jolene rang the doorbell the following morning. It took me awhile to put something on and open the door. As soon as I did, Jolene rushed through the door and hugged me in a fierce embrace.

"I'm so sorry, Brooke. I'm so sorry we didn't catch the bastard before."

"He knows I've hired you."

"How does he know?" Jolene asked. "Was he following you?"

"It's partly my fault. After he had sex with me Saturday, he watched my signal from the plug and saw I went to your business address. He cross checked the address with tenants and saw a private detective service was one of the tenants. When I asked him how he found me yesterday after I left the other plug at home, he told me I was a clever girl for figuring out I was tracked by it, or was it the detective agency I hired. I didn't realize he was testing me and blurted out, how did he know. So when he asked, I confirmed it for him."

"Even the fact he suspected, caused him to be cautious. It's why he's doing things like surprising you and changing vehicles and license plates. He figured you're being watched. He's a slick bastard; I'll give him that. I'm sorry, Brooke. To catch this guy, we need to establish full daytime surveillance on you. He's being too coy."

"I won't be wearing a tracking device anymore. The plugs served his primary purpose and I threw them away."

"That certainly helps," Jolene said, "but our office is so far away, and with him knowing we're the ones helping you, it means he'll know how long it will take us to respond. Even given you've the opportunity to call or text, and you didn't yesterday, he knows how long he's got with you before we can get anyone there. If you're home, he's got 45-60 minutes alone with you depending on traffic. He can do what he wants and leave before we can respond."

"How long a drive is it between your office and Shizuko's house?" I asked.

"Are you going to be there every day?"

"All except the weekends. I'm modeling for her. It was my plan to get out of the house."

Jolene checked her phones map application. "Twenty to twenty five minutes, but he knows it too. He has the same capability to check a map and see how long it takes. As long as he keeps his attacks under that time limit, we can't get there fast enough."

"Let's give it a try, anyway. None of his attacks have lasted that quickly. He wants to drive home my helplessness, my sluttiness. All of his previous attacks lasted longer. I can keep an eye out for vans and let you know if I see one outside Shizuko's before I leave the house. I'd like to have some money left in my account if I can help it."

"I understand. Okay, we'll give it a shot."

She hugged me once more and left.