STALKING ANDI

A jacket tossed over his shoulder, Luke followed Andi onto the porch and yanked the door shut. “What’s that?” he asked in a tight voice.

“What?”

He was staring at the willow wreath she’d hung on the door, his willow wreath. Her heart clutched as she saw him gingerly pluck a white card from the ring of sticks.

“Another note?” he asked and her heart went cold. All the happiness she’d felt seconds earlier, the fantasies had shriveled.

Carefully, just touching the edges, he turned the card over.

Little birds should be careful whom they choose as a mate. Tsk, tsk. There is no such thing as faithfulness. Be careful. Seabirds can die, too.

Andi started quaking, deep inside. “What is this? Why are they doing this?”

“To scare you,” he said grimly.

She shook her head.

“Our note writer is threatened by me,” he observed. “Not sure what he means about being faithless. Maybe he thinks our relationship has gone on longer than it has.”

“All this about birds. Trini and me ... and now seabirds?”

“Some kind of clue,” Luke said.

“It’s getting personal and he’s pissing me off.” That was true. The shivering inside her body, the fear, was morphing into anger. She was furious about what had happened to Trini, about her brother’s involvement, about creeping around and trying to terrorize her and now ... now bringing Luke into his sick, twisted game . . .