In Too Deep(24)

The two men stayed around for another five minutes, and I was just about to do a walk-by myself when they approached the register. One of them, a guy about five eight or so with a compact build bought a Pepsi, his dark eyes studying me intently while Kelly counted out the change from the five dollar bill he paid with. After taking his drink, the two left, and Kelly looked at me. "You're right, that guy was weird. Seriously, he was staring a hole into you. How'd you get into town and already have a weirdo stalker?"

"You say that like it's a good thing."





Chapter 16





Cam




When Melina told me about the two strange men, I felt a familiar yet uncomfortable feeling creep over me. I'd thought after the last time I had to send a message that it had been received. Instead, it looked like the surveillance had never gone away.

Melina said she wanted to check out places to go exercise, so while she was gone, I did some investigation. Jumping in my truck, I drove over to Winters Pharmacy. Jay was just getting off when I came in.

"Hey Cam, how was your day?"

"Good, I just realized I'd run out of toothpaste. Since I'm cooking Italian for Melina tonight, I figured I needed to get some."

"You know you could have just gone to the Dollar General close to your house," Jay said with a laugh. "Why come up here, unless you're snooping?"

He was closer to the truth than he realized. "Okay, okay, you got me. I do need the toothpaste, but I just wanted to see how things went for Melina on her first day. I mean, coming to a place like T or C from Ohio is quite a change, and I feel responsible for her."

"She did great. Honestly, my only worry is that she's going to get bored working for me. I’m going to have to come up with ways to keep her engaged," Jay said. "All right, I've got to get going. My son has Pop Warner practice right now, and I promised him I'd watch the last bit before driving him home. Take care, Cam."

"You too, Jay." I watched him get in his car and leave, then went inside. The afternoon shift clerk looked bored as I grabbed my tube of toothpaste and looked around. As I walked up to the counter, I reached into my pocket. The patch wasn't perfect, the tech was a generation old, but I doubted that Jay Winters was running the best computer systems in his pharmacy. Putting the toothpaste on the counter, I attached the patch to the side of the register. Similar in color, it wouldn't be noticed, and if it was, most people would think it was just an ordinary metallic sticker. If anyone did notice it, it’s unlikely they’d know the true purpose of it.

Going back to my truck, I pulled out my phone and tapped a specific series of buttons and apps on the home screen, activating the patch. I instructed the tiny computer chip in the patch to start hacking into Jay's computer system. Once I had that, I was certain that I'd be able to find the security camera footage that I needed.

I drove home and started dinner, just in case Jay mentioned something to Melina about me stopping by. Opening two cans of crushed tomatoes, I sliced an onion in half and started both on a low, slow heat, the onion face down to slowly caramelize and add its essence to the sauce. Once that was going, I chopped up three cloves of garlic and started that infusing in some olive oil.

I was about three-quarters of the way through my sauce when Melina came back, her face frustrated. "This town has no decent gym at all!"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so. I know there's a Curves somewhere, but that's all I'd heard about."

"And you didn't tell me?" she said. "Were you just looking for a reason to get me out of the house?"

I shrugged good-naturedly. "I wanted to get dinner on before you could object. I've been wanting to impress you with my best dish for days now."

Melina laughed and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “So what do you do to stay in shape?”

"I use the high school stuff," I said. "Job perk, I guess. If you’re really serious about it, we can go to the Walmart, they've got some home equipment. Or if you want better quality, Saturday we can go down to Las Cruces. They have some real stores, and it's only about an hour away."

"I don't have the money for a lot of stuff," Melina said, stopping when she saw my face. "What?"

I set my wooden spoon aside and wrapped my arms around her. "I'm not rich, but this isn't a problem for me. And I want you to be comfortable and happy."

Melina laid her head against my chest and hugged me. I inhaled the clean scent of her hair, my heart speeding up in my chest. "You're spoiling me,” she said.

I laughed quietly and kissed the top of her head. “You deserve it.”

"You just want to turn me into some sort of sex-crazed freak around you."

I laughed and pushed away from the countertop, picking her up. “After dinner, if that’s what you want, you have no worries there. I was thinking of all sorts of things we could try."

"Oh my."

I kissed Melina's throat, licking up the line of her pulse to the point of her jaw, cupping her ass in my hands as I nuzzled and kissed her. Setting her down, both of us were breathing quickly, her eyes dark with desire.

“If I don't stop right now, I'm going to burn dinner," I said with a regretful laugh. "Besides, we've got all night."