Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(38)
It’d be a benefit in a lot of ways. The added awareness aside, he would love to see her confidence bloom.
“It’s a good seminar. There should be one in the next weekend or two.” Alex moved to the counter Gary and Greg used as a reception desk, looking for a flyer. “They’re usually on Saturdays, but I think Forte could be convinced to give you the day off to go. Sophie attends those even if she doesn’t take regular classes.”
“I’ll think about it.”
From the way her thin brows were pinched together in a pensive expression, she was already considering. It was important, and honestly, she might have real need of it in the near future. He, Cruz, and Forte were starting to put precautions in place, but the best defense started with Elisa herself.
It was a shit reality in the current world.
His vision started to blur in a red haze. Souze stirred next to him, leaning in until the dog’s shoulder was pressed against the side of his leg. The movement and gentle pressure brought Rojas back to the present, and he decided it was a bad time to follow that line of thought.
Definitely not the time to ask her. Thus far, he’d tried to limit his questioning into her past to need-to-know items. Things that could impact the kennels or the school or Elisa’s immediate safety. The rest could come out when she decided to share, if she did.
“Gary’s computer is damned slow again. I’m going to need to come in some other time and give it some tender loving care.” Cruz cut into his thoughts. “But I’ve pulled the feeds from this afternoon and started an upload of the video file to our servers. First look was interesting, though.”
“Yeah?” Rojas got a good look at Cruz’s glowering expression and turned to see Elisa sweeping the dust she’d gathered into a dust pan. “Elisa, did you want to go upstairs and change?”
Elisa met his gaze and raised an eyebrow. “You mean go upstairs and let you two exchange information while I’m out of earshot? I’d prefer not.”
Cruz snorted. “Smooth, Rojas. Subtle.”
Rojas threw up his hands. “Okay, I’m sorry. Could you please join us over here and not be insulted if we maybe don’t phrase our exchange of information in the nicest way possible.”
Because it was a real possibility. Hell, his ex-wife had constantly picked fights with him over the tiniest details instead of focusing on the important concepts of a discussion. It got worse when she’d dragged her parents into any kind of decision-making. Cruz’s own father had been far away in Peru and had never been part of the day-to-day yelling matches between Cruz and his ex-wife, so it never made sense to Cruz the way she’d call in her parents to back her. He’d wanted to get the information from Cruz without getting hung up with someone else interjecting.
Cruz just shook his head. “It’s not encouraging news, but you should hear it eventually.”
“Then it saves time if I’m right here.” Elisa joined Rojas, leaning against the other side of the doorway and crossing her arms with a pointed look at him. “I’ll try not to jump immediately into overreaction mode until we’ve heard everything.”
Rojas winced.
Cruz brought up a video. “Well, you weren’t overreacting earlier this afternoon. This guy is definitely shady.”
The video clip showed a man walking past the car more than once and not actually entering any stores, just the way Elisa had described.
“And he is definitely messing with your car,” Cruz finished as the guy first kneeled down as if he’d dropped something and then lay down flat on the pavement, reaching underneath the car as if to retrieve it. “I want to take a closer look at this video feed on my computer at home before any of us actually go to the car.”
“Okay.” Elisa’s response was in a small voice, not frightened but definitely subdued. “What do you think he did?”
“Well, the tires didn’t look flat when we came through the parking lot tonight.” Alex rubbed his chin.
A smile tugged at Elisa’s mouth, and he looked at her askance, but she waved it away. “No flat tires is good. But what’s the worst-case scenario?”
Not everyone would want to know, but Rojas could respect her preference. He’d want to know the worst, too.
“Could be something as dangerous as an explosive if we’re talking worst case.” Cruz delivered that bit of information in a flat tone. “But not likely in such a public place, with your ex messing with you the way he has been. If your ex wants you back, he’s not going to want you back in pieces.”
Well, probably not. Some stalking scenarios did escalate to deadly situations. None of them was an expert, but it didn’t look like it’d gotten there yet. Rojas had a call in to a friend at the police department, though. Just in case.
“More likely, he placed a tracking device on your car.” Cruz finished his assessment. “Quick to install and easy to figure out where you are any time.”
“So what do we do next?” Elisa asked.
“Well, I have a police friend I want you to talk to.” Rojas watched her closely. “We’ll give this video to them, too, and file a police report.”
Her eyelids shuttered half closed, and her face went blank. After a moment, she spoke quietly. “I went to the police when I first left. They kept asking me over and over again if I was certain I wanted to file a report, apply for a restraining order. Instead of writing down what I told them, they kept offering me counseling.”