Gwen nodded. “I didn’t think to carry it with me.”
He pulled off the highway and onto the street leading to the Malibu estate. “A Taser fits inside a purse. It’s legal for you to carry.”
“One of those electric zapper things?”
A rare chuckle rose in his throat. “Yes. One of those.”
She smiled at him and damn if he didn’t want to melt into that smile and forget every awful thing about his life.
“Do you have one?”
“No.” He didn’t need one. “But I’ll get one for you.”
“That would be lovely, Neil.”
Only a lady would say a Taser as a gift was lovely.
Neil parked behind Gwen’s car. He placed the larger revolver she liked the most inside her trunk along with an extra box of ammo.
She opened the door, and tossed her purse inside. “Thank you, for today. I feel better knowing I have the proper weapon.”
He liked the ivory tower idea better. “You’re welcome.”
Neil stepped away from the car, intending to give her room to drive away.
“Oh…uhm, the alarm on the house?”
“Yes?”
“All the doors and downstairs windows have to be closed in order for it to set properly, right?”
He paused. Stepped closer. “That’s right.”
“Don’t freak out,” she warned him.
When a woman suggested he not “freak out,” it meant he had reason to.
He lifted his hands in the air and forced the tension away from his shoulders.
“OK…well, I found the back door opened, just a little bit, when I woke up the other day. The alarm said it was engaged.”
“The alarm won’t set if a door is open.”
“That’s what I thought. With all the interference lately, I thought I should mention it.”
“Are you sure the alarm was armed?”
“Positive. I checked it twice. Though I think the cameras and outside motion detectors are overkill, I do think a home alarm is wise.”
“Did you set it before you came over today?”
“I did.”
He fished his cell phone from his pocket, clicked on his mobile app of her home. “Karen’s not home?”
“No.”
The alarm said it was set, and the cameras didn’t indicate any issues. He didn’t like it. Any of it.
“I’m coming over.”
Surprisingly, Gwen didn’t argue.
“I have a few errands to run,” she told him. “Do you mind looking into it without me there?”
He preferred it, actually. The distraction of her being there might make him miss something. “Not a problem.”
“Thank you,” Gwen said as she drove away.
Yet the farther Gwen drove away from him, away from the safety he knew he could provide, the less control he felt.
He hated a lack of control. Made him weak.
“So Blondie has a gun,” the man said to himself as he witnessed the two leave the range.
His camera recorded them, found the subtleties of their behavior that he would analyze later.
MacBain wasn’t acting alarmed. Didn’t even realize he was being watched.
“You’re slipping, dude.”
He doubled around to his perch above the Malibu house and watched as she left alone.
He knew, without a doubt, that she hadn’t mentioned the dead bird in her conversation with Neil.
If she had, he would never have let her leave.
Time to up the ante.
Kenny Sands, the owner of Parkview Securities, met Neil at the Tarzana house.
“This doesn’t make sense.” Ken stated the obvious.
Neil had run test after test. Sure enough, the back door no longer tripped the alarm. Yet when on a chime mode, a feature that let the homeowner know when a door or window was being opened, it made noise.
“There’s been an unusual amount of noise in the backyard motion detectors, too. I thought I fixed it last week, but it seems to light up anytime the neighbors use their hot tub.”
“That shouldn’t affect it.” Kenny picked up his cell phone. “Hi, Jane. I need you to send a team to 5420 Cherry Lane.” He paused. “No, have them bring a full truck. We’re replacing the wiring to the back door.”
Neil moved into the backyard, looked around, and found nothing out of place. He walked to the back fence and looked over to the other side. There was a base around a Jacuzzi complete with a small bar set up. Lucky for him the naked neighbors liked to tub in the dark.
It was midday.
He glanced up at the second story of Gwen’s home and noticed an open window.
Neil walked into Karen’s unusually warm bedroom. He moved through it to the window and tugged it closed. The view to the naked neighbors wasn’t ideal from this perch so he moved to the next room over.
Gwen’s room was filled with soft colors and plush textures. Feminine, just like the woman. The space smelled like her too.
He peeked out the window. “Nice naked view.” He’d laugh if it weren’t screwing with his surveillance.
Something flashed in the corner of his eye. He looked beyond the houses to the hillside that separated Tarzana from Woodland Hills. It was one of the nice features of the location of the house. There was one row of houses behind Gwen, and then a park.
For Neil, it was both a blessing and a pain. A blessing that there were fewer neighbors, a pain because anyone could be hiding in the acres of brush.