Sanctuary

police. There are laws against it. I knew a woman up in New York. Her ex-boyfriend wouldn’t leave her be, kept popping up, calling her, following her around. She lived scared for six months before they did something about it. It’s not right you should have to live scared.”
    “She knew who he was,” Jo pointed out.
    “Well, you have to figure out who this is.” Because the pictures spooked her, Lexy set them aside. “Did you break up with anybody close to the time this started?”
    “No, I haven’t been seeing anyone in particular.”
    “You don’t have to think it was in particular,” Lexy reminded her. “He has to think it. Who were you dating—even one date?”
    “Nobody.”
    “Jo, you had dinner with someone, went to a show, had a quick lunch.”
    “Not dates.”
    “Don’t be so literal. Problem with you is everything’s just black and white in your head. Just like your pictures. Even those have shades of gray, don’t they?”
    Not entirely sure if she was insulted or impressed by her sister’s analogy, Jo frowned. “I just don’t see—”
    “Exactly.” Lexy nodded. “You think up a list, then you think of another for men you turned down when they asked you out. Maybe somebody asked you a couple, three times and you figured he gave up.”
    “I’ve been busy this past year. There’s hardly anyone.”
    “That’s good. It’ll make the odds better on finding the right one.” Lexy crossed her legs, put herself into forming the plotline. “Maybe there’s someone in your building in Charlotte who tried to draw you out, make conversation when you bumped into each other in the hallway. Open your mind now,” Lexy said impatiently. “A woman knows when a man’s got an interest in her, even if she’s got none in him.”
    “I haven’t paid much attention.”
    “Well, pay attention now, and think. You’re the one who has to stay in control here. You’re not going to let him know he’s got you scared. You’re not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking he can put you in a hospital again.” She reached over, gave Jo’s shoulder a hard shake. “So you think. You’ve always been the smartest one of us. Use your head now.”
    “Let me take the wheel, Jo.” Gently, Kate pried Jo’s tensed hands away. “You sit down, take a breath.”
    “She can breathe later. Right now she’s going to think.”
    “Lexy, ease off.”
    “No.” Jo shook her head. “No, she’s right. You’re right,” she said to Lexy, taking a good long look at the sister she’d allowed herself to think of as fluff. This time what she saw was substance. “And you’re asking the right questions—ones I never thought to ask myself. When I go to the police, they’re going to ask the same ones.”
    “I expect they are.”
    “Okay.” Jo let out an unsteady breath. “Help me out.”
    “That’s what I’m doing. Let’s sit down.” She took Jo’s arm, sat with her. “Now, first think about the men.”
    “There aren’t many. I don’t draw them like bees to honey.”
    “You would if you wanted to, but that’s another problem.” Lexy waved it away with a flick of her hand. Something to be solved later. “Maybe there’s one you come into contact with regularly. You don’t pay much attention, but you see him, he sees you.”
    “The only man I see regularly is my intern. Bobby was the one who took me to the hospital. He was there when the last package came in the mail.”
    “Well, isn’t that handy?”
    Jo’s eyes widened. “Bobby? That’s ridiculous.”
    “Why? You said he was your intern. That means he’s a photographer too. He’d know how to use a camera, develop film. I bet he knew where you’d be and what your schedule was whenever you were on assignment.”
    “Of course, but—”
    “Sometimes he went with you, didn’t he?”
    “As part of his training, sure.”
    “And maybe he has a thing for you.”
    “That’s just silly. He had a little crush at first.”
    “Really?” Lexy lifted a brow. “Did you accommodate him?”
    “He’s twenty years old.”
    “So?” Lexy shrugged it off. “Okay, you didn’t sleep with him. He was a regular part of your life, he was attracted to you, he knew where you’d be, he knew your routine and he knew how to use a camera. Goes to the top of the short list, I’d say.”
    It was appalling, even more appalling than the faceless, nameless possibilities. “He took care of me. He got me to the hospital.”
    He said he hadn’t