Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

too big of a coincidence that someone shows up, watching the house and starting small fires just to pass to the time, and he not be the man responsible for the things that have happened to you.”
    “But it doesn’t make any sense. What could I have done at thirteen to make him hate me so much that he was willing to kill people?”
    “It doesn’t have to make sense to us, lyubimaya, it only has to in his mind.”
    She liked the way he called her that name, the only time he used a Russian accent; otherwise, his American accent was perfect. “How many languages do you speak, Lev?”
    He shrugged and continued looking out the window, examining the ground as she slowed to make it easier. The road was unkempt, cutting through heavier forest to circle the farm’s acreage. There were two sets of tire marks marring the muddy road, as if two vehicles had traveled there in front of them. Both led to a gate to another property, the only evidence of others anywhere on the long winding road.
    “Your neighbor,” he asked.
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    “That property is undeveloped. We actually thought about trying to buy it, but it’s priced a little too high for us right now.”
    He sat up straighter. “Stop for a minute.” The tracks indicated that one of the vehicles had driven back out the way they’d come, but the other had turned the opposite way and was following the route around the farm. Lev got out and crouched low to examine the tire tracks. He recognized the tread on one of the vehicles. The same truck had been parked on the ridge above Rikki’s house.
    The man had driven in, following a second vehicle, possibly a real estate agent, and then after the first vehicle left, he had waited for a while, presumably until whoever had come with him was gone. While he waited, the man had smoked the same brand that Rikki’s stalker had smoked. Lev cast around looking for more evidence. He found what he was looking for just beyond the gate. Small burn circles in the grass. The stalker had been playing with fire again. This time, he’d been more creative. The circles were in a pattern.
    Lev walked around the area, studying it from all angles. He had a continual map in his head and the arrangement of the circles seemed familiar, as if he’d seen the design before. If he was right, and he would bet his life on it that he was, the burned areas in the grass were a blueprint of Rikki’s five acres, everything from the trees to the terraced gardens and the house itself. The arsonist had studied the topography of the farm, paying close attention to the five acres belonging to Rikki.
    “What is it?” she called.
    He straightened slowly. “I believe this man means to come after you again and he’s planning an attack.”
    She didn’t flinch. She kept her eyes on his face. “Are the others in danger?”
    He shook his head. “I have no way of knowing for certain, but so far, his battle plans seem very concentrated on your immediate property.” He climbed back into the truck. “Keep driving. You can see his tracks in the road. I need to see every place he’s gone.”
    Rikki tightened her hands on the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white, the only sign of her agitation, but she drove slow and steady.
    “He doesn’t know about me,” Lev murmured, trying to reassure her.
    “He’s got to know you’re in the house,” she argued, “He probably thinks you live with me. You’re in as much or more danger than I am.”
    “I do live with you and he doesn’t know a damn thing about me.”
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    Her laughter was unexpected and unraveled a few of the knots in his belly. “I don’t know a damn thing about you either, Lev, and you probably don’t know much more than I do.”
    “It’s coming back,” he told her, his tone grim. His memory was definitely returning, and little of it was good. “And anyone stalking you is in for a nightmare.” He wasn’t a passive man. He didn’t believe in waiting for the enemy to strike. He struck first and hard, and ended the war before it ever began, but he didn’t think it necessary to tell her that.
    He noted a high chain-link fence starting. “And does this fence actually surround your entire farm?”
    “Not the entire three-hundred-plus acres,” Rikki said. “We don’t have that kind of money, even with all of us pooling our resources. The fence surrounds the main part of the farm where we grow food and herbs. The orchards aren’t fenced either.”
    She turned onto a dirt road.