CLOSE TO YOU: Enhanced (Lost Hearts) by Christina Dodd Read Free Book Online Page A

were tinted." Linda must have connected with the operator, for she said into the phone, "I need an ambulance on the corner of Fifteenth Street and San Jacinto. There's been a hit-and-run accident—"
                  "No." Kate shook her head heavily. "No. This was no accident."
                  Slowly Linda pulled the phone away from her ear. "What do you mean?"
                  "I've got a stalker." Kate finally admitted it aloud. "I'm being stalked."
     
     
     
    FOUR
     
                  "Here's what we're going to do." In his office Monday morning, Brad rapidly typed an e-mail with two short, pudgy index fingers. "We're going to assign you to a story on the premier bodyguard service in town. Ramos Security provides security for the capitol. Their bodyguards handle all the visiting honchos and escort the local society ladies whenever they wear their big diamonds."
                  Kate stood before his desk and listened and nodded. She had bandages on her hands and knees and stitches closing the cut on her chin. She wore a cream turtleneck sweater, a dark brown tweed knee-length skirt, and a severely cut, matching brown tweed jacket. The formality of the outfit armored her with confidence, a confidence she usually sported in abundance. A confidence that had been badly shaken.
                  Besides, the long sleeves and the dark stockings covered her bruises. She sported an especially large purple bruise on her hip where she had apparently been hit by the car. "I'd like to know why I was the lucky one," she said bitterly.
                  "Now, don't you worry about this stalker picking you out of the litter of reporters. I've seen this happen before. These guys—and they're always guys—are weirdos who get fixated on a broadcaster—always a new young broadcaster—and start being annoying."
                  "Annoying?" She looked down at her bandaged hands.
                  "Yeah, this one's downright dangerous. But they're never too bright, so we catch 'em fast." He shot her a sharp glance. "Especially when the broadcaster is smart enough to recognize the problem and turn 'em in."
                  "I'd say I waited about one car incident too long."
                  "That's true, too." He hit send and leaned back in his seat. "If you'd said something a few days sooner, you wouldn't have been hit, and you would have been looking good enough to continue your reports. We're going to have to wait at least a week before we put you back on camera.
                  "I know. I'm sorry."
                  He grunted, obviously unhappy at the turn of events.
                  Kate gazed out at the newsroom where everyone was working on a real story, a breaking story. "Everyone's been kind, though." Interestingly enough, they had been. Evidently Linda's brisk dismissal of Kate's problems had been her way of expressing concern, for she had stuck with Kate through her time in the emergency room and her interview with the police, and Linda must have said the right stuff to the people at the television station, for everyone had seemed shocked, and a few of them actually offered Kate spontaneous expressions of sympathy.
                  "Yeah, they're good people." Brad lit a cigarette. "I'm going to have you follow the guy who owns the bodyguard service, Teague Ramos. You tail him through his week's activities, longer if it takes longer to catch this stalker"—obviously, Brad figured a week was plenty of time—"and get together enough information to do a piece on him and how he operates."
                  "When's it going to run?" Kate asked, always the reporter.
                  Brad shot her another sharp glance. "Two minutes in the five o'clock time, and I'll give you six minutes on the Sunday-morning Here's Austin