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“How do I know it’s good? I’ve been stiffed before”
“I’ve never bounced a check in my life”
“Right”
“I’ive you my work address, and you’ll knohere I live I wouldn’t be pressing if I weren’t scared He’s gotten in at least once before”
“He?”
The words stuck in her throat “My ex-husband”
A sigh shuddered through the line “Give me your address”
She rattled off her home address and he promised to be at her place within the hour As she waited, sheand rechecking the locks Charlie followed her fro her chew stick She sat patiently as Leah went from room to room
When she’d moved in, she’d taken a hale nail It was a simple but effective trick she’d learned after Philip’s last attack
By the ti Charlie barked, the fur on the back of her neck rising Most dogs would be excited by a visitor, but this dog, like Leah, associated strangers with trouble
She looked through the peephole and saw an elderlya white work shirt The naht breast pocket He carried a orn toolbox, and beyond him was a van that read LOCKSMITH
“Ms Carson,” he said “It’s Mike Watts”
Holding Charlie’s collar, she opened the door “Mr Watts, thank you for co so late”
He glanced at the puppy, a grin tipping his lips “Mighty tough dog you got there”
She picked up Charlie “I’ve only had her a couple of days, but she owns the place”
He laughed “The best dogs always do My dog Buster has me wrapped around his paw” He nodded to the lock “Any other doors in the house?”
“Off the kitchen there’s another door Just the two doors”
“Well, then, it shouldn’t be too hard” He inspected the lock and then jabbed his thuht back”
She and Charlie waited as he moved slowly and easily to his van and opened the back He rattled around there for several lanced around the darkened street, searching for a car or a person, anything that was there that didn’t belong There was nothing out of the ordinary on the street, and yet the hair on the back of her neck rose, as if invisible fingers stroked her skin
Mr Watts reappeared with two locks and a work blanket, which he laid in front of the door He knelt and got to work on the lock He had it reh the house and
opened the back door, noticing the collection of broken-down boxes
“Getting ready to move?”
“No,” she said There’d been a time when she’d have chatted about her day and told hi Charlie close as Mr Watts changed out the lock
With a grunt, he rose He locked and unlocked the door with the key three tio, Ms Carson”
“Thanks” No sense of relief because she knew this was only the beginning of a new chapter, which she thought had ended four years ago in South Carolina
Leah walked Mr Watts to the front door, where she dug out her checkbook She wrote the check for double the rate, wincing at the financial hit “Thanks again”
He reviewed her check, folded it, and tucked it in his pocket “Glad to help”
By the tiht Charlie was asleep in her arue and tension
She locked the doors, once, twice, three ti Charlie into the bedroom with her She climbed in her bed, slid under the covers fully dressed, and lay back against the pillows She
The locks Leah was smarter than he’d anticipated She wasn’t as timid as she appeared
Kinda sucks, doesn’t it, Leah? No friends, always looking over your shoulder, ju at every sound If you think this is all I’ve planned for you, you don’t kno motivated I am
Chapter Twenty
Monday, January 23, 6 AM
Leah packed the journal fro She wasn’t sure if Alex would be at the running group this , but she needed to speak to hiainst She needed hi