Nabi bowed his head slightly. “Not as well as Ahmed, but I’m getting there.”
Stella looked over her shoulder at Jace with a “are they for real” look. Jace shrugged. They probably were for real.
“Now,” Katelyn said, bringing Stella’s attention back to her, “why don’t you go back to Jace’s apartment and get some rest? I’ll stay here with Jimmy for a while and I’ll call you after I do his morning blood work. Sound okay to you?”
Jace took the opportunity to put his arm around Stella again. The need to protect her was overwhelming. “Come on. Aunt Katelyn will take excellent care of Jimmy. Let’s get some rest. In the morning we can come up with a list of anyone who would be capable of these acts.”
“I’ll swing by before I get off duty,” Andy told them.
“Thank you, deputies, Dr. Davies, and Mr. Nabi. You’ve gone above and beyond to try to catch this person. It just seems so strange. I’m not a person to inspire such passion, neither love nor hatred. I’m just an ordinary woman.”
“You’re wrong about that,” Jace told her, not even caring that everyone was listening. “You inspire love, caring, nurturing, and kindness. But I agree I can’t think of any reason for you to inspire hatred.”
Andy frowned as if thinking and then turned to Jace. “Can you go start the car and give Faith her physical? I have just a couple of quick questions for Stella.”
“Sure.” Jace didn’t like leaving her side, but Stella gave him a nod to tell him it was okay. “I’ll be within shouting distance if you need me.”
Stella watched Jace walk through the maze of the back of the clinic and out into the lobby. Andy and Luke had been talking with their heads together as Jace left. Stella shook with nerves and Katelyn wrapped her a motherly embrace.
“I can leave if you want,” Katelyn offered.
Stella shook her head. Right now she needed the support Katelyn was giving her. “What is it?” Stella asked Andy and Luke.
“We can’t stop thinking about the timing,” Luke told her. “Two things happened that were out of the norm for you when these threats started.”
“One, you started spending time with Jace.” Andy held up one finger and then another. “Two, you started a new business.”
Stella’s mind forced aside her emotions to focus on what they were saying. “Since we can’t think of anyone who wants to hurt me for personal reasons, we should look at who wants to ruin my business?”
“That’s certainly a new option we are considering,” Andy told her. Stella’s mind felt like a Rolodex spinning as she thought of all her competitors.
“I’ll think on it, but I still can’t think of anyone. I’ve never had a rival of any sorts.”
Andy looked over his shoulder and then stepped forward. “Are you sure you don’t want to do this next part alone? It’s private.” When Stella shook her head, Andy took a deep breath as if to steel himself. “We’ve talked about Rick and about your previous boyfriend, but is there anyone else that you might not have mentioned. A one-night stand. An affair. Are you part of any underground culture?”
“Andy, are you asking if she’s slept with a married man, had sex with a stranger, or belongs to a BDSM or swingers club?” Katelyn asked with a roll of her eyes.
“That’s what ‘underground culture’ means?” Stella whispered to her.
“Yes, among other possibilities.” Andy was doing his professional best to maintain an impassive expression on his face. “I’m asking about all the embarrassing, potentially taboo things that you might not want to answer with Jace around.”
“I can’t think of what you would mean. I’m pretty boring apparently.” Stella couldn’t look at Katelyn who was trying her best not to laugh.
“Do you dress up as a furry? Do you have orgies? Do you have a fake dating profile to have sex with strangers? Do you vandalize buildings at night? Have you slashed someone’s tire? Anything you would normally never tell anyone about?” Andy apparently decided to hold nothing back this time.
“She’s the quietest, sweetest woman, Andy,” Katelyn defended. “Not that orgies are wrong, dear. More power to you for well, doing any of the things on the list, well, not the criminal parts,” she added quickly.
“It’s always the quiet ones with the most secrets,” Andy said knowingly.
Katelyn chuckled with amusement. “Andy, you’re the quiet . . . oh.”
Now both Stella and Katelyn were staring at him and his skin blushed so deeply it matched his red hair. “You were the mascot in high school. Not a big jump to being a furry,” Katelyn said thoughtfully.
“What’s a furry?” Stella whispered to Katelyn as Andy rolled his eyes.
“I’m not a furry. And furries are misunderstood. It’s people dressing up in animal costumes with human-like features. For many, it’s a fandom or cosplay. For others, it’s sexual. Now, I wanted to give you a chance to tell us anything you don’t want Jace to know. We won’t judge you at all. We just want to keep you safe.”
“I stole a candy bar in the fourth grade. I called Stacy Milano a bitch in high school. One time in college I turned in a paper thirty minutes late but didn’t tell my professor. I didn’t know what a furry was. I’ve never had an orgy or a threesome. I did have fuzzy handcuffs put on once by a boyfriend. Does that count as BDSM?” Stella felt her heart racing as she went into full confession mode. “I once gave April a cookie when her mom told me not to. The only clubbing I’ve done was on spring break and somewhere there’s an embarrassing picture of me dancing on the bar top. But I kept my clothes on. I never cheated on anyone. I’ve never been a part of an affair. I secretly love true crime shows so I’d like to think I would know if the person I was dating was a serial killer.”
“Okay, okay,” Andy said, holding up his hand. “I think we have all we need. There’s no other part of your life that would give us leads except business rivals.”
Stella took a deep breath as Katelyn rubbed her back. “I’ll think about it and let you know what I come up with.”
“We’ll meet tomorrow to see what you’ve got.” Andy paused and looked her over. “What’s wrong?”
Stella looked up from the floor and stopped biting her lip. “N-n-nothing.”
Luke and Andy had on almost identical cop faces, but Andy, bless his heart, she could only imagine dressed up in an animal costume.
“What is it?” Luke asked when she didn’t answer.
“I’m boring. Even I’m bored with the list of bad things I’ve done.”
“Dear,” Katelyn said sympathetically. “You can’t be that boring. Someone’s trying to hurt you.”
Stella blinked and then laughed. “Maybe they’ll run in fear if I dress up as a furry and tie Jace up on the front lawn to lick him.”
Luke choked and covered it up with a cough. Andy’s face was flaming again and Katelyn’s shoulders shook as she tried not to laugh out loud.
“Oh, Tammy got lucky with you.”
“Don’t you mean Jace?” Stella asked Katelyn, who shook her head.