Page 127 of Archer

My stalker stood motionless in the downpour, staring at the boarded windows. Rain sheeted off his skin where winds had blown down his raincoat’s hood. He looked forlorn. Detached. As if he’d stopped registering the storm completely.

He wasn’t trying the door, wasn’t moving at all.

Just standing before the home he’d driven me out of.

He looked so average, so unremarkable, and it hit me fresh every time. He looked like someone’s neighbor. A person I might pass in a store or on the sidewalk and never even take notice.

Inconsequential. Harmless.

He was anything but.

And the image of him on my deck emptied the oxygen from my lungs.

“Harper.” Archer’s voice was level but firm. “You should sit down.”

I blinked, dragging my eyes toward the sound, body frozen, limbs numb.

“Sit.” A chair appeared. Archer nudged my legs, then bent to deposit me on the seat.

Colton’s voice came through the phone.

“He’s moving. Trying the back door. He won’t get in. We locked up tight.” A pause. “Moving on.” Another pause. “He’s working the window boards. Won’t get past those either with his bare hands. What’s he even thinking?”

“I don’t think he’s looking for a way in,” Knox said. “I think he’s confirming she’s gone.”

“You guys see that boat?” Colton asked. “Last camera, lower left. Small craft. Almost off screen.”

“Roads are out,” Archer said. “So he went by boat.”

“He took his last ride today,” Knox answered. “That vessel’s got to be beached now. Winds probably pushed it ashore.”

I pressed my palms flat against my thighs.

“He’s looking at the camera,” Colton said. “Shit!”

My eyes jerked to the screen as something flew forward and the feed was lost.

Archer pressed the arrow keys, trying to use the other cameras, but Webb wasn’t visible from those angles.

Then, the lights went out.

Archer’s hand landed gently on my shoulder. “We lost power.”

“Same,” Colton and Knox answered in near unison.

The wind sounded like a freight train outside. Water beat against the windows and clapboard siding. The home groaned as it absorbed each gust, all of it amplified in the darkness.

The generator caught and light returned with a whole-house hum.

“Oh thank God,” I whispered.

The camera feeds remained dark.

Archer returned his attention to the laptop. “What happened to the cameras?”

Colton made a noncommittal sound. “We lost the feed when the power went. Rebooting.”

“I’m calling Nash,” Knox said. “Give me a few minutes.”