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neighbor. “So, Carly, I understand from Myrna that you’ve only lived here for a couple of years. What brought you to Holly Grove?”
    Trooper was pretty good at judging when someone was lying to him but he had to admit that Carly wasn’t that easy to read. At first he was fairly certain she planned to lie. Her gaze flickered down to her plate and then back up. She looked him in the eye for too long and took a second too long to respond. But then he decided she was telling at least a partial truth when she heaved a sigh and, biting her lip, said bluntly. “I came to Holly Grove because I was running from a stalker.”
    “A stalker?” She’d surprised him with that answer. He wondered if her case was one he’d heard about. Maybe he’d seen her picture and that was why her face seemed familiar. “Are you still being stalked?”
    She shook her head. “He’s in prison now, thank goodness.”
    “Why was he stalking you?”
    “Apparently he saw me on television and decided we were soul mates. He sent poems he’d written about me to the station, then starting sending lilies to my home. From time to time he’d send me emails letting me know he’d followed me the evening before, whether I’d been out on a date or on an assignment. The police had a heck of a time catching him, and the media dubbed him the Callie Lily Stalker.”
    Those memory cells in Trooper’s brain woke and immediately unearthed one of the facts about this woman he’d been trying to resurrect. “You’re Callie Morris,” he said flatly. “I remember now. You were an anchor for a while on the evening news in Philadelphia.”
    Carly pulled in a deep breath. “True. Callie Morris was my ‘stage’ name, so to speak. Once I’d been going by that name for a few years, I was widely identified as Callie. No one outside my family called me Carly. When I moved to Holly Grove, although my stalker still hadn’t been caught, I felt safe going by my real name since he wouldn’t have known what it was. By the time he was apprehended and put in prison, I had settled in here as Carly Morrison. I’d tried to erase my TV persona, which of course included dropping my identity as Callie Morris.”
    “That was smart of you.”
    “It’s worked out well for me.”
    “Does your Callie Morris background have anything to do with why you wanted me to help check around your house this morning?”
    “No, not really. The guy’s still in prison and so far as I know, he was a loner. But I suppose in a way I’m a bit more skittish than I would have been otherwise.”
    “Makes sense.” Trooper gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “And if you feel skittish again, feel free to call me, day or night.”
    “Thanks. Speaking of which, did you ever figure out what you heard that woke you?”
    “It must have been a branch rubbing against the roof. You know how many shade trees Aunt Myrna has. But I’m going to take a look today and see if there’s anything that needs to be trimmed back.”
    “I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know what you find.”
    “Sure will.” Trooper stood. “Aunt Myrna’s probably wondering where I am. I’ll be going now.”
    Carly stood too. “Thanks again for the Danish. Tell your aunt I said Hi.”
    “Will do. And thanks for the coffee.”
    He turned and made his way to the front door, leaving Carly behind in the kitchen. He still liked Carly Morrison, he decided, and he could certainly understand why she might be easily unnerved after what she’d gone through with that crazy stalker a few years ago.
    But none of that blinded him to the fact that she never had said why she picked Holly Grove as a place to hide out.

Chapter 4
    T he man ended the call , then slammed his cell phone onto the kitchen counter. “Damn,” he muttered. He often talked to himself simply because he liked the sound of his own voice, and considering that he lived alone, there was no one to accuse him of being a nut case.
    He pulled in a deep