Through the Eyes of Prendle

Chapter 7: Someone's Been Watching

Lucas didn't say more until the folder was opened and its contents spread on the table. He glanced at Prendle, an earnest expression on his handsome face.

"You are the one who made me realize it," he revealed.

She stared at him blankly. "Realize what?"

"When you said, during your interrogation, when I asked you about all of these pictures, maybe John was obsessed with you, and that's why he had them."

Prendle remembered her statement clearly. She wasn't being serious. "I was being sarcastic."

"Maybe, but I think you were on to something. After speaking with John, I knew he wasn't obsessed with you, but I realized something else entirely. Someone is."

Prendle swallowed apprehensively, her eyes wandering to the pictures. "Just what are you saying, Lucas?"

He smiled. Prendle had finally called him by his first name. "You called me Lucas."

She nodded, blushing slightly. Lucas made her extremely nervous. "I figured I might as well. Don't change the subject."

"I wasn't trying to. I was- Never mind." He had been trying to lighten the mood in the room. Even he could feel how heavy the air was in the apartment, and it had nothing to do with him. He sighed. "I was just saying I think you may have a stalker, Prendle. You may be in danger."

An unwanted shiver caused goosebumps to form on her arms and legs. "What kind of danger?"

"The fatal kind, depending on what kind of stalker we're dealing with. I'm not even sure it is a stalker, but these are the photos a stalker would take, someone who has a lot of patience because they have been watching you for years." Lucas reached out to her, placing his hand comfortingly on her knee. She flinched, but she didn't shy away from him. Prendle needed comforting. First, he had found out she was a psychic, and now this.

Prendle frowned. "What makes you think this camera-happy person is a stalker?" she questioned. "Maybe they just find me a fascinating subject."

Lucas shook his head. He couldn't blame her for wanting to explain it away. He couldn't imagine how scary it must be for her to find out something like this. "A photographer fascinated by a subject would take your picture twice, maybe three times, but there are over fifty pictures in front of me right now. I counted every single one last night." He moved some of the pictures around to reveal the one he knew she had never seen before, the one he had just gotten last night. He picked it up and handed it to her. "This picture solidified my stalker theory."

Prendle took it with shaky hands, her curiosity piqued. Judging by Lucas's expression, she wasn't even sure she wanted to see it. She looked down at the picture, and her eyes widened in disbelief. The photo was of her, like all of the others, a close-up. She was in the field by Marshlyn Bank. The shot was taken right after she had arrived there, the moment just before she disappeared into the safety of the tall blades of grass. Her face paled as her heart rate plummeted.

"This was taken last night."

"I know," Lucas said quietly. "I found it on my desk when I returned to the office last night after my talk with John. Looks like I'll be getting them now."

She gulped but said nothing.

He continued. "And it's not hard to see it's the same photographer. All these are close-ups, but you're never facing the camera. Plus, it has the same handwriting on the back as all the others. I was up late last night studying these pictures over and over again. You're the center of every shot, with the background slightly blurred around you."