The team stayed at the range for a couple of hours. They went through several rounds of target practice, then evaluated their individual scores. On four rounds out of five, Hector had the closest and most accurate groupings of shots on his silhouette. Jody praised him for his accuracy, and Hector nodded his thanks at his sergeant’s words. Once they were finished, he filed out with the rest of the team.
Hector was quiet on the way back to the Pen.
“What’s going on, man? You haven’t cracked any jokes, and you didn’t even bother to crow about the fact that you had the best target score. Are you sick?” As close as they all were, he wasn’t surprised when Clay picked up on his odd mood.
If there was ever a group of people who would have insight on how to handle someone being stalked, it was a group of law enforcement officers. “I think Miguel is being stalked by his ex.”
That brought everyone around him up short.
Clay frowned. “What? I thought he hadn’t come around since Miguel told him to fuck off in the middle of his friendly neighborhood grocers.”
“He hasn’t been seen since then,” Hector corrected. “But Miguel got a breather call last night. And this morning when I left his place, I swear someone was watching me. There was a car down the road, but it was too far for me to get plates or see anyone inside.”
“If your instincts were telling you you were being watched, you probably were,” Ryan said. “You need to get Miguel down here to open a case file.”
Clay was still frowning with concern. “Yeah, he can’t be following him around to grocery stores and watching his apartment like a creeper.”
“If Miguel’s ex has a tracker on his car, he won’t need to follow him,” Tiffany said, looking just as concerned as everyone else. “He can just go where the GPS tells him to go.”
“I’ll check his car—” Hector stopped mid-sentence. “Shit.”
“What?”
“I’ll start sweeping his car, but the phone he has he got from Santos. He just traded out the SIM card when they split so he could get it turned on in his name.”
“Oh, man.” Clay’s eyes went wide. “Yeah, he definitely needs a new phone.”
“This is ridiculous,” Tiffany snapped. “That motherfucker needs to let it go.”
Ryan crossed his arms over his chest. “You want us to pay him a visit and let him know we’re watching him?”
That startled a laugh from Hector. As by the book as Ryan was, his flashes of cursing and unrepentant bloodthirstiness were always a surprise. “No. I don’t want things to escalate unnecessarily. But I’m going to have to talk to Miguel about taking some precautions.”
After work, Hector drove back to Miguel’s apartment. He’d called him earlier and asked to come by tonight. Miguel had said yes but that he was too tired to cook. So, Hector had added a return trip to Whataburger to the list of stops he had to make before he got to Miguel’s apartment.
Since his hands were full with bags and drinks, he knocked on the door with his elbow. When Miguel opened up to let him in, his eyes went straight to the orange and white bag in Hector’s hand.
“Oooh, did you get me the Avocado Bacon Burger?”
“You know I did.”
Miguel kissed him on the cheek, took the bag, and made a beeline for the kitchen table. “I’m starving.”
Hector followed a little slower. What he had to say was important but he didn’t want to just come out with it. He waited until they were finished eating to bring it up.
“Baby, I want to talk about Santos.”
Miguel arched an eyebrow as he sipped on his giant drink. “Why?” he asked as he set the cup down.
“Because I’m worried that he’s not as out of your life as you think he is.”
“I told you what happened at the store. As he so crudely put it, he doesn’t want my ass after someone else has been in there.”
“He may have said that but I’m still concerned. Do you two have any friends in common?”
“No. And I made it Facebook official and unfriended him when we broke up.”
“Then the only reason he would know where you shop and work is because he’s making a point to check up on you. And if he knows where you work and the grocery store you frequent, he more than likely knows where you live. I doubt he went to all that trouble just to let things go so easily. In fact, there was a suspicious car on your street this morning, and I suspect it might have been Santos.”