Free Bad Guys by Linwood Barclay

never know.”
    On the highway heading out to Oakwood, I said to Lawrence, “Okay, here’s a hypothetical. Someone you know might, and it’s just might, be being stalked by someone. She thinks this guy has been following her, he shows up wherever she is, and it kind of freaks her out, but he hasn’t done anything dangerous, or threatened her, nothing like that.”
    Lawrence listened.
    “And she’s not really making a big deal of it. She says the guy’s just a pest, nothing to worry about.”
    “Okay,” Lawrence said. “But it seems like a big deal to you. What do we know about this guy?”
    “Well, he’s twenty or so, I gather, seems to be living on his own, his parents are out west or something, kind of a computer geek, into the whole
Matrix
look, the sunglasses and long coat, not badlooking according to those who’ve seen him, but a loner.”
    “And how long has he been following your daughter?”
    I was about to remind him that this was a “hypothetical” case, then figured what the hell. “Doesn’t sound like a long time. Couple weeks, maybe. Calls her cell phone quite a few times every day, calls the house. He called at breakfast yesterday morning, I had to field it because Angie didn’t want to talk to him. Angie, she’s going to college now, and I think he’s—”
    “He got a name?”
    “Wylie. Trevor Wylie.”
    “Okay.”
    “And he’s shown up, just the other night, outside of one of her friend’s houses, like it was just a coincidence, but this was clear across town.”
    “So he would have had to follow her there, that’s your thinking?”
    “I guess.”
    “He’s got a car?”
    I shrugged. “I’m guessing yes, but I don’t know.”
    “What’s she said to him? Your daughter. Angie, right?”
    “Yeah. I don’t think she’s told him to drop dead or anything. She’s not like that. But she’s probably given him the brush-off, bordered on rude. When she thinks it’s him calling her cell, she doesn’t answer. Anyone with an ounce of sense would have gotten the message by now.”
    “Some people often don’t read the signals very well.”
    I looked out the window. We were approaching the Oakwood exit, and from the highway you could see the hundreds of new suburban homes, each one barely distinguishable from the next.
    “What would you do if you were me?”
    “Well, you could do nothing. Chances are he’s harmless and this whole thing will work itself out.” Lawrence put on his blinker.
    “Or?”
    “Or you could check him out. Find out a bit more about this kid. Which might put your mind at ease, or tell you that you’ve got reason to be concerned.”
    “And how am I going to do that? Start tailing him?”
    “Hey,” said Lawrence, “you’re not exactly learning from the master. I blew that tail last night in the first mile. What you could do, though, is follow Angie.”
    “Huh?”
    “Well, what you want to know is, is he following your daughter around? You follow her, you’ll find out whether he is, too.”
    I shook my head. “That’s crazy. I couldn’t follow my own daughter.” But even as I dismissed the idea, I was working out the logistics in my head. Would I wear a disguise? Rubber nose and glasses? And if Angie was using our car for the evening, and Trevor was following her in his car, then how was I going to follow him following her if we didn’t have a second car? Well, we didn’t have a second car yet, but—
    Enough, I told myself. This is crazy talk.
    What kind of father would consider, for even a moment, actually tailing his own daughter around town? And what would his wife do to him if she found out he’d been doing such a thing?
    “No, no, I could never do that,” I said quietly.
    “Hey, I’m only talking out loud,” Lawrence said. “Your other option is, let someone else check the kid out.” He paused, considering. “I’ll do it if you want.”
    “No, no, that’s okay. I don’t think Sarah and I really have money in the budget for