Chapter 9
She had to have missed something, Ashlyn thought as she sat there, rubbing her temples with her fingertips as she watched the video on her phone again and-
She definitely missed something, Ashlyn realized as she swiped back to the start of the video and watched it again.
When nothing changed, Ashlyn opened the history on her security app and went through the list of events that happened yesterday, looking for any signs that someone opened a door or a window, something that would explain how the large bastard watching her managed to pull this off.
“Are ye ready ta talk now, lass?” came the curious question as a fresh coffee was placed on the table.
“Are you ready to tell me what you’re up to yet?” Ashlyn countered, pausing mid-rub to reach over and help herself to the coffee that she was going to need to get through this.
“Besides making ye fall in love with me?” Shayne asked as she swiped to the calendar option in the app and started going through the history for the previous week.
“Besides that,” Ashlyn absently murmured, checking everything from the event history for the past week to the video clips and...
Nothing.
There wasn’t any unexpected activity while she’d been away, the alarm had never been turned off or triggered, none of the windows or doors had been opened, and there hadn’t been any movement in or around her house.
So, she focused on retracing her steps after she left Detective Black’s house yesterday, other than stopping to grab a sandwich on the way home, she didn’t go anywhere else and as soon as she went inside, she set the alarm.
She didn’t turn it off again until this morning when she was leaving to come here, which meant that he had to have grabbed it while she was at his house. The only problem with that theory was that he was still sitting in his chair, glaring at her when she showed herself out, which meant...
That she’d dropped the damn memory stick.
“I’m helping my brother, lass,” Shayne said, drawing her attention to find him still watching her.
“And you’d be doing that by telling me everything that I need to know,” Ashlyn pointed out, taking a sip of the bitter drink that she hated, but unfortunately, needed just to function at this point.
“Then, I wouldn’t have anything ta do ta pass the time,” Shayne said, shrugging it off.
“So, you’re screwing with my head because you’re bored?
” Ashlyn asked, leaning back in her chair as she took in the large man sitting across from her, from his neatly combed black hair to the small scar above his eyebrow, his freshly shaved jaw, to his large muscular build softened by the black dress shirt that he wore before her gaze flickered to the thin scar that cut across his right palm.
“That’s just an added benefit, lass,” Shayne said as she looked up and took in intense green eyes locked on her and found herself wondering what it was exactly about this man that had her losing her damn mind.
There was no doubt that he was incredibly handsome, but she’d met other handsome men only to forget about them as soon as she left the room.
She didn’t swoon over men, never felt her heart skip a beat when she saw one, or found herself daydreaming about them.
Never had, not even when she was a teenager and the rest of the girls in her class were obsessing about the latest boy band or crying themselves to sleep over some boy that couldn’t be bothered to give them the time of day, or saw some guy and found herself wondering what their children would look like.
So, that begged the question, why she suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about this one?
“I have a theory,” Ashlyn said, deciding that her only option was to bluff at this point.
“And that is?”
“That there’s nothing connecting any of these cases other than the fact that they were all women, who were, unfortunately, kidnapped, otherwise your brother would have made it official and formed a task force to look into it already,” Ashlyn pointed out, watching him closely for any telltale signs that she’d hit her mark.
“Unless it’s just a theory at this point,” Shayne said, keeping his gaze locked with hers.
“If it’s just a theory, then there’s no harm in sharing it,” Ashlyn pointed out.
“I’m afraid that I can’t do that, lass,” Shayne said, sighing heavily as he reached over and plucked the coffee out of her hand and took a sip.
“And why exactly is that?” Ashlyn asked, plucking the coffee out of his hand.
“Because then ye wouldn’t need me,” Shayne said as she took a sip, needing a caffeine fix now more than ever.
“I don’t need you now,” Ashlyn pointed out.
“If that was true, ye wouldn’t be here now trying ta find out what I know,” Shayne said, leaning back in his chair while he considered her.
“Which I believe we’ve established is nothing more than a theory,” Ashlyn said, moving to take another sip of coffee only to have him pluck it out of her hand.
“Which is more than ye have now, lass,” Shayne said, shooting her a wink as he stood up and headed for the door, leaving her sitting there and-
“Goddamn it,” Ashlyn muttered as she grabbed her bag and quickly went after him.
“I’m willing ta work with ye, lass, but I’m not about ta tell ye anything that could put ye in danger,” Shayne said as soon as she caught up with him.
“So, you’re doing this to protect me?” Ashlyn asked, reaching over and plucked the coffee out of his hand.
“Ye need protecting, lass,” he said, placing his hand at the small of her back as they moved to cross the street, the simple touch sending a wave of pleasure tearing through her body so fast that it startled her.
“And the fact that I don’t need you to protect me?” Ashlyn asked even as he gently grabbed hold of her elbow to steady her when she stumbled.
“Doesn’t matter,” Shayne said, shaking his head when she realized that they were standing in her driveway.
“What are we doing here?” Ashlyn asked, watching as he made his way around her car to the passenger side and-
“Yer taking me out ta lunch, lass.”
Winter Falls, New Hampshire
“The old oak tree,” Aidan said while Declean stood there, considering the small woman currently rubbing her temples with her fingertips as her murderous glare shifted from Shayne to-
“The boulder,” Declean said when Ashlyn’s gaze flickered to the large boulder by the side of the road, letting him know that’s where she was debating hiding his body after she killed him with her bare hands.
Again, not that he could blame her, Shayne thought, doing his best to ignore the remnants of the nausea that threatened to knock him on his ass as he took in the spot where Jillian Mathers was found dead twenty-five years ago.
Christ, he hated riding in cars, Shayne thought as he ran his eyes over the oak trees surrounding them and the wall of boulders behind him that shielded her body from the road before he pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the file that he had Aidan download for him.
“Yer going ta need help dragging my body, lass,” Shayne said as he opened the crime scene photos and noted the exact spot where they found her body.
“I’ll make do,” Ashlyn said, making his lips twitch as he noted the differences from that day to now, the rotted oak tree that had been photographed directly behind her body had since fallen over, the trees were thicker, the overgrowth had taken over more of the clearing and started making its way around the boulders, and the shoeprints surrounding the body were long gone.
“She’s not here,” Aidan said, forcing him to bite back a curse. He’d been hoping Jillian’s spirit was still here so that they could get answers.
“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing here?” Ashlyn asked as she plucked the phone out of his hand and began scrolling.
“Making sure that we didn’t miss anything,” Shanye said as he stepped into the small clearing where the body had been found and shifted to match the footprints the killer left that day.
“Two inches to your left and three inches back,” Ashlyn said, correctly guessing what he was doing.
“Here, lass?” Shayne said, moving back and to the left.
Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, Ashlyn studied the picture as she slowly moved behind him only to force him to bite back a groan when she placed her hand against his back, sending a wave of pleasure through his body as she gently pushed him forward another inch.
It was the curse fucking with his head, Shayne reminded himself as he pretended that he wasn’t painfully aware of the small woman standing behind him and took in everything the killer would have seen that day, from the branches blocking out the sun above him to the boulders blocking him from the road.
He glanced down at his feet where the body would have been before glancing over his shoulder and took in the dirt path that cut through the woods, the same one that ran from the restaurant to the boating docks a few miles away.
Without a word, he made his way around the boulders and up the grassy embankment, turned around and-
“You can’t see the path from here,” Ashlyn said as she joined him.
“Ye wouldn’t even know that it was there,” Shayne absently murmured as he glanced both ways before stepping back onto the road and took in the incredibly beautiful scenic country road before he glanced back at the wall of boulders blocking everything from sight.
“Makes ye wonder how a hitchhiker passing through managed ta find it,” Shayne said, deciding that it was time to find out.