Chapter Eight
Artair
Luna was wrung out from her adventures and asleep long before the clock struck midnight. Two things had happened while I'd been taking back the reins from my errant little flight risk.
Reg Reggie had been detained at Thames Valley Police station in Westminster, and our Dunnottar stalker, in Aberdeenshire, where my cousin was head of the Northeast division. One of his men had picked the guy up based on Luna's description.
I was a little surprised to find out that the two men were not one and the same, but it made sense that Reg Reggie would need people on the ground to do his dirty work for him.
I left a note on the bedside stand and instructions with Graeme to ensure Luna didn't wander off while I jetted over to London to see Reg Reggie for myself and hopefully learn more about his motives.
On my way, I stopped in Aberdeen to check on the man who accosted Luna on the hillside by Dunnottar Castle.
My cousin allowed me to safely watch the interview while another officer interviewed Stan Jarvis.
Stan was shown a picture of Luna and asked if he'd accosted her, which he vehemently denied.
For each question asked, he responded with a negative.
After an hour of the police getting nowhere with the man, I asked my cousin if I could speak with him.
“Why would you want to do that? You're a lawyer, Artair, you can't be going all vigilante on us.”
“I know, but I have information which may make him want to tell the truth.”
My cousin shook his head but opened the door and called the other man out while I stepped in to replace him. “This is not a private meeting, Mr. Jarvis. I assure you this conversation is being recorded.”
He looked anywhere but at me, his guilt glaringly obvious.
“You're not very good at this, are you, Stan? May I call you Stan? I mean, after all, you've been stalking my woman in Canada and followed her all the way here, so I feel we should be on a first-name basis.”
He glared at me but didn't respond; instead, he yelled at the mirror that he wanted a lawyer.
“I am a lawyer, Mr. Jarvis, and can certainly help you, but only if you're willing to tell the truth. What do you know about the podcaster, Reg Reggie?”
His eyes rounded, his jaw dropping low.
“You can stop pretending you know nothing, Stan.
If you don't come clean, I'm afraid Mr. Reggie will, and I'm sure he'll throw you under the bus like he has every other patsy he's used to get what he wants.” I waited a few breaths, giving him time to catch up.
Then I stood. “Tick, tick, Stan, I'm a busy man; if you want to see daylight ever again, I suggest you confess to your part in all of this.”
I made my way to the door, counting down from five as I did. At 'one' he cried out. “Wait! I confess, it was me who accosted Luna on the monument hill.”
Finally, we were getting somewhere. I strolled back to my vacated chair. “You have five minutes; make it count.”
Stan Jarvis confessed to having been a subscriber to FeetingFans and said he could be found under the online name 00footlover.
As it turned out, he was into some very specific kinks with feet.
His father was the mayor of Vancouver, and when Reg Reggie uncovered some private videos showing what he did while watching feet on the site, he blackmailed Stan into becoming his accomplice.
“I swear I never meant to hurt Luna, but Reg said if I didn't get the footage, he'd publicize the videos of me, and that would ruin my father's career.” His statement echoed Luna's, as she'd said the same thing about mine.
“Reg Reggie is currently being questioned in London for cybercrimes. Your statement will help us take him down. Thank you, Mr. Jarvis; you have been extremely helpful.”
“Wait, what about me?”
“You will be free to go shortly, but you cannot leave the U.K.
until the investigation is done. If you try, this will go far worse for you.
Perhaps you should think about your life choices while awaiting trial, Stan.
You're a young man and have your entire life ahead of you. I will do my best to get your charges dismissed, but you will never, and I mean ever, approach my woman again, is that clear?”
He gulped. “Yes, sir, and I'm sorry. I just reacted.”
He wasn't the only one. I thought back to almost a week ago when Luna ran off into the woods by the train station.
“Do better.” And with that, I left and headed to the airport for my trip to Westminster. Before takeoff, I called Graeme. “How is she?”
“How the heck should I know? She's inside and probably sleeping at this ungodly hour.”
I ignored his outburst. “Does your Uncle Alan still run his private investigation company?”
“He does, why?”
“I'm sending you a file on the guy from Dunnottar. I want your uncle on him and providing me with hourly reports on his actions and whereabouts.”
“That will cost you, but I'll get him to prioritize the case.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask how he was doing, but the jet was taking off. “Good. Provide him with my cell so I can text him any additional particulars.” I ended the call and leaned back in my chair, taking a black coffee and a breakfast sandwich from a member of my cabin crew.
“Can I get you anything else, Lord McFarlane?”
I shook my head. “It's a short flight, so this will be fine, thank you.” My mind raced with all I'd learned and quickly sorted bits of information from most to least important.
With that done, I ate and finished my coffee, my thoughts on Luna.
Was she awake yet? I pictured her sleepy eyes reading my note.
What would her first response be? Admittedly, despite our time together, there was still so much about her I didn't know, but most of that pertained to her past. We still hadn't discussed her suicide attempt, and other than being poor and paying her way through school with her money earned on FeetingFans, I didn't know anything about her.
Still, there was no doubt that my feelings for her had grown exponentially, and waking up to her realness every day had so far proven to be the best days I'd had in a very long time.
She reminded me that outside of duty, I was a man with very real needs and desires that I could act upon with her.
No one had even come close to doing that for me, and I hoped that what she gained from being in my presence also provided her with something she'd been lacking but wanted and needed.
I had a driver waiting for me at the airport who quickly navigated us through the steady stream of traffic to the main station in Westminster. I had connections there, but no relatives to allow me to walk the fine line between legal and illegal.
In other words, I would have to play nice, for now.
“Chief Constable Harris.” I reached out my hand. “I'm Lord Artair Grant McFarlane; we spoke on the phone.”
The man had beady eyes, and I could tell he wasn't a particular fan of the use of my title.
“The fancy lawyer from Scotland. Right this way.”
He may not be a fan, but he didn't waste time either and took me straight to his office where I shared what I'd learned about Alfred Jelly, aka Reg Reggie.
“I won't lie to you, Lord McFarlane, this case is more complicated than we originally thought.”
“How so?”
“I'm afraid Alfred Jelly is not at the top of the food chain. There is a much larger shark. In other words, he is being framed by another party.”
I felt my insides bottom out. What the hell was going on?
“And let me guess, you're not at liberty to share who?”
The chief sat back in his chair, his beer belly straining the buttons of his shirt. His appearance was so stereotypical that I almost looked for the box of doughnuts.
“I believe the man we're looking for is responsible for much more than just infiltrating accounts of influencers. The man we are looking for is called Blacktop, and he isn't a he; it is a they—a corrupt group of hackers who use AI to attack on multiple fronts.”
“Regardless of this being a 'them,' someone has to be leading the pack and deciding whom to target.”
The chief nodded his head. “I agree with you, but unfortunately, Reg Reggie and his podcast are just another way for this group to infiltrate social media and manipulate people. He has no answers for us.”
This was a hydra, and which head to cut off first, and when, would be integral to bringing this entire situation to heel and hopefully ending in a conclusion that favored Luna.
“Do you think this group will tire of the small fish and go after something larger? In other words, do you think this can disappear on its own?”
He sighed. “Your guess is as good as mine, Lord McFarlane.”
Resigned to the fact that there would be no answers to Luna's situation today, I left the precinct and flew back to Scotland with an idea forming that could just work.
I was home by lunch and found Luna in my bed, not asleep, just playing on her phone. I quickly stripped off my clothing and joined her. “What are you doing in bed so late?” I spread her legs and tucked myself between them.
“Resting and waiting for you, Daddy.”
“Music to my ears.” I lowered my head and took her nipple between my lips. Luna arched into my mouth. She was so responsive, sheer perfection. I slid down her body and, gripping both her ass cheeks, lifted her naked mound toward my mouth.
She was ready for me, her nether lips puffy and slick with need. I laved her opening and darted my tongue into her sweet honey. Her walls shuddered with my intrusion and continued as I darted my tongue deep inside her and then swirled around her clit.
“Ohh, yes!” she hissed.
As much as I wanted to pleasure her all day long, I needed to be inside of her. Clamping down on her clit, her body tensed for a moment as a powerful wave of pleasure rolled through her. Then she thrashed, crying out, overcome by the power of her orgasm.