Chapter 3 Lachlan
LACHLAN
Still seething from the encounter with Mac’s so-called daughter, I decided I was no company for my club members.
It was better to hide in my real office than my stage office until I got my irritation under control.
Hearing laughter from one of the social rooms off the entrance, I skirted past and strode toward the door that led into the staff-only area of the castle.
Robyn Penhaligon’s face floated across my vision. Smug, conniving witch, threatening to tell Mac on me. Like we were five-year-olds on the goddamn playground.
Still, a niggle of unease gnawed at me.
Perhaps I had stepped over the line.
As much as I wanted to protect Mac from a woman who might be just as unforgiving as her mother, it was her father’s place to decide whether Robyn stayed at Ardnoch.
But Mac had a lot on his mind. We all did. The last thing we needed was an estranged and resentful daughter getting in our way.
To be fair, I was already in a shitty mood that morning before Robyn surprised Mac.
My publicist had called me; she also happened to be my brother’s publicist. Gwen shared a link to a US tabloid that had published photographs last night of my brother, Brodan, in a drunken brawl with doormen at a Los Angeles nightclub.
I didn’t know what to do with him. When I’d warned Brodan about following me to Hollywood, Brodan promised he could handle the pressure and notoriety.
Lately, his antics suggested otherwise.
On top of our other situation, I felt like I was failing. That feeling of powerlessness may have contributed to my behavior toward Robyn Penhaligon. That, and something about the arrogant tilt of her chin, had set me off.
My phone rang in my back pocket, and when I pulled it out, Mac’s name lit up the screen. Christ, had she made good on her promise already? “Mac,” I answered, drawing to a stop in the narrow hallway that led to our offices.
“Delivery entrance. Now.”
Dread filled me. “Not another?”
“Just get here.” Mac hung up.
Case in point.
I ground my teeth. And then hurried down the corridors that led through our busy kitchen and into the hallway to the delivery entrance. Staff hovered in the kitchen doorway, murmuring to one another. Worry and tension hung heavily in the air.
“Haven’t you all got work to do?” I demanded. Their expressions turned sheepish in response. “Well?”
“You heard Mr. Adair!” my sous chef, Raffaella, yelled in her Italian accent as my kitchen staff skittered away from the door. “Back to work!”
Leaving her to deal with them, I followed the cool breeze blowing up the hall as daylight streamed in from where the delivery entrance door was shoved wide open.
Mac stood outside it with Pete and Jock, two of our security men. My head of security looked up as he slowly approached. “Prepare yourself. It’s not pretty.”
The smell hit me first, and I swallowed hard against the urge to gag.
“Fuck,” I muttered as my gaze lowered to the ground.
A once-beautiful, small doe lay slaughtered at the door entrance, her entrails spilled onto the gravel, a bunch of red roses nestled by her carcass. I looked up at Mac.
He held out a white card. Noting Mac wore gloves to touch it, I didn’t take it from him.
But reading it, my concern increased tenfold.
You were once so very dear to me.
But now so very dead to me.
xoxo
“Again, it’s not specifically addressed to anyone.”
Mac sighed. “We’re going on the assumption here, like the others, the message is for you.”
“I don’t care about me.” I glowered. “But I do care about the safety of my staff and my members. The last incident was the start of something darker here, Mac. This, however … it’s time to call the police.”
Mac cut his men a look before addressing me. “Just give us a little more time to figure it out. It’s better to go to the police with a culprit so that when it does hit the news, the estate members are assured it’s dealt with and they’re safe.”
“We shouldn’t keep this from them. They already know something is amiss. And Lucy is well aware.” Though she’d promised to keep it to herself. “Not to mention, we can’t guarantee a staff member won’t let this slip.”
“If they talk about anything on the estate with a member or outsider, it’s breach of contract.” Mac told me something I already knew. “Unless they want a lawsuit on their hands, they won’t talk.”
I scowled. Those contracts were drawn up with the thought of gossip and scandal, not some unknown person leaving sick messages for the estate’s owner.
“Just give me time,” Mac said. “I don’t want you to lose everything over this. My men and I can do it.”
“We can,” Jock and Pete spoke in unison.
I wasn’t convinced. “How did this happen?” I gestured to the carcass and then looked up at the camera angled above the door. There were cameras at every entrance. “Do we have footage of the culprit?”
Mac’s frustration was palpable, and I knew the answer before he spoke.
Cutting Jock and Pete a look, he gestured to the grounds. “Would you give us some privacy, gentlemen?”
With abrupt nods, they turned on their heels and moved to leave.
“Be back in two to take this bonny beast to McCulloch. See if Collum can salvage her. Make her death worth something.”
“McCulloch?” I raised an eyebrow. Collum McCulloch’s family had farmed the land north of Ardnoch for generations. He and my father had a bitter history, which had trickled down into his interactions with me.
“I’ll risk owing him for the sake of this poor beast.” Mac shot the deer a saddened look before gesturing me inside the castle.
“No footage?” I asked Mac as soon as we were alone.
“No. It has to be someone from the estate, Lachlan. The evidence is irrefutable.”
“Not a stalker, then?”
“No, this is definitely stalker behavior.”
“And it’s coming from someone on the estate?”
“Has to be.”
It wouldn’t be the first time I’d been subjected to stalker-like messages, but nothing like this.
Or within my own circle. “I’m giving you two weeks to resolve this, Mac.
Then I’m going to the police.” I simmered with anger.
We’d had destruction of property and threatening notes, but this was the first time a living being had been harmed. “This is escalating. Now I’m worried.”
Mac fell into step beside me. “I know. I am too. But let’s try to stay focused. I’ll have Tracey run prints on the card.”
My head of security had a contact in forensics who’d been running prints on anything left behind by the Ardnoch stalker. So far, nothing. But it was worth trying.
“The last thing you needed today was your daughter turning up.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Mac disagreed. “It was a shock, but I can’t say I’m not glad to see her.”
I grunted.
“She’s my daughter.” Mac’s voice held a warning note. “And I’m the one who wronged her.”
“You tried. Her mother is the one who wronged her.”
“I should have tried harder.” My friend frowned. “I think something might have happened to her.”
“Like what?”
“I’m not sure. She’s …” He shrugged.
That earlier unease I’d felt returned. “I might have said something to her I shouldn’t have.”
“When? How?”
“Before she left, I told her to go home. Back to the States.”
Mac drew to an abrupt stop. I sighed inwardly at the anger on his face. “You what?”
Holding my hands up, I apologized, “It was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you. But I shouldn’t have done it. Not that she seems to be easily intimidated.”
A smirk of pride cut through Mac’s annoyance. “Well, she wouldn’t be, would she? That girl has more of me in her than she realizes.”
“Woman,” I reminded him. “Woman, Mac. She’s not a girl anymore. She’s twenty-eight. Remember, she’s here on her own agenda, and that might not be in your best interests.”
“But it is my business. I appreciate the sentiment behind why you said what you said …” Mac took a step toward me. “We’re family. But she’s my family, too, and if you drive her away before she and I have the chance to talk, that’s not something I’ll easily forgive.”
I gave him a curt nod. “Understood.”
“Now.” Mac stepped back, giving me a wry, unamused look. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a sick stalker to find.”
The reminder set my teeth on edge. “I’ll have another think on any slights I might have caused to staff or members over the years.”
“Aye, well, you might be thinking awhile.” The cheeky fucker walked away before I could retort.