Chapter 9 Robyn
ROBYN
“And this is why Mac’s convinced the messages are for you?” I bent over the laptop as it rested on the small desk in Adair’s private suite.
We’d spent the last hour walking around the castle. There’d been five incidents in the past eight weeks. That actually wasn’t a lot considering how quickly it had escalated to Mac’s attack.
There was a dead deer, mutilated and left outside the trade entrance, along with a threatening and creepily cutesy message.
A housekeeper had discovered Lachlan’s “stage office” trashed two weeks ago.
The message, “Why won’t you see me?” was handwritten on hundreds of Post-it Notes and placed around the office.
According to Mac’s findings, there were no prints on any of them, so the person wore gloves.
A few weeks before that, the mews (an old-fashioned word for the castle garage) was broken into, and three of the Range Rovers vandalized. Painted across the body of one was the message, “You aren’t you without me.”
And finally, roughly two months ago when Adair had returned from a trip to Glasgow, he’d found his suite filled with wilting roses. Someone had removed his clothes from the closet and scattered them over the bed in a way that made it appear as if they’d rolled around on them.
I studied the photographs on Mac’s laptop, trying not to think about anything but the case and not how surprised I was that Adair’s suite was fairly humble, or how reluctant he’d been to allow me into it.
The wall behind his bed was recently re-wallpapered because a message had been painted across it. I stared at the message in the photos Mac had taken: “You’re everything to me. I have to be everything to you.”
Adair bent over the desk, too, staring at the photos. My breath caught as I turned my head to find his face next to mine. He scowled at the photograph. “It was the first message. The first violation. I think we can be pretty certain this is about me.”
As he spoke, I found myself unable to tear my gaze from his lips.
A flutter in my stomach shocked me, and I abruptly stood, moving away from him and the computer.
He slowly stood, frowning.
Grateful that hot, embarrassed cheeks never translated to red cheeks for me, I pretended to study his suite again. “According to Mac’s notes, there were no prints. Nothing else in the room seemed broken or touched.”
“That’s right.” Adair sat on the desk, crossing his arms over his chest, his long legs sprawled out, one ankle over the other.
“There are no cameras in the hallway here, so no footage of anyone breaking in. We checked the cameras in the security booth where all our extra key cards are housed, and no evidence of anyone stealing a key card for my suite either.”
“Tell me about security on the estate. How do you ensure privacy at Ardnoch?”
“We have antidrone technology, which is our biggest defense against the tabloids or threats. A large security team who patrol the twelve hundred acres. Cameras in and around the estate … even some hidden in the woodlands. The security booth is manned twenty-four seven.”
I frowned. I’d only read some of Mac’s notes as we wandered around the castle, but surely it flummoxed him how someone could gain access to their security system.
“Cameras have been wiped, turned off …” I mused over this.
“While we have to consider there might be an issue from within your security team, we also should consider that we might be looking at a hacker.”
“A hacker?” Adair stood, his brows pulled together in concern. “A stalker who is also a hacker?”
“Or a stalker with access to a hacker. If I were you, I’d talk with whoever installed and maintains your security system.
They should be able to tell you if your security system has been hacked.
Increased data usage will be a big giveaway.
” I exhaled slowly—what I had to ask next would likely not be well received.
“What you and I need to do is narrow down a list of suspects from within the club. Because it has to be someone who can move freely around the estate.”
“I’ve already given a list to Mac and to the police. It’s a short list. I’m not in the habit of making enemies.”
This comment surprised me. “Haven’t you been the subject of stalker-like behavior before?”
“It comes with being in the public eye.”
And being major eye candy.
“And what did all those people have in common?”
Adair gave a slight shake of his hand.
I gestured to him. “They didn’t actually know you.”
His expression hardened as understanding dawned. “It could be someone I don’t even realize I’ve snubbed or pissed off.”
“Exactly. But I’m not saying it’s someone you don’t know or who doesn’t know you.
In fact, most stalkers know their victims and have formed an unhealthy obsession with them.
I think in your case, we can say due to the high level of security around Ardnoch, this is someone from within the estate or inner circle of your family and friends. ”
“No one in my family, not one friend of mine, would do this to me. It has to be someone on staff or one of the members.”
I gave him a pitying smile even though I knew it would piss him off. “Your loyalty is sweet, but I have to leave no stone unturned.”
“You will if I tell you to.”
“No.” I took a step toward him. “See, all this became less about you the moment my father was attacked. So every stone will be turned, and I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if you fight me or hate me for it.
” Before he could reply, I strode to the desk and nudged him aside so I could open a new document on the laptop.
Now that I’d started this conversation, I intended to get what I wanted from it.
“The most obvious suspect is a scorned lover.”
“No.”
I glared over my shoulder at him. “I’m absolutely positive that it is.”
“I’m not discussing my private life with you.”
“Did you discuss it with Mac?”
“There was no reason to. I don’t have an angry ex running around the estate.”
“Oh, we are confident in our ability to charm the opposite sex, aren’t we?” I straightened, my expression mocking. “Believe me, Adair, women can be good at hiding when we’re hurt or angry.”
“Contrary to your example.”
“I’m not an angry woman. You’re just intensely aggravating.”
He curled his upper lip. “Pot, meet Kettle.”
I turned to face him fully but pushed the laptop toward him with the document open where Mac had compiled the messages in chronological order.
You’re everything to me. I have to be everything to you.
You aren’t you without me.
Why won’t you see me?
You were once so very dear to me. But now so very dead to me.
I’ll make you see me. And I’ll be the last thing you ever see.
“Look at the pattern.” I pointed to the screen.
“Mac’s noted it too. The messages start off kind of lovelorn and obsessive.
The third is starting to sound desperate and hurt.
Then it abruptly changes with the dead deer carcass to a threat.
What happened there? Did you have an altercation with anyone on the estate between the time of the third and fourth messages? ”
“No, I wasn’t even on the estate. Mac suggested I leave him to run things and take a break. I went to Glasgow.”
“Why Glasgow?”
Adair looked so put off by my questioning, I actually enjoyed it. “There’s a woman there. It’s a casual thing.”
Oh.
Right.
Of course.
The guy probably had a woman in every city.
Something occurred to me. “Did anyone know that’s where you were?”
He shrugged.
“Who?”
“Why?”
“Because some obsessive stalker who, up until that point, was trying to get you to ‘see them’ suddenly turned violent after you got back from spending time with whom I’m inferring is a woman you’re in a sexual relationship with. Was this the first time you’d seen any woman sexually in a while?”
Anger brightened Adair’s eyes. “Again, I am not discussing my private life with you.”
“Oh, give me a break, Adair. I’m investigating a stalker, not compiling gossip to sell to a tabloid.”
“That doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“Considering you’re the most uptight, mistrustful son of a bitch I’ve ever encountered, I’m not going to take that personally. But Mac trusts me, so you’re going to have to unshrivel your balls and share.”
He spluttered comically. “Unshrivel my what?”
“This is getting us nowhere.” I slammed the laptop shut and picked it up. “When you realize I’m right and there may be a correlation between you leaving for Glasgow and the acceleration of events, call me. I’m staying at the Gloaming until I can find cheaper accommodation.”
I’d just touched the door handle when Adair bit out, “Everyone knew about Glasgow. Everyone in Scotland, that is.”
I turned to face him, surprised he’d given in so quickly.
His tone rang with bitterness. “Someone sold photos of me and Leighanne kissing outside a coffee shop on Buchanan Street. The photos were all over the Scottish tabloids the next day. I made sure Leighanne was okay, that the tabloids had left her alone, then I cut short my stay and returned to Ardnoch. You showed up the next day, and so did a dead deer carcass.”
“I’ll assume that last sentence wasn’t meant as some kind of tonal comparison for that particular day.”
To my utter shock, Adair’s lips actually twitched.
Was that humor in his eyes?
Who knew?
Then I realized what he’d relayed meant we were no closer to narrowing down our suspects.
Frowning in thought, I spoke. “Like I said, we have to focus on people with access to the estate.” Our eyes met, and I hated to dispel his unusual moment of almost being friendly, but I continued, “Is there anyone here who you’ve engaged in a relationship with or had bad business dealings with? ”
Just like that, the guard slammed shut over his face. “No one who could do this.”
“Lachlan … I’m just trying to help. I promise.”
I didn’t know if it was because I’d used his first name or if my softer tone worked wonders, but he let out a long, weary sigh and slumped into the armchair near his bed. “There are only two people on the estate I’ve slept with. Gabriella Ruiz is one of them. But it was years ago.”
My brain ticked over. “Isn’t she here because Sebastian Stone is a member?”
“Yes.”
“And does Stone know about your past relationship with his fiancée?”
Adair smirked. “It was hardly a relationship. But yes, he does.”
“And his attitude?”
“Shitty.” He gestured to the laptop in my hands. “But Mac has noted that, and his security team have been keeping a close eye on Stone.”
“Okay. And the other person?”
His expression clouded over. “It’s not her.”
“Who?”
I could see the muscle flexing in his jaw. Jesus, he really didn’t want to tell me. It was a shock, then, when he admitted, “Lucy.”
My eyebrows nearly hit my hairline. “Lucy Wainwright?”
“You sound surprised.”
“It’s just … Lucy Wainwright. Wow. I wouldn’t have thought you were her type.”
“What does that mean?”
“I just … I mean, she’s very … I don’t swing that way, but if I did, Lucy Wainwright would be the home screen on my phone, you know? She’s smokin’. And you …” I was just messing with him, but oh my God, it was so worth it to see him affronted.
“And I’m …?” He held out his hands, palm upward, openly offended by the unsaid insinuation that he wasn’t attractive enough to sleep with Lucy Wainwright.
“I’m sorry.” I swallowed my laughter. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sure plenty of women find you attractive enough to forgive the lack of sense of humor. I mean, Gabriella Ruiz obviously did, and she’s gorgeous, so why not Lucy?”
“I have a sense of humor. I have—for fuck’s sake.” He scowled up at the ceiling. “Why the hell am I letting her bait me?”
Covering my grin with my hand, I watched Adair as he finally returned his eyes to mine.
Realization dawned on his face. “You’re awful, you know that?”
Yet his tone suggested otherwise.
Awareness zinged between us and just like that, my smile slipped. Discomfited by the moment, I straightened from the door and cleared my throat. “I, uh … I take it from how Lucy was with you today that things ended well between you? Or haven’t they ended?”
Adair was all business again as he pushed up off the armchair. “Things ended with Lucy over a year ago. It was amicable, and we’re still very good friends. You saw how she was with Eredine. There’s no way she would put Eredine in that position today.”
“Something happened to her, didn’t it? To Eredine. In the past.”
Lachlan stared stonily at me.
Protecting her.
I got it.
Still, I said, “My offer to teach her MMA is genuine. It might help her.”
“If anyone can talk her around to it, it’ll be Lucy.”
The mention of Lucy again reminded me we were still no closer to a list of suspects, although Stone was the beginning of one. He had the motive, however flimsy, and the money to acquire a hacker. He wasn’t a strong suspect, though.
Deciding I needed to have a deeper look at Mac’s files, I motioned to the door.
“I’m going back to the village. I’ll return tomorrow for my training with Lucy.
If you have time, it would be great if you could write up a list of all your current staff, all the members who have stayed here in the last eight weeks, and notes about anything personal between you and them that you can think of. ”
“Oh, is that all?”
Ignoring his droll tone, I sighed. “I need to be thorough.”
“Fine.” He marched across the room to open the door, motioning for me to exit first.
“You don’t need to walk me out.”
“Yes, I do.”
I’d like to think it was because he was a gentleman, but I got the distinct impression it was because he didn’t want me to wander the castle alone.
Adair still didn’t trust me.
I couldn’t expect it. I rarely trusted anyone until I’d gotten to know them better.
However, I had to admit, if only to myself, that Lachlan’s determination to treat me as an outsider stung.
It stung more than I’d like.