Chapter 27 #2
“I’ll be all right,” she managed, then she took his hand in hers and held it as tightly as she could bear to.
It all made sense, now, and she couldn’t really blame him for not having said anything.
That medieval tendency to send the women back to the house while the men took care of the dirty work of battle outside still ran true in all the MacLeods.
She couldn’t have expected anything less from Cameron.
“How about another piece of the puzzle?” Alex asked. “You asked me to find out who’s behind the trust that’s buying up so much of Cameron Ltd., and I found a couple of names that might interest you.”
Sunny looked at Cameron in shock. “Your business, too? Where does it all end?”
“Hopefully with us putting up our feet in front of the fire in Cameron Hall,” Cameron said with a smile. “It’s been a bit of a siege, actually, against me personally and against both my companies.”
“And a not-unskilled one,” Alex said. “Uncovering all the details took a bit of doing and, of course, more money to grease the appropriate palms. The trust is registered, after a handful of layers, to Nathan Ainsworth, which you already know, Cameron. Another ridiculous number of layers down, I found Penelope’s signature.
At the bottom of the pile is yet another name you’ll recognize. ”
“I can hardly wait,” Cameron said sourly. “Who?”
Alex looked at him tranquilly. “Tavish Fergusson.”
“Tavish?” Sunny gasped.
“It boggles the mind, doesn’t it?” Alex said with a laugh. “I didn’t think he had the good sense to count the money in his till every night, much less be involved in any dastardly deeds.”
“How in the world did he meet the Ainsworths?” Cameron asked.
“His youngest sister is a maid in Rodney’s house,” Alex said with a shrug. “That was pure chance, though. Vivian was going to school in London, waiting tables, and she met Rodney’s housekeeper’s daughter who told her there was a place for her if she wanted it.”
Cameron shook his head. “I don’t know how you find out these things.”
“Friends in low places, usually, but you can thank Patrick for that last bit. After Sunny came home from points unknown wrapped in a Cameron plaid, he was eager to make certain his sister-in-law wasn’t in love with a loser, so he put out his own feelers on you.
He’s also the one who provided you with that little dossier on Nathan’s more disgusting habits and all the credit accounts of Penelope’s that you don’t know about but I’m sure she’ll try to get you to pay off before you dump her. ”
“I can hardly wait,” Cameron grumbled. “I can’t understand, though, why they would bother with Tavish. He has no money.”
“He’s stupid, though,” Alex said, “and could easily be used as a stooge for any number of things. Money laundering, diversion—”
“Poison,” Sunny interrupted quietly.
Alex fixed her with a look. “Well, yes, as it happens.” He nodded at the papers in her hands. “Better have a look at those labs, Sunny, and sooner rather than later.”
“But why would anyone want to poison Rodney Ainsworth?” she asked.
Cameron shrugged. “Money? Power? There are many reasons why you might want the patriarch of a family out of your way.”
“Especially if you’re the son who’s so deep in debt from horses and cocaine that you’re willing to do anything to have your legacy on an accelerated schedule, as it were,” Alex said.
“Or if you’re the daughter who clings to a lifestyle far above what she can manage financially but who would do anything not to have any of her friends know it.
” Alex leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.
“I find it curious, Cameron, that Rodney dies and suddenly you find yourself besieged on all sides. You were the executor of the will, true, but the probate was very quick and the distribution of assets clearly defined. Neither Nathan nor Penelope stands to gain anything from your death—no matter what those trinkets you have might contain.”
“Do you think they’re vexing me out of spite?” Cameron asked.
Alex pursed his lips thoughtfully. “That’s possible, I suppose, but it doesn’t seem reasonable.
” He paused for another moment or two. “It seems to me that either Rodney’s death was the cause of all your troubles, or Rodney’s death was a means to distract you from what’s going to become your real trouble very soon. ”
Sunny felt Cameron go absolutely still next to her.
“Indeed,” he said finally.
“I can continue to dig for you,” Alex said slowly, “but I’m not sure you want me stirring the pot any more than I have already.
I’ve been discreet, but I’m not infallible.
” He paused. “I suppose I can see either Nathan or Penelope killing their father for the money—heaven knows they both need it—but that just doesn’t feel right to me.
They seem to be stringing you along, hassling you, trying to make you more miserable than lifeless—if you know what I mean.
The reason why is what eludes me.” He smiled.
“Just who have you really irritated lately, Cameron, besides Patrick MacLeod?”
Cameron took a deep breath. “The list is long.”
“I’ll just bet it is,” Alex said with half a laugh. “And on a more serious note, Patrick wants Sunny home. I’m not sure I shouldn’t be the one to get her there since he tried to kill you the last time you met.”
“I have no secrets, I see,” Cameron said shortly.
“Oh, come on,” Alex said, his eyes twinkling. “Do you think I could actually talk to Pat and not have him describe in the greatest of detail how he’d roughed you up? He said you were so terrified, you swooned right into Sunny’s doorway and cold-cocked yourself.”
Sunny found Cameron looking at her. “Will it bother Madelyn if I kill her husband?”
“It might,” she conceded.
Alex laughed. “I think he might have felt bad about the last, but not too bad. He knows Sunny’s fond of you, though, so I think once he’s properly repaid you for whatever grief he thinks you’ve caused his sister-in-law, he’ll play nice.
He would, though, stand back-to-back with you right now if you needed him to. ”
“That’s something,” Cameron murmured.
“It is,” Alex agreed. “I’m not going to tell you anything you don’t already know, Cameron, but the people you’re dealing with in London are very dangerous. Sunny could stay quite safely and happily with Pat and Madelyn. It would leave you free to concentrate on unraveling this mess.”
Sunny watched them exchange a long look. She cleared her throat. “Don’t I get to have an opinion?”
“Have a conversation with Margaret,” Alex suggested, then he held up his hand.
“On second thought, don’t. She would just tell you to get a sword and sharpen it yourself.
Instead, go talk to Elizabeth—or your sister.
They would both tell you about the joys of pacing by the fire as war raged outside the keep.
” He looked at her seriously. “You know, Cameron’s less likely to get himself killed if he doesn’t have to worry about you. ”
Sunny looked at Cameron. “Well?”
“Alex makes a very good point,” Cameron conceded. “Patrick could keep you safe and leave me free to do what I must. I’ll come home as often as I can.” He looked at her solemnly. “I lost you once. I couldn’t bear to lose you again.”
She looked down at the scrapes on her hands. She’d earned them even though Derrick had been following her. If she forced him to continue to follow her, he wouldn’t be guarding Cameron. She couldn’t deprive Cameron of that protection just because she didn’t want to sit in front of the fire and wait.
“All right,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll go home. But you’ll call me.”
“Aye.”
“And you’ll hurry.”
He put his arms around her and pulled her close. “I will.”
“Have you two thought about just getting a room and getting this all out of your systems?” Alex asked with a laugh. “Sunny keeps looking at you like you’re some sort of delicious, chocolate-smothered dessert she can’t wait to stick her fork into.”
Cameron glared at him. “You said you jousted for your lady wife, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“I hope it hurt.”
Alex only laughed briefly. “It did. Repeatedly.” He rubbed his hands together. “Let me know what you find in Rodney’s trinkets. And think about the other. I’m convinced Rodney’s death was a red herring. I think if I were you, I’d be looking for the real deal to show up from another direction.”
Cameron sighed deeply. “I will.”
“Sunny, hand your lover there those papers,” Alex said. “I want him to take a look at another thing or two before I kick you two out. You don’t want to be wandering around Paris unchaperoned, now do you?”
Sunny exchanged a very grave look with Cameron, then went to say her good-byes to Margaret and the rest of the family while Cameron and Alex wrapped up the last of their business.
She supposed he wasn’t completely surprised by what he’d heard, but she had been.
To think this was what he’d been living with . . .
No wonder he’d needed a refuge.
She stood near the door a few minutes later and watched him shake hands with Alex.
He laughed at something Alex said and she smiled reflexively.
She would have to tell Jamie at some point how grateful she was that he’d thought up the excuse of the leisure center—as much for Cameron himself as for her.
He deserved to have souls around him who valued him, who were willing to stand by him.
She was very glad she had stayed.
Half an hour later, she was walking hand in hand with Cameron and contemplating what she could do in Scotland to help Cameron.
Maybe she would see what Rodney’s postmortem revealed, then do a little research on her own.
She was, after all, a grown woman. She could decide for herself what she should be doing.
And the first decision she would make was to never, ever take a shortcut through an alley.
She and Cameron were halfway down one when they were surrounded. Well, perhaps surrounded was too glorified a term for it. Three lads came at them from out of nowhere. Cameron cursed as he backed her up against the wall and put himself between her and the men.
It was so familiar, she almost had to sit.
But this wasn’t medieval Scotland and Cameron didn’t have a Claymore strapped to his back.
He stood in front of her with his hands in plain sight and spoke calmly to the men in front of him.
He spoke his French very poorly, which she understood immediately was a ruse.
So much the better if their attackers didn’t know he could understand them.
She was tempted to reach into his pocket and pull out his phone to call Derrick, but realized that was unnecessary when she saw another shadow slipping along the wall behind the men. The calvary to the rescue, apparently.
“Say again what you want?” Cameron said, stumbling over his words.
“Money, monsieur,” the lad said politely. “Keys to your car. Then your lady friend, after we’re finished with you.”
Sunny had watched Cameron leave his keys and his credit cards in the room’s safe. She supposed he had money enough, but she doubted he would sacrifice them just to hold on to that. He pulled out a wad of euros and tossed it clumsily at the head lad.
Then he stopped making any pretense of being less than what he was.
He took out the lad on the left with a well-placed fist to the face, then began to work on the one directly in front of him.
Derrick came up behind the third man and rendered him blissfully unconscious. She closed her eyes in relief.
But when she opened them, she was looking into the face of the first man. Blood dripped down his chin and he looked as if he’d just lost a tooth or two.
And he had a knife in his hand.
She watched it come down toward her and was too stunned to do anything about it.