“Postmark, Fort William. Could be a local. Could be a visitor,” Lake said.
“Fingerprints?” Josh clenched his fists to stop from hitting something. Or someone.
“I’ll send it off,” the cop said, shrugging, “but the lab can take weeks.”
“Was there an outright threat with it?”
His eyes were on Lake and Donaldson, but it was Caroline who spoke. “Apart from the note, I’m taking the fact someone stuck a needle through a doll’s eye as a threat. The doll is supposed to be me. She has the same fashion sense.” Her voice was brittle, making Josh think he was missing something.
“What’s the rest of this story?” he asked Lake.
Lake nudged some tabloids and magazines towards him. “Caroline has made national news, and it isn’t good. Same story in all of them. Some are sympathetic, some aren’t. The photos were taken over the past few years. Looks like someone local fed the press.”
Josh felt pain in his jaw as his teeth clenched hard. He handed the pile of papers to Mitch, who let out a grunt of disgust as he sifted through them.
“This is why your mum and Kirsty are here. They saw the papers and came to offer support.” Lake smiled slightly. “We were in the newsagent when Kirsty went ballistic. She tried to buy every copy until I pointed out that even if Caroline was in the shop, she probably wouldn’t notice. Romance novels and Scottish heritage magazines, yes, tabloids and fashion mags, no.”
Caroline beamed at Lake. Josh stepped towards Caroline, threw an arm around her shoulders and tugged her to his side. Sure, it was a possessive move. But he was too annoyed to care.
“I think you should ask the butcher if he’s sold any hearts recently,” Caroline told Donaldson.
“Aye, I thought of that, Caroline,” the local cop said.
“And you should also ask at the newsagent if anyone bought a big parcel box.”
The cop just stared at her. Josh squeezed her shoulders. “I think Officer Donaldson knows what he’s doing, baby.”
She wasn’t listening. “Another question is why did the package come here instead of to my home address? Maybe it was sent by someone who only knew where I work? I know!” She shrugged out from under Josh’s arm and bent over her computer. She pressed some keys, and a minute later a list of email addresses began printing out. “All of these people applied for the job as my assistant based on the fact I’m marrying Josh. Most of them aren’t from town, so they would only have the community centre address. Maybe one of them doesn’t want me to marry Josh.”
The cop accepted the list. “That’s a good idea, Caroline, but I know what I’m doing.”
She snapped her back straight and stuck her nose in the air. “I’m not saying you don’t. I’m only trying to help. To coordinate this situation.” She didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, she looked at the magazines. “As for this. We’ll organise some people to check where the photos were taken; that should narrow down who took them and lead us to whoever sold the story.”
“Or”—Josh nudged her away from the magazines—“I can have Lake and Mitch deal with that, while you get fitted for your wedding dress.”
Her eyes snapped to the clock high on the wall. “I forgot all about the fitting.”
“I know. They called me three times because they kept getting the voice mail on your cell. Mobile phone, babe, mobile phone.”
“Right.” Caroline bent down and picked up her ugly briefcase. “I better get to the castle.”
Josh stopped her before she could escape. “Do me a favour, make sure Mom and Kirsty go with you.”
“Why?” She looked genuinely confused.
He bent and kissed her nose. “They’re upset. It will be a good diversion for them. Plus Kirsty has to try on the bridesmaid dresses they brought for her.”
“Right. Of course she has a fitting too.” Caroline strode to the door. “If I think of anything else you should do,” she said to Officer Donaldson, “I’ll call.”
“You do that,” he said with a smile.
Once Caroline was gone, Josh felt his rage build. “Your guy is still with her, right?”
“You don’t need to worry. I told him to wait outside. H
e won’t let her out of his sight.”
Josh took a deep breath then looked to Mitch. “The tabloids and mags…I need you on damage control. They know Caroline doesn’t have a team behind her or they wouldn’t have tried this garbage. Now she has my team. Make this go away. Do everything you can think of to turn this around for her. Okay?”