Sweetest Taboo (SIN 3)

But in the last few weeks, she'd started posting about him and Jane. Words like "perverted" and "sick fuck" and "skanky bitch" showed up with alarming regularity.

He'd never thought she was violent. Never even gotten a hint of a vibe.

He damn sure had a vibe now.

But was that because Carol Lucas was the real sick fuck? Or because somebody wanted him to think so?

"Do you really think it's her?" Jane asked later, once the officers and the crime scene unit had cleared the scene.

"Honestly? No." He'd told the police everything he could remember about Lucas, and they promised to keep him in the loop. He had no intention of waiting for them to report back, though, and he'd already texted Liam with the relevant details and instructions to dig into Lucas.

"Me neither," Jane said. "She's too young to be the Woman. And even though my stalker might be some deranged former fuck of yours, I don't really think so."

"We also have to factor in that the attack on you in New York was planned. That van was ready to whisk you away. Unless Lucas is bi-coastal--and I don't think she is--that would be a hard job for her to coordinate."

Jane nodded. "Which means the Woman is using Lucas's crazy tweets as camouflage."

"Exactly." They were inside on the sofa, the bottle of wine on the coffee table in front of them, and the caviar and champagne forgotten. He topped off Jane's glass and handed it to her. She took a gulp instead of a sip, the only outward sign that she was still shaken.

"That means she followed us to LA," Jane said. She shuddered, then took a smaller drink of wine. "That means she's watching us. Always watching us. That completely freaks me out."

"I know."

His phone buzzed, and he glanced at it. An incoming call from Adele. He switched it to silent.

"You should answer it," Jane said. "Those reporters. She probably caught our act on the Internet and is calling to make sure we're okay. For that matter, I should call Mom, too."

He wasn't in the mood for Adele, but he also knew Jane was right. So while she took her phone into the kitchen to call their mother, he answered Adele right before the call rolled to voicemail.

"Are you both okay?" was the first thing she said. The second was, "Between you and Colin, my hair's going to turn completely gray before the week is out."

"We're fine," Dallas said. "Shaken up, but fine. But what's going on with Colin?" He kept the words casual. Surely she didn't suspect that he'd been snatched. They'd deal with it if some sort of official investigation had begun surrounding Colin's disappearance, but it was much neater if the world simply presumed that he was off on a jaunt, as a man of some wealth and a spurious background might be inclined to do.

"What's going on is I still haven't heard from him. I'm starting to get worried, Dallas. It isn't like him to stay out of touch for so long."

"Have you been to his house? Anything look out of place?"

"I went two days ago before I headed out of town myself. All locked up nice and tight, but of course I have the key. His passport's not in his safe--"

"You have access to his safe?"

"Well, not officially, but we were married for years, and he never did bother to change passcodes. I used the old combination, and it worked."

"But that's the answer, then. He went overseas on a whim. He's probably in Aruba soaking up the sun."

She made a disbelieving noise.

"Fine," he said placatingly. "I'll be back in a day or so. We'll go to his house, check his calendar, his financial records. We'll make a plan, and if he hasn't turned up by the weekend, we'll go to the authorities."

"You don't think I should call the police now?"

"I think it would be premature, but if it would make you feel better..." He said the latter because it seemed like the reasonable thing to say, but he kept his fingers crossed in the hopes that she wouldn't take the suggestion.

After a moment, she sighed. "Perhaps you're right. I'll see you soon?"

"I'll call you when we get back."

"And Jane is doing well? The horror of that poor animal after her own attack--she may look like she's coping, darling, but you need to keep an eye on her. That girl has been through a lot."