Here With Me (Adair Family 1)

“Haven’t you all got work to do?” Lachlan demanded. Their expressions turned sheepish in response. “Well?”

“You heard Mr. Adair!” his sous chef, Raffaella, yelled in her Italian accent as his kitchen staff skittered away from the door. “Back to work!”

Leaving her to deal with them, he 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 their security men. Lachlan’s head of security looked up as he slowly approached. “Prepare yourself. It’s not pretty.”

The smell hit him first, and he swallowed hard against the urge to gag.

“Fuck,” he muttered as his eyes 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. Lachlan looked up at Mac.

He held out a white card. Noting Mac wore gloves to touch it, Lachlan didn’t take it from him.

But reading it, his 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.” He 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 Lachlan. “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 him something he already knew. “Unless they want a lawsuit on their hands, they won’t talk.”

Lachlan 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.

Lachlan wasn’t convinced. “How did this happen?” He 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 Lachlan 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?” Lachlan raised an eyebrow. Collum McCulloch’s family had farmed the land north of Ardnoch for generations. He and Lachlan’s father had a bitter history, which had trickled down into his interactions with the younger Adairs.

“I’ll risk owing him for the sake of this poor beast.” Mac shot the deer a saddened look before gesturing Lachlan inside the castle.

“No footage?” he asked Mac as soon as they 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 he’d been subjected to stalker-like messages, but nothing like this. Or within his own circle. “I’m giving you two weeks to resolve this, Mac. Then I’m going to the police.” He simmered with anger. They’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 him. “I know. I am too. But let’s try to stay focused. I’ll have Tracey run prints on the card.”

Lachlan’s 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.”

Lachlan 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.” His friend frowned. “I think something might have happened to her.”

“Like what?”

“I’m not sure. She’s …” He shrugged.

That earlier unease Lachlan had felt returned. “I might have said something to her I shouldn’t have.”