Colton's Secret Bodyguard

“Shall we take a look at the damage to the ceiling?” Bree asked.

They went out into the corridor. There were water stains on the wall near Bree’s office and a large chunk of plaster had fallen from the ceiling. Although someone had clearly swept the floor, Rylan could see marks on the tiles beneath the gaping hole. Tape had been placed across the corridor, with a sign warning of the danger.

“David was being safety conscious as usual,” Kasey said.

“Just as well.” Rylan studied the damage. “That’s definitely unsafe.”

“It is.” David approached them from the direction of the gallery. He nodded a greeting to Rylan and Bree. “I explained to Kasey that this needs to be fixed as soon as possible. I’d have done it myself, but it needs a professional builder.”

“That’s okay. It looks like you had your work cut out cleaning up the mess,” Bree said. “And in my apartment, from what Kasey tells me. Thank you for all your hard work.”

“All part of the job.” He appeared embarrassed at her thanks. “I hope you didn’t mind me going up there?”

“Goodness, no. If you hadn’t, things would have been so much worse.” Bree turned to Kasey. “Shall we get on with this paperwork?”

Rylan accompanied the two women into Kasey’s office while David went back to his own duties. Bree and Kasey began talking business, and now that he was reassured that Bree was not in any danger from her assistant, Rylan was starting to feel antsy. What he really wanted to do was to speak to Judith at Arty Sans.

His restlessness must have been apparent because Bree looked up from her task. “Is there a problem?”

“No.”

He loved the way her eyes crinkled at the corners when she smiled. “Not fooling anyone, Rylan.”

“I could make myself useful and get us some coffee.” He jerked a thumb in the direction of the door.

“You can’t use the kitchen because that would mean going past the damaged section of the corridor,” Kasey said. “If you want coffee, you’ll have to go to Arty Sans.”

Rylan cast a longing look over his shoulder. Going to the coffee shop was exactly what he wanted. But that would mean leaving Bree.

She appeared to understand his thought process. “I’ll be fine. Papadum is here.”

Kasey was watching them. From her expression, she clearly thought he might be the one who was obsessed with Bree. It was true, of course. The difference was Rylan’s fixation involved wanting to spend the rest of his life in a normal relationship with her. Unlike the stalker, who wanted to harm her.

“Five minutes.” He headed for the door. “If you need me, call me. Scream. Set off the fire alarms. Whatever it takes.”

“Is he always this overprotective?” Kasey’s bemused question followed him.

When Rylan reached Arty Sans, there were only a few customers at the counter. A quick glance around revealed that Judith was clearing tables.

“Oh, it’s you.” Her brow cleared as she recognized him. “Where’s your funny looking dog?”

“I only have a few minutes, but I need to ask you a couple of more questions about Roaring Springs’ local history. Is that okay?”

She glanced at her watch. “Sure. I’m just about to take my break.”

They went out into the courtyard and sat at one of the wooden bench tables.

“You said that a conservation group was formed to preserve the original function of these buildings. Can you remember the name of the group, or who was running it?” Rylan asked.

Judith shook her head. “It wasn’t very successful. As I told you, the buildings had fallen into disrepair. To be honest, preserving them so that they could continue to serve their original purposes would have been an impossible task. The only future was demolition or giving the area a new focus, which is what happened with the redevelopment.”

It wasn’t the answer he wanted, but it was what he’d expected. “The online forum you run, does it have old photographs of this area?”

“Yes.” Judith nodded. “There’s a whole section dedicated to pictures.”

Rylan took out his cell phone. “What’s the link?”