J.T. Ellison - Where All the Dead Lie

She didn’t appreciate the innuendo.

“I haven’t a clue. I still need that weapon.”

“You don’t need a weapon. You have me.”

“And you’re so subtle. You’re the factor, remember? You can’t go crashing into the house for no reason. Just hook me up. I’m only covering my bases.”

“What’s in the house that you need a weapon to protect yourself against?”

She hesitated.

“Better to let me go in with you. Professional or not, you can’t carry on our soil. If they found out, I could be made redundant quite quickly.”

Taylor held up both hands. “No. You can’t go in there. I’ll lose her if you do. She’s not stupid, she’ll know something’s up immediately.”

“You’ll lose who?”

Time to gamble. If the family was getting death threats, if there was a chance Evan had been murdered, and Taylor had been poisoned, perhaps one person was responsible for all that. And knowing what she knew about Madeira James’s background, Taylor wasn’t all that surprised.

“Dr. James. Madeira James. She’s up at the house, got stuck there last night with her husband Roland MacDonald.”

“That nut? She’s a headshrinker. Crazy, but harmless. We’ve checked her out. The only thing we have on her is a name change. She went to James a few years back, when she stopped practicing. No one knows why.”

Stopped practicing after she changed her name. That’s why Sam hadn’t seen her listed with the licensing boards. And I know why. She’s in love with Memphis and wants part of him. What better way to share a person than by taking his name? God, the woman was sick .

“Did your investigation find her extensive juvenile record?”

His forehead creased. “No. Tell me.”

“You’re Security Service. Look it up.”

She was pissing him off now, she could tell. But she needed to get back to the house and get that laptop, and they were wasting time.

“If you think it’s her, let’s just go get her. My people are on the road. We’ll hold her until they arrive.”

“It’s not that simple. You go barging in there, she’ll clam up and we’ll get nothing. Let me do this my way. Then y’all are welcome to her.”

“‘Y’all.’ I like that.”

She had him.

“What the hell is your name?”

He gave her another of those pretty Chiclet smiles. “It actually is Jacques. My mum’s French.”

“All right then, Jacques. I still need that weapon.”

He stared at her for a few moments. “If you tell anyone I provided this to you, I’ll deny it. I’ll claim you forced your way into my desk and stole it. You got me?”

“Your name will never come up.”

He opened the desk drawer and withdrew a key. The bottom drawer on the right had a lock. He used the key to open it. Handed her a Glock 26 and a full magazine of ammunition.

She loaded the weapon, felt the familiar comfort of it in her hand, and smiled. She was starting to feel like normal.

Jacques locked the drawer back up, tossed the key into the drawer, then stood.

“I’m going in with you. I don’t care what you say. If she’s dangerous, you need protection. You’re a guest of the family. They’d have my head if something happened to you on my watch.”

“Too late for that.”

She filled him in about thinking she’d been drugged.

“You know, that’s weird. Before the wife died, there were reports that she was acting abnormally. Seeing things. That does fit, then.”

Oh, poor Evan. Poor, poor Evan. Driven off the edge, literally, by her best friend.

Jacques press-checked his weapon. “Don’t worry about me. I can be circumspect. I’ll stay around the staff, that’s what I normally do. Here’s my number. You ring if you need me. I’m a damn sight closer to you up there than down here.”

A small, soft voice rang out.

“Erm, mum? I’m needing to get back to the house.”

Shit. Maisrie. She’d completely forgotten.

Taylor turned and expertly stashed the weapon in the back of her jeans, pulled her sweater over it. No sense spooking the girl further.

“Okay, Maisrie. We’re all set. Jacques is coming back with us. Again, honey, let me stress, don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

The girl nodded her head. Taylor turned back to Jacques. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” he said.

He sounded confident. She hoped she could say the same.

They got back to the house undetected.

Maisrie led the way, through the kitchens, where Jacques, seeking to distract the crew of servants about to exit into the hallway to bring food to the dining room, made a show of entering, shaking snow off his thick hair, jovially tossing French compliments out to disarm the cook. Taylor and her small companion snuck on alone now.

Taylor heard noises coming from the hallway, a familiar voice. Maisrie stopped full, her face showing alarm. It was Trixie. Well, there’d be no helping it. With a smile, Taylor pushed Maisrie out in front of her, hoping the girl would be enterprising enough to improvise, at least long enough for Taylor to get into the drawing room.

She was hoping that Maddee would be set up in the drawing room like she had been the past two days, waiting for her, unaware of Taylor’s suspicions.

Yeah, that was probably too much to wish for.

Taylor looked at her watch. It was past two. Surely Trixie had told Maddee that she was up and about, and that Taylor knew she and Roland were in the castle.

She got to the drawing room, listening carefully for signs of someone nearby. Hearing nothing, she stuck her head in. No one was there. What luck. Perfect. She that asketh, getteth.

She slipped in. For their sessions, Maddee had kept her laptop out on the table for Taylor to use while her voice wasn’t working. When they finished the sessions, Maddee put the laptop into her bag.

Oh, this was too lucky for words. The bag was there. Now, was the laptop inside?

A flash of silver caught Taylor’s eye.

Score one for the good guys.

Taylor dove into the bag and grabbed the little laptop. She didn’t waste any more time. She needed to get back to her room. The drawing room only had one exit. Taylor went back to that door, listened, heard nothing, and slipped out into the hallway. Her heart was beating double time in her chest.

Just keep them occupied, Maisrie.

Taking Maddee’s laptop was dangerous, but there might be something on there that gave some answers to her past. And Taylor needed to delete their session notes. There was just too much personal information in them, words she’d said under hypnosis that could come back to haunt her. And God knew what sort of notes Maddee had inserted herself to make Taylor’s actions look even worse.

Up the stairs now, to the keypadded door leading to the family’s private quarters. Taylor had no idea if Maddee knew the combination. Now she understood the newly enhanced security measures: the castle being closed for the season, electronically locked doors. Jacques had started to share something that had alarmed Special Branch, something they’d found. She could only imagine what that might be. Personal protection from the government wasn’t cheap. The threat must have been very real for them to cover a continuous protection detail.

She was in the hallway now. Her room was two doors away. One door. There. She breathed a huge sigh of relief and went inside, locking it behind her. Nice to know she had a future in cat burgling, if she wanted it.

She set Maddee’s laptop on the desk. She knew it was password protected. She was going to need Lincoln’s help. But she needed to talk to Baldwin first. She dialed his number. It went to voice mail.

“Come on, Baldwin. Pick up your phone.”