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“You’re involved, either way,” Mike explained. “He was your employee, and you had an altercation with him shortly before his death. I am definitely going to need a statement. Now, rumor has it that you and both of your brothers were at Marnie’s recently, and there was quite a scene. This man hasn’t been dead for long. There’s no rigor, and his body was still warm when we tried to revive him. I think the TOD will clear you, but we have to go through the motions first. And you’re right, the SIM card is missing. There are also some signs of struggle. ”
“I punched him before his death,” Slade admitted. “That should account for the bruising on his face. ”
Mike nodded, jotting a few notes. “Thanks, but there’s more. Quite frankly, his skin isn’t the right color for a hanging. I don’t believe for a second this man died of asphyxiation. This room has an eight foot ceiling, not high enough for the long fall necessary to break someone’s neck.
Yet it appears that’s what happened. It takes more force than you would guess to kill a man that way. None of this adds up. ”
Dex looked around the room. The belt that had been used in the hanging still swung from the ceiling. “How did he get up there? Did you move a chair? A table?” Mike wiped a hand across his face and looked like he would really rather be fishing. “That would be question number three. Nothing has been moved except the body, and that was only moved in an attempt to revive him. Ben took him down and tried CPR, but he was gone. ” Slade came to several conclusions, none of them pleasant. Preston hadn’t been the tallest man, maybe five foot nine inches. The ceiling was at most eight feet. He would have needed something to lift him to the right height. “So unless he jumped, then someone helped him up there. That means someone killed Preston because he knew something or did something. ”
“Anything going on at Black Oak that I should know about?” Mike asked. “Any takeover attempts? Corporate espionage?”
Corporate politics could be nasty, but Black Oak Oil was solid. They weren’t developing anything another company would want. They were in the business of finding oil and refining it.
Slade had a bad feeling that this wasn’t about Black Oak Oil at all. This was about Hannah.
Everything had been about her, he suspected, like the virus being uploaded to the site. Someone had followed his obsession over three thousand miles. That was sick dedication.
Someone had watched Hannah much more closely than they’d imagined.
“Where are the techs, Scott and Lyle?” Slade asked, his voice hoarse.
He ran through the series of events and came to one conclusion: The murderer—and Hannah’s stalker—had to be one of them. Lyle had been in the office when Dex had carried Hannah out. Scott had planned an “important” lunch with her that very day. Gossip being what it was, either could have easily found out where he and his brothers had taken her. Either could have uploaded the virus.
“As far as I know, they’re at the lodge. I was going to head over there and talk to them as soon as we wrapped everything up here. They can’t go anywhere until tomorrow. The only way out is by plane, and Jimmy is passed out, according to Marnie,” Mike explained.
Whichever tech was the guilty party, he wouldn’t want to leave. He would still want Hannah—quickly—before anyone had time to figure out that Preston had been murdered and who’d been the culprit. Reaching Hannah meant traveling to the house. Anyone with access to a car could do that.
His blood running cold, Slade punched in Gavin’s number. He would tell his older brother to take Hannah into the mountains. Gavin knew that terrain in a way Scott and Lyle wouldn’t.
Hunting cabins dotted the mountainside. Anyone who wasn’t familiar with the area would need a map to find them. She would be safe. Gavin would shoot anyone who came her way.
But damn it, the call wasn’t connecting. Poor signal all of a sudden. His phone was useless.
“I can’t get a signal. ” Panic threatened to overtake him. He picked up the nearest landline and dialed the house.
After ten rings, he gave up. Dex stared at him as though willing Slade to give him good news.
Slade wished he could lie. “He isn’t answering. ”
Dex swore. “I’m not wasting time. I’m going after her. ”
Slade agreed. “Sheriff, we’re going to need to borrow a car. ”
* * * *
Hannah left the bathroom feeling a bit more relaxed. She’d showered and finally taken that darn plug out. She’d likely get in trouble for removing it, but she seriously doubted that Dex or Slade had intended that she wear it all day.
Besides, she wouldn’t really mind the spanking she would get. In fact, she might actually like it.
Hannah Craig liked spankings. Bye bye, good girl.
But maybe enjoying a good spanking didn’t make her a bad girl. Maybe it just made her honest with herself. She’d spent so much of her life trying to be what everyone around her expected that she’d forgotten to just be her.
As hard as she might try, Hannah couldn’t see anything really wrong with loving three men.
They weren’t hurting anyone. Why did there have to be a boundary on love?
She didn’t bother to close the curtains as she walked into the bedroom suite. Someone had left them wide open, and the big bay windows offered an amazing view of the mountains. Alaska was stunning. It was such a change from the big city and encroaching summer heat of Texas.
Everything seemed lush and vibrant in air so fresh and crisp that it was a joy to breathe.
She felt truly alive for the first time in her life. Being in Alaska helped that feeling, but it was more about her men. Was she really going to let that feeling go because she was mad at Gavin?
Yes, he’d said some ugly things. But the Lord above knew that she’d said some things in the past that she’d regretted. She didn’t think Gavin would hurt her again. And if he did, Dex and Slade would kick him back in line.
The sun streamed through the windows, and Hannah opened the French doors that led to the patio with a smile. She was only dressed in her robe, but there wasn’t anyone around to see her.
It was nice to be alone for a minute. If those boys had their way, it wouldn’t last for long.
She breathed in the slightly chilly air and thought seriously about dropping the robe to feel the breeze on her skin. If she did, the brothers would find her that way, lounging naked on the patio, reveling in her newfound sensuality. Dex would be the first to attack her, and Slade would follow, their hands, lips, and tongues roaming her body feverishly.
She would look up, and Gavin would be watching, waiting to see if she would let him in.
Making love with him would be a nice way to let him know she was willing to talk. Well, maybe not to talk, but she was willing to try. She couldn’t let her fear rule her. If Gavin walked out again, then she would deal with it. That was a risk every woman took.
Her hand grasped the tie of her robe. She was just about to let it drop when she heard a voice.
“Hannah?”
She looked up—and realized that she wasn’t so safe here after all.
Chapter Thirteen
“Scott?” Hannah blinked, unable to believe he’d come here and found his way to the patio beside her bedroom. Why would he do that? He’d been desperately trying to see her the day the James Gang had dragged her off to Alaska. She could only think of one reason he’d come now.
He was her stalker.
Hannah took a step back, panic flooding her system. She was brutally aware that she was alone. The quiet of the afternoon, once so peaceful, now felt ominous. She glanced over her shoulder, past her bedroom, to the empty hallway. Where was Gavin?
“I’m so glad I found you. ” Scott sighed. “I feel like I walked miles to get to you. But I couldn’t stop. I had to see you. Hannah, I need to talk to you. ” Scott’s face was bunched up, some unnamed emotion animating him. He looked young and slightly vulnerable sta
nding there with the early evening light lighting up his pale hair like a halo. But it was all an illusion.
“If you wanted to talk to me, you should have given me a call. ” Of course, it wasn’t as if she and Scott were best friends. A phone call would have been suspicious. If he had, that likely would have tipped her off. Or if she hadn’t grasped his guilt right away, one of her hovering men would have.
She wished those men were here now. Slade and Dex were back in River Run investigating Preston’s suicide. Or had his death been suicide at all? Hannah nibbled nervously on her bottom lip as all kinds of possibilities rolled over her. Had Scott killed Preston? How far was he willing to go to take her?
Would Gavin be able to hear her if she screamed?
“I tried to call. I can’t get cell service. ” Scott’s gaze bounced all over, clearly skittish. “I think he’s blocking it. There are several ways to block local signals. He’s way smarter and more devious than I gave him credit for. ”
Hannah looked back to the French doors. Could she make it through them and into her bedroom before he caught her?
If she hadn’t been so damn stubborn, she would have been with Gavin, talking through their problems.
“Where’s Mr. Townsend? I tried the front door, but no one answered. I really need to talk to him, or Mr. James. Hannah there’s something you need to know. ” Hannah stopped and let his words sink in. “You tried the front door?” Scott nodded. “Yeah. I knocked. I didn’t, like, open it or anything. This is a rich folks’ place.
You never know, they might release the hounds or something. I thought maybe everyone had come out back, but…Hannah, someone’s after you. ”
“I know. ” She couldn’t keep the fear from her voice.
“Oh, crap. You think it’s me. ” Scott shook his head and held his hands up, showing her he’d come unarmed.
“Well, you’re here, not in Dallas where you’re supposed to be. The whole reason Slade, Dex, and Gavin brought me up here was to escape this stalker. ”
“That makes sense. I was on my way to your office to pick you up for an early lunch so I could warn you when I saw your…exit. But he saw it, too. An hour later, a virus had crashed the River Run facility. So I volunteered for this assignment, hoping I’d get a chance to see you and—”
“Who saw my exit? Who are you trying to warn me about?”
“Lyle. ”
The truth washed over her. Lyle Franklin. She’d met him her first day on the job. He’d brought her laptop and helped her set it up. He was the head of the help desk, but he’d found time to help a new girl out. He’d been patient with her. She’d heard rumors that he was difficult to work with, but brilliant when it came to systems upkeep and repair. She’d never found him difficult. Anytime she’d had trouble and called the help desk, he’d come personally.
At the time, she’d thought he’d taken care of her because she was the boss’s admin. There wasn’t an employee at Black Oak who didn’t want Gavin James to owe him or her a favor. She’d had lunch with Lyle on a couple of occasions in large groups, but turned him down for dinner because it had seemed too much like a date, and she hadn’t wanted to lead him on. She’d never felt anything beyond vague friendship for the lanky, self-conscious man.
How much had he hidden from her?
“I think I should go and find Gavin. ” Hannah knew she needed to be cautious. She wasn’t about to fully trust anyone except her men. She would go and get Gavin, and they could talk to Scott together.
Unless Scott was lying to gain her trust. Then he wouldn’t let her move an inch off this patio.
She backed toward the French doors, easing closer to them. She would lock them behind her and find Gavin. They could get the sheriff, who could sort out everything in a nice, safe interrogation room where all the employees had guns and the right to shoot people.
That sounded like a plan.
“That’s a good idea, Hannah. ” Scott’s voice had taken on a soothing quality. He sat down at the patio table, carefully placing his hands on top. “Please tell Mr. James not to shoot me on sight. I get that you have to be cautious. I do. I’ll wait here. ” Hannah still didn’t turn her back on him.
“And Hannah, if your computer’s on, turn it off. ”
“Why?” She’d turned it on earlier in the day hoping to check her e-mail. It was still sitting open on the desk in her suite. She almost always left it up and ready to use.
“You have a webcam on that computer, Hannah. He’s been watching you through it for months. It’s how I figured out his scheme. Preston made us share a conference room back in Dallas for one of those installation task forces on Monday. Lyle left to go do something, and I was looking for a missing file. Instead, I saw videos of you. ”
“Me?”
Scott flushed a bit. “Yes. He has a ton of videos of you. He’s been watching you day and night. Some are just long videos of you lying around in your undies reading a book or talking on the phone. It looks like you’re in the bedroom. ”