Chapter Thirteen
Nick was already up, showered and dressed, and drinking coffee when Lindsey made it downstairs in the morning. She was glad she’d had the space to herself to dress and get her scrambled brain working after the highly charged emotion of the previous day. Not to mention the frantic, desperate sex.
“You sure you want to go into the office today?” he asked.
“Of course.” She lifted her chin. “It’s Monday, and I have work to do.”
A half hour later, Nick piloted the truck through Interstate traffic as they drove to the office. “I’m hoping my techs found something in the documents I emailed them. They scanned in each of the photos we emailed them. We’ve got some pretty sophisticated recognition software, so if these faces ever showed up anywhere, we can find them.”
Lindsey fidgeted with the clasp on her seat belt. “One minute I want to find the answers,” she told him, “and the next I’m almost afraid to.”
He reached over and touched her hand. “Whatever we find, don’t you think it’s better than not knowing? Especially if there’s a chance it leads us to your stalker and we get that monkey off your back.”
“This is all so hard for me to absorb. First I didn’t have a past. Now it’s possible someone from it is out to get me.” She shivered. “What did you find out about the text message?”
“Bad news. It was sent from a throwaway cell phone. Completely untraceable. Whoever is doing this is smart and covers his tracks well. The phone is a dead end, just as this person knew it would be.”
“What will you be doing today?” she wanted to know.
“Sticking to you like glue.” He slid a glance at her. “You don’t leave my sight.”
Which could prove uncomfortable rather than reassuring, considering the current state of her emotions where this man was concerned.
The office was humming when they got there. Brianna was on the phone talking while typing on the computer. Through the open door to the workroom, Lindsey could see Mark bent over the drafting table, furiously intent on what he was doing. There was a stack of messages for her on the corner of Bri’s desk that she picked up and leafed through as she walked into her office.
“I’ll be in the apartment,” Nick told her. “I have calls to make, and I want to boot up my laptop.”
“Fine.” She turned away with her messages still in her hand, ordering herself to focus on work.
Thirty minutes later, Nick was back at her desk. “Okay, you need to make some changes here. For the moment, no new clients.”
“Wait a minute,” she protested.
“Just for the here and now,” he added. “The office is still checking everything, including what we found in those boxes. But we don’t know who’s coming out of the woodwork, and your stalker could easily pose as a new client to get closer to you.”
Lindsey felt the blood leave her face. “You’re kidding, right?”
Nick shook his head. “Not one bit. The guys at Guardian are still running those photos, but there are a lot of databases to go through. Then, if they get a hit, we have to use a computer aging process to see what that person or persons would look like today. Until we can do that, I don’t want any strangers having access to you.”
“Oh.” Lindsey put down her pen and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her forehead. “I see what you mean. That makes sense.”
“You’re busy with ongoing work anyway, right?”
She nodded. “Yes, and I can use the time to finish that.”
Nick rested a hip on one corner of the desk. “As a matter of fact, I’m thinking you should plan to take a little time off.”
“Time off?” Startled, she waved her hands at the files on her desk. “But—”
“Not much. But when we get a lead on where those photos were taken, I’ll want to go there and check things out myself.” He grinned. “And I know for damn sure you’ll want to go with me.”
“Yes, you’re right.” She tried to give him an answering smile, but her mouth couldn’t quite manage it. “Although I’m still terrified of what we might find.”
He leaned forward and reached for her chin, tilting her face up. “Whatever we find, I’d be right there with you, okay?”
As casually as possible, she took his wrist and moved his hand away, trying to ignore the confused look on his face. “Okay.”
He opened his mouth to say something else, shook his head, and walked back into the apartment. At noon, he came to fetch her for lunch. “I ordered a pizza. Again, I don’t want anyone to know your lunch plans, so Tony is going to pick it up on the way over. He’s bringing me some information.”
“Oh, Nick.” A thread of excitement wiggled through her. “Do you think he’s got something?”
“Looks like it. But let’s wait until he gets here and we check it out.”
Following Nick’s instruction, she was deliberately vague with Brianna and Mark about her lunch plans. She locked the office as soon as they’d left and headed into the apartment. Tony had just arrived with the pizza.
“You must be the most expensive delivery man around,” Lindsey kidded him.
“No joke.” He grinned. “You should see my hourly rates.”
“Have you got something for us?” Her voice was eager as she pulled plates and glasses out of the cupboards.
“I do, but let’s not let the pizza get cold. We can talk while we eat.” When they were settled at the table, he opened his briefcase and took out a folder. “Let’s look at the newspaper first, the one the clipping was from. That was a little easier.”
“You mean that was a real publication?” Lindsey tried to tamp down her excitement.
Tony nodded. “The Beach Recorder was—-repeat was—-a weekly newspaper that served all the oceanside communities on about a twenty mile stretch of Route 1A in Maine. Bar Harbor was the central point, and the coverage spread out from there in both directions. They covered mostly society stuff, local activities, things like that.”
Lindsey pushed her glasses back up on her nose and tucked her hair behind one ear. “I can hardly believe I have a connection to anything in Maine. That’s like the other end of the earth from here.”
“Maine explains the presence of the water,” Nick pointed out. “And if there’s something your parents wanted hidden from you, they picked a place to settle about as far away as they could get.”
Tony nodded and flipped over a page. “I agree. It might explain why you have no relatives to speak of. They’ve all been buried in another life.”
“So what about the newspaper?” Nick prompted.
“It stopped publishing about twenty years ago,” Tony said. “The man who owned it died, his wife didn’t want to keep it going, and no one was in a hurry to buy it. By then, everyone was getting their news from the dailies and even the advertisers weren’t interested in retaining their contracts. So the widow just closed up the doors, sold off the equipment, and that was that.”
“But isn’t there some way to find the rest of that article?” Lindsey tried to swallow her anxiety and frustration. “I can’t believe there aren’t old copies somewhere.”
“Actually, there are.” Tony flipped another page. “But not on microfiche or anything we might be able to access remotely. You have to go the physical location. Which you may want to do when I tell you the rest of this.”
Nick helped himself to another slice of pizza. “And where would that be?”
“The Bangor Public Library has archived all the copies of the paper for the entire forty years it was in print. Bangor’s less than an hour’s drive from the coast. It’s a lot of tiresome work to go through all the issues, but I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for there.”
“Forty years worth of newspapers?” Nick shook his head. “Let’s hope we won’t have to go through every one.”
“There’s more,” Tony went on. “We were able to identify the lighthouse in the picture you emailed. It’s called Howard’s Lighthouse after the people who ran it for years. It’s not far from Indian Island, about ten miles from Bar Harbor. The houses on the island are a mixture of large summer homes and smaller cottages. All owned by the rich or famous, however.”
Lindsey put down the slice of pizza. “Nick, we have to go there. And I mean right away. I have to have answers, and I have such a strong feeling some of them are there. Maybe all of them.”
“Slow down, Lindsey. I already told you we’d take a trip as soon as we had some information.” He looked at Tony. “What about the rest of the pictures I sent over? Anything there?”
“We’re still working on them. I marked this whole project a priority so I hope to have something soon.” Tony chewed and swallowed a piece of pizza.
“And the cell phone?” Nick prodded.
“Not much there. Like I told you this morning, it was purchased at an electronics store in the big mall downtown. I’m going over there myself after lunch. I don’t like the runaround they gave the guy we sent out so I’ll give it a try myself. Just don’t expect me to come back with anything” He closed the folder and helped himself to another piece of pizza. “So, what’s the drill now?”
Nick pulled out a tablet from his briefcase lying on the counter and began making notes. “Tomorrow, Lindsey and I will fly up to Maine. Not today,” he added quickly, as Lindsey opened her mouth to object. “We have a lot of arrangements to make first.” He pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number. “Sarah? I called Reno’s private number, but it rolled over to you so I’m guessing he’s not around.” He listened for a moment. “No, no big deal. I just wanted to let him know I’m flying to Maine in the morning. I’d like to use the Gulfstream if it’s not otherwise booked.” He nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. We’ll send it back, and I’ll call when we need to be picked up. Yes, the Ferrell case.” He nodded again. “Right. Pass me along to Janet, will you?”
Lindsey listened while he gave his secretary instructions to arrange for the company plane, their landing at the Bangor airport and a rental car.
“An SUV, whatever model they’ve got available. Also a motel room in Bangor for one night, then reservations in Bar Harbor.”
“Two rooms, please,” Lindsey interrupted.
I will not mention the phone call. Let him think whatever he wants. He can have all the women in the world. Just not me.
A sharp pain stabbed at her heart as the memory of that phone call popped up, and she forced herself to take a deep breath.
Nick studied her face, then nodded while Tony stared from one to the other. “Two rooms, Janet.” He glared at Lindsey. “But make sure they’re connecting. Uh-huh. Thanks.”
He hung up, put down the phone, and concentrated on his pizza, not looking at either Lindsey or Tony.
Finally, Tony broke the uncomfortable silence. “You want to fly down to Bar Harbor?” he asked. “You’d be closer to the center of these activities.”
“Not if we want to go to the library in Bangor. I’d rather go through the old newspapers first so we’re armed with a little more information.”
Tony left, and Lindsey cleared away the debris from lunch while Nick finished making notes.
Finally, he put the tablet down, leaned back in his chair, and beckoned for her to sit down again. “It’s possible we could be gone as much as a week. Can Brianna hold down the office that long for you?”
“Of course. She’s got plenty to keep her busy. She can take the meetings with the builders and bring any changes back to Mark. I’ll go over all the projects with him today so he’s familiar with what he needs to do. Besides, I’ll take my laptop with me and my cell so it’s not as if she won’t be able to communicate with me.”
“Don’t tell them where we’re going,” he cautioned. “Just say you need a little time off with everything that’s going on.”
Lindsey raised an eyebrow. “Surely you don’t still think either of them could be involved?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not taking any chances. Do you need to get any clothes from the ranch? I can go by my house to pick up my stuff.”
“If I need something, I’ll just go out and buy it.” She turned on the dishwasher. “Let me go meet with Mark and Bri. They should be back from lunch by now. After that, I can pack.”
When she told Mark and Brianna she’d be going away for a while, they both stared at her.
“All this business is really stressing me out,” she explained. “I need this break.”
“Why don’t you just go to the ranch?” Bri asked.
“Nick—Mr. Vanetta—believes I’ll be safer if I’m someplace unknown to the stalker.” Lindsey tried to make her tone as casual as possible. “But I’ll have my cell on all the time if you need to reach me. So let’s go over each project and see what needs to be done.”
She was glad for the chance to avoid Nick for a while. The atmosphere between them had been even more strained after her room arrangement request. She knew sometime during the long trip he’d want answers, and she needed to figure out exactly what she wanted to say.
“Have a good time, wherever you’re going,” Brianna told her when they’d finished. “Is the hunk going with you?”
Lindsey laughed. “Don’t I wish!” Nick had been specific that no one know the details about the trip, including the fact he’d be with her. “But someone will have bodyguard duty.”
She spent the next two hours going over things with her staff, then sent both Mark and Brianna home. “You’ll both be carrying a heavy load while I’m gone. Enjoy a few extra hours of free time while you can get it.”
Back in her apartment, she packed quickly, grabbing things from her closet and drawers. Nick was a silent presence, hovering near the entire time. Zipping the suitcase shut, she turned to him. “Since we’re not leaving until tomorrow, where are we sleeping tonight?”
“Guardian has a condo we keep for visiting clients.” He narrowed his gaze. “And before you say anything, it has three bedrooms. You can take any one you want.”
Before she could comment, his cell phone rang and he stepped out of hearing range.
“We’re set for tomorrow,” he told her when he hung up. “The plane will be ready for us at the airport about ten o’clock. I didn’t want to make it too early. Janet arranged for someone to meet us in Bangor with our rental and our reservations and any other information we’ll need.”
“Great. Let me get my briefcase with all the photos and things. I had it next to my desk.” When Nick started ahead of her, she put a hand on his arm. “I’ll only be a second, okay? Don’t worry. Everyone’s already left for the day.”
She had just bent down to pick up her briefcase when she heard a sharp crack! and the sound of breaking glass.