Killing Me Softly, page 8
‘Look Cat. Can you see the two robins there on the branch?’
‘Is she actually looking at them?’ asked a soft, feminine voice with an American twang that she recognised as Melissa’s asked.
‘It’s the first time she’s noticed anything in days.’ Billy’s voice was filled with quiet, happy relief. ‘Although it shouldn’t surprise me. She used to call them lovebirds when we were little. She was so disappointed when she found out what they actually looked like. She said robins were true lovebirds because with that splash of red, they looked as if they wore their hearts on their chests.’
‘That’s so true,’ Melissa said, laughing.
‘Cat always had a great way of looking at the world,’ Lexi commented as she turned the last bend in the path to see them congregated by the fountain, looking at the robins fluttering around.
‘Good-morning, sleepyhead,’ Billy smirked. ‘Cat’s watching the birds.’
‘I can see.’ She stepped up beside her sister, took her hand in hers, chafing her cold fingers, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘Good morning, Cat.’
Cat didn’t acknowledge her but kept watching the birds.
Billy gripped Lexi’s hand and pulled her close to whisper in her ear, ‘What’s wrong? You’ve not been sleeping.’
Melissa and Phil kept Cat engaged as Billy pulled her slightly away from them.
‘I’m fine.’
‘No, you’re not. Are you going to tell me about it?’
She shook her head. She couldn’t tell him about the dreams about Daemon and she most definitely wasn’t going to mention the letters. He worried about her enough as it was.
‘You can’t shut out those that love you, Lexi.’
‘I’m not.’ She sighed, exasperated. ‘I need a friend, Billy, not a mum. Can you just be my friend and trust me when I say I’m fine?’
He touched the darkened smudge of skin under her eye. ‘It’s hard to believe that with the hard evidence suggesting otherwise.’
A twig snapped behind them.
Relieved at the distraction, Lexi turned to see Daemon and Craig walking towards them.
‘What are you all doing here? Was there a meeting and why wasn’t I invited?’ Craig asked.
‘As if you need an invitation,’ Melissa said, giving them both pecks on the cheek. ‘We were just keeping Billy and Cat company and exploring this wonderful hidden garden.’
Alexia became uncomfortably aware that Daemon’s gaze had flickered between her and Billy and then returned to her.
Ignoring the strange sensation his gaze ignited inside her – probably a remnant of this morning’s dream – she turned to Melissa. ‘You’re welcome to come in here at any time. And Daemon tells me you’re interested in horseriding. I can show you down to the stables now and introduce you to Karl or one of the hands and they can get you fitted up.’
‘I don’t think—’ Phil began, but Melissa waved her hand at him.
‘Oh, stop fussing, you worrywart. I’m pregnant, not sick. Besides, I called my ob-gyn and he said some gentle horseriding would be fine. I’d love to go,’ she said, turning back to Lexi, completely ignoring the fact her husband did not look at all convinced. ‘Shall we go down now?’
‘That would be great. Cat loves it down in the stables.’ She looked at the others. ‘Are you coming?’
‘One of us better go,’ Craig said, slapping Daemon on the shoulder. ‘To stop Lis from killing Phil if he gets between her and the horse she wants to ride.’
Daemon nodded, but his gaze didn’t leave Lexi. He watched her with such an intense expression, it made her remember the way he’d looked at her in the dream.
Heated, filled with want.
Hastily turning away, she hooked her arm through Cat’s and turned to Billy. ‘Thanks for letting me sleep in – not that I asked for you to do that,’ she narrowed her eyes at him. ‘But don’t you have to go?’
‘I’m not in a hurry. I’ll walk you down to the stables.’
She nodded and they all set off in a little group, Phil and Melissa in front, Cat between Lexi and Billy, and Daemon and Craig following behind.
As they walked, Lexi was aware of Daemon’s gaze burrowing into her from behind. She wished he’d walked in front with Phil and Melissa.
‘So what brings you two out here this morning?’ Melissa asked Craig and Daemon. ‘I thought Dae was holed up in the studio with you as hostage trying out some new songs.’
Craig chuckled. ‘We were. But I wanted some breakfast and a break so I dragged him out here with me.’
‘So how’s it been going?’ Billy asked.
‘Really great,’ Craig said. ‘Lexi is brilliant.’
She turned around and flashed him a cheeky smile. ‘You’re only saying that because I can hear you.’
‘You’re right. She’s really a bloody ogre.’
‘Sounds right to me,’ Billy agreed.
‘Hey! You’re supposed to stick up for me!’
‘When did we agree on that?’
Daemon didn’t join in their playful banter. Lexi would have assumed he was preoccupied, except that every time she turned his way, he was staring at her.
No. Not staring. Almost glaring.
She had no idea what she’d done. If anyone should glare, it should be her. Work was fine, but outside work, every interaction seemed to mirror the one they’d had the night the band arrived. The night he’d played her music and opened some locked-away part of her.
Now you’re being fanciful! He’d just played her music and she had to get over how intimate it had seemed. How uncomfortable that had made her. How she now couldn’t get him out of her dreams.
Straightening her shoulders, she tried to ignore him.
But it was really hard to ignore someone when they were looking at you like that.
They entered the stables and she breathed in the comforting smells of hay and horse, and couldn’t help but smile. Still trying to ignore Daemon, she introduced Melissa to Karl and involved herself in the discussion about the best horse for the pregnant woman to ride. Billy took Cat over to say hello to her horse, Kelsey.
Lexi didn’t miss the moment Cat lifted a hand to stroke Kelsey’s nose.
A bittersweet pain filled her chest. She was glad Cat was responding to things, but just wished that, for once, Cat would see her too.
Billy brought Cat back over to her, saying he had to go. Giving her and Cat a kiss on the cheek, he waved goodbye to the others and headed up to the garage.
‘Well,’ Melissa clapped her hands together. ‘I’ve just realised how much I’ve missed riding. Can I go out now?’
‘There’s a storm coming, but you’ve got maybe an hour or so before it rolls in.’
‘Oh, I don’t care about a little rain.’
‘We don’t get little rains here,’ Karl said, smiling. ‘There might even be a touch of snow. But if you promise not to go far and are rugged up, I’ll get some horses sorted for you.’
Phil tried his best to dissuade her and then hovered around her as their horses were being saddled. Craig decided to go with her, laughingly telling Phil he was only doing it to save the drummer’s neck, seeing as his hovering was obviously driving Melissa insane.
Melissa’s gentle smile of contentment gave the lie to his statement, but she said, ‘The more the merrier. Are you going to come?’ she asked Daemon.
‘You ride?’ Lexi asked, surprised.
Daemon nodded. ‘When I was eleven, I went to live with my da in a small country town in Ireland. There wasn’t much else to do but ride.’ He looked her up and down. ‘Do you ride?’
‘Yes. But not right now. I need to get Cat into the gym.’
‘Do you need help with that?’
For a moment she didn’t know what to say and then, ‘No. We’ll be fine. You go out for a ride.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m sure.’
He looked at her, considering for a moment and then nodded. ‘A ride sounds good.’
She stayed long enough to wave them off, aware that the entire time, Daemon had kept looking at her as if he was trying to figure something out.
That look – it made her throat go dry and her hands shake.
She was relieved when they were finally gone, riding down the road that led to the woods and the river.
She spent a frustrating hour in the gym with Cat being completely unhelpful, even though they were exercises she did every day with Billy, not helped by the fact Lexi’s mind kept wandering back to Daemon and the way he’d been looking at her. And when the storm broke with a loud crash of thunder that echoed across the fells, wind whistling around the manor, rattling the windows, she couldn’t help but worry and wonder if Daemon and the others had made it back in.
Unable to concentrate, she decided to take Cat upstairs and give her a bath – they were both sweaty and in need of some soothing, warm water.
But that appeared to be a bad idea, too, because Cat wouldn’t lift her limbs to help Lexi get her out of her workout gear. A snarling headache pressed around her temple and on the fifth attempt to get Cat’s tracksuit pants off, Lexi ran out of patience. Frustration caused by the swirling, unwanted images of an annoying Irishman made her snap.
‘Are you being difficult to torment me? You can’t blame me forever, you know, so just bloody well stand up!’ She winced as the unfair words caused by guilt and anger and too many sleepless nights rang around her.
Leaning her head against her sister’s knee, she whispered, ‘I’m sorry, Cat. I know this isn’t a choice for you. But please, help. I can’t do this without some help from you.’ She looked up, but there wasn’t so much as a flicker in Cat’s eyes. ‘Please, Cat. I need your help.’ She was no longer talking about the pants.
After a long moment of staring, Lexi trying to engage her sister’s gaze, Cat staring at some point that always seemed just over Lexi’s shoulder, she turned and kicked the wall.
‘Shit!’ Toe throbbing, she began to hop around, rubbing at her now-sore foot. ‘Idiot!’
‘Do you need any help, love?’
She turned to see Bev standing in the doorway and lowered her foot, feeling foolish. ‘I’m okay. She’s just being a bit uncooperative.’ Swallowing the hysteria rising in her voice, she bent to try to lift Cat’s foot again, pulled, lost her grip and fell back. Dropping her aching head into her hands, embarrassed because she couldn’t cope with her own sister, she mumbled, ‘I need some help.’
Bev walked into the room and put her hands on Lexi’s shoulders, gently pulling her up off the floor. Exhausted and emotionally drained as she was, Lexi gave in to her gentle insistence. ‘It’s all right, love. She can be difficult at times. And it’s so much more draining on you than us.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because she’s your sister.’ Bev laid a gentle hand on her arm. ‘Look, I tell you what. I’ve finished my baking and cleaning for the morning. Why don’t I take over here? I don’t have anything to do until Billy gets back from town with the groceries.’ She began to usher Lexi out of the room before she could protest. ‘You go and spend some time by yourself..’ She narrowed her eyes and shook her finger at Lexi. ‘And I don’t mean do bookwork. You should go for a ride. Blow some of those cobwebs away. Karl would enjoy your company. He’s just doing some work on the lorry and when the storm’s passed he was going to ride out and move the stock from the north pasture to the eastern one away from the stream.’
‘I’d really love that, but I can’t keep putting off the accounts.’ Lexi hesitated, torn between duty and pleasure. Some time out riding would be good. Bev was right. She did need to blow away some of the cobwebs. Maybe being out and about and away from work would stop her thoughts from straying in unwanted directions.
Sensing her indecision, Bev touched her arm. ‘Do your accounts until the weather clears, then go with Karl. I’ll let him know you’re coming.’
Lexi couldn’t help but smile as the idea bloomed in her mind. ‘That sounds great. Are you sure you’re all right to look after Cat right now? You’re supposed to have this morning off and I don’t want to make extra work for you just because I could do with a break.’
Bev patted her arm. ‘You didn’t hire a nurse because I said I wanted to help; makes my old nursing skills useful again. Besides, if she’s being as unhelpful as you say, it’s a sure sign she’s tired and could do with a rest. I’ll just get her in the bath and then I’ll set her up to have a little nap on the couch downstairs. I can sit and have a cuppa and put my feet up and not feel guilty for having a rest, too.’
Lexi gave her hand a squeeze. ‘Thanks, Bev. You’re such a treasure. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’
‘You’d manage. You’d just run yourself ragged, that’s all. Now off you go. We’ll be fine, won’t we, Catriona dear?’ Cat’s gaze flickered to Bev and then away to stare out the window. ‘See, we’ll be right as rain. Go and have a good time. I’ll have lunch ready when you get back.’
Lexi nodded, kissed Cat on the head and headed downstairs, trying not to feel hurt that Cat had looked at Bev and not her. She buzzed the garage and found out that Karl would be another half an hour. He’d call when he was ready to go.
Looking forward to her ride, she picked the mail envelope up off the hallstand and went into the study. She paid some bills, emailed her manager about a function she’d been asked to attend and then turned her attention to the rest. More bills, a couple of invites and . . .
The jagged lettering on the white envelope caught her eye. Her hand began to tremble. Not another one! This was the third letter in the past week and a half. Perhaps she should ask Emma to cull them and send them straight to the police. No. She wouldn’t do that. She didn’t want to worry her manager with this ugliness.
Looking down at the letter, she had to stop herself from crumpling it in a ball and throwing it in the rubbish. But she couldn’t. There might be a clue as to the identity of the writer. Steadying her hands, she bent to put it with the others in the drawer to give to Detective Fox when he came up next week, but, for some reason she couldn’t explain, she grabbed the letter opener instead, sliced open the envelope and pulled out the paper inside. The thick lettering showed clearly through the other side, feeling almost like braille. Her stomach dropped.
Don’t look at it. Don’t read it.
But she couldn’t help it, her gaze zeroing in on the jagged slashes on the paper that made up letters and words.
Her skin began to crawl as she read it.
I know where you live.
You think you’re so safe in your little country paradise. Those men you have there with you cannot save you from what is to come.
Bitch! Do they know what you’ve done?
Whore! I know.
Slut!
He told me what it was like. He told me how you led him on, how you teased him and spread your legs for him and how you swallowed him whole. He didn’t know that you’d turn on him. How could he? You play the innocent so well. The women of Sodom and Gomorrah always do. You can’t play it for me. I know what you are, with your serpent’s tongue.
You mock the law of God. Well, I am the law. You can’t escape what I have in store for you and your brain dead sister. Your punishment will be on this earth and in the life everlasting.
I’ll do her first and make you watch. You’ll be as responsible for her death as you are for his.
He should have killed you both after he had you. I won’t make the same mistake.
You are mine!
Lexi swallowed hard, her eyes flickering back to the top of the letter.
He knew where she lived.
He’d been watching her.
He’d been here.
Oh, God!
Racing for the bathroom, she heaved and heaved until there was nothing left. Legs trembling, she stood and made it to the basin, splashing cold water on her face and rinsing out the bitter taste of bile. She gulped down water, trying to remove the burning from her throat. Holding on to the edge of the vanity, she stared at the reflection in the mirror.
Her face was white, eyes wide and terrified. Water dripped off her nose and chin and hair stuck to her temples. She had to get a grip. She couldn’t go out looking like this. The others would know something was terribly wrong.
Grabbing the towel next to the vanity she wiped her face dry, the words in the letter a blaze behind her closed eyes.
He knew where she lived. He’d threatened her. Threatened Cat.
An image of Lyndon, hovering over her as she lay drugged and helpless on the floor of his office, sprang into her mind. She couldn’t have stopped him. She’d been paralysed, not only by the drug, but because he’d told her where he’d taken Cat, and what he’d done to her when he realised he had the wrong twin. Lexi would have been raped if Billy hadn’t arrived to pick her up – Billy refused to let her go home by herself with Cat missing. He’d saved her and she’d been able to save her sister by telling the police where Cat was.
But she’d never forgotten the feeling of utter helplessness as she’d stared up at him, unable to move. The thought of being that vulnerable again made her stomach clench and twist, heart beat too fast in her chest.
This letter writer knew where she lived.
Was it because The Sidhe were here? She knew agreeing to work with Daemon and the band might bring unwanted publicity. But she hadn’t thought bringing the band here would lead this bastard right to her.
How had it happened? They’d been so careful. No media had followed them here – of that she was certain, or they would have been on the news.
Maybe the two weren’t connected. Not that it mattered anyway. There was only one thing she had to worry about right now.
The bastard knew where she lived.
Heart in her mouth, she ran back into the study. Shaking, she opened the top desk drawer, pulling it all the way out in her haste. It clanged to the floor, denting the polished floorboards. She didn’t care. Dropping to her knees, she rifled through the contents until she found Detective Fox’s mobile number.
