Page 27 of Kiss Marry Kill
Fumbling around with her phone she found what she was looking for and held it up for him to see. The screen glowed in the dim light. “Is that a mouse?”
“Yep.”
“What else?”
Handing him her phone, she said, “Scroll down.”
“A cat?”
“A deranged looking cat,” she added, and he saw her shiver slightly. Anger took hold of him. He didn’t like to see her frightened, and damn, how many months had she been dealing with this. Alone. He turned his attention back to the photo.
It was a hand-drawn cat, missing big patches of fur, its eyes bulging out, its teeth razor sharp. It was salivating.
Jax pulled Megan’s chair closer to him and held the phone out so that they could both see as he went back and forth between the two photos. “It’s running. Look,” he finally said, pointing to the little legs and hair of the hand-drawn mouse. “It’s a mouse being chased.”
Pulling the screen closer to her face, she shifted her head side to side. “Damn, you’re right. That’s even creepier. Since I’m the mouse in the scenario, it seems.”
“And this email address is bogus, I read that in the second police report,” he said.
“Yes. And again the cops said there wasn’t much they could do. Ryan didn’t use his name. But it’s obviously him.”
“I want access to your emails. Joey’s specialty is anything to do with computers. Maybe he can trace that back.”
“Okay, yeah sure.”
“Anything else?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“That’s it?” He took her hands in his and squeezed. “Even the smallest thing could mean something. Think, Megan.”
She looked down at their joined hand and then back up at him and swallowed. “Well, this New Year’s Eve we performed at Bayfront Park just a few miles away from here and I could have sworn I saw him backstage. I was in the middle of a song, and when I looked to the side I thought I saw him. When I looked again, he was gone. But it’s been so long since that first time, the day I met him, that I may not even remember how he looks anymore. I think it was just my eyes playing tricks on me.”
“I need the information of whoever put that event together. I want to see if security cameras caught anything during the setup. And can you get me any videos made during the performance, by RLC or your PR people.”
“I’ll get Glen, my manager, on it. It was probably nothing, though.”
“Or it was something.”
She pulled her hands away and sat back, her eyes trained on the ocean as she rubbed her arms, her left leg bobbing up and down.
Damn it.
“I’m sorry I scared you, but you need to be a little scared, Meg. You can’t make light of this. If you see anything, even if you think it’s nothing, you have to tell me, okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.” But she wasn’t looking at him.
“You’re cold. Let’s go inside.”
“No, not cold. Just nervous, I guess. I—“
“Tell me.”
“I was taught to be strong. My parents may have controlled me when I was younger, but for the most part I had principles and beliefs and I held strong to them.” She turned her head and her eyes were full of unshed tears, and all he wanted to do was lift her up and carry her away, never let anything happen to her again, even if it meant he’d have to stand vigil in front of her safe little bubble for the rest of his life. “My mother is the most notorious cutthroat attorney in Florida. Articles have been written about her. And my father, well, he’s a shark. I’ve never seen my mother lose it, not even when I didn’t speak with them for almost two years, not when my father suffered a massive heart attack. But, God Jax, I was so scared in that closet. I thought . . .” Her voice cracked. “I thought I was going to die the other night, and now, telling you all this . . .”
That was it, he couldn’t keep his hands off her one more second. Fuck, it wasn’t even about her right now. It was about him. He needed to hold her. Taking hold of her wrist, he brought her onto his lap and into his arms. “There’s nothing weak about being scared, sweetheart. You did everything right. You called the police and hid. Anyone who sees you as anything less than brave is a fuckin’ idiot.”
They were so close, and if he moved forward just a little or if she tipped her head up . . .
