Murder List (25 page)

“Hey, guess what?” She didn’t give Regan time to answer. “Shields and his bodyguards have left the island, and no one, not even the police, know where they went.”

“How’d you find that out?” Cordie asked.

“A friend of a friend.”

“Are you going to tell her or should I?” Cordie asked Regan.

“I’ll hang up and, you can—”

“Tell me what?”

While Regan waited, Cordie repeated what Regan had told her. Sophie was shocked into silence.

“What are the police there saying?” she finally asked.

“Detective Buchanan is hoping that whoever sent the e-mail and the fax will try to contact me again.

Detective Wincott agrees.”

“Okay, who’s Detective Wincott?”

“He’s in charge of the investigation.”

“And Detective Buchanan? Is he his partner or something?” Cordie asked.

“No, he’s my temporary bodyguard.”

“Dear God…”

“It’s okay, Cordie.”

“We’re coming home on the next flight.”

“No, Sophie, don’t do that. Since Shields has already left the island, you’re probably as safe there as any place.”

Cordie added, “She thinks Shields is somehow involved in what’s been happening because Sweeney was investigating him.”

“I admit, it’s not a firm connection,” Regan said.

“Sweeney hadn’t done anything yet, so how could Shields have known about him?” Sophie asked.

“I still think we should pack it up and head back to Chicago. We should be there with you, Regan.”

“No,” she replied. “Stay there and finish what you started. What you’re doing is important, and it sounds like you’re making great progress.”

“We are,” Sophie agreed. “But we’ll need to stay here another week, maybe even two. There’s so much cross-checking to do with names and dates, and now that I’ve got the hotel’s registration records that go way back—”

“Did a friend of a friend get those for you too?”

“No,” Sophie said. “I just asked, and they handed them over.”

“We are making progress,” Cordie said. “And, Sophie, you did want to talk to that woman who’s staying at The Murdock, and you better do that soon before she finds out Shields has left. This is the perfect opportunity, and we both want to know what Shields promised her.”

“Wouldn’t it be something if she would help us?”

“We could nail him.”

“Call me with updates, okay?”

“Wait, Regan. Are you going to be okay?” Cordie asked.

“I’ll be fine.” She looked at her empty desk and decided to lie to ease Cordie’s anxiety. “I’ve got so much work to do. I won’t have time to worry, and I’m perfectly safe in my office.”

“Okay,” Cordie said. “No matter what, we’ll be home in time for the country club charity thing, but that’s two full weeks away.”

“By then, the police will probably have the madman behind bars,” Sophie said.

Regan hoped she was right. By the time she finally hung up the phone, Alec had stopped watching the television. She stood, stretched, and then told him about some of her conversation with her friends.

“The police down there verified that Shields and his bodyguards have left the island. Do you think Cordie and Sophie will be safe?”

“Yeah, I think they will be, as long as…”

“As long as what?”

He decided to be blunt. “As long as they stay away from you.” Chapter Twenty-seven

Regan was reaching her breaking point. Two full weeks had passed since she had received the photo of Sweeney, and her nerves were becoming more and more frayed. One day dragged into another and another. She thought she was going to go stir-crazy being cooped up inside the hotel. Detective Wincott would check in periodically and let her know how the investigation was going. The police had ruled out any connection between Shields and Sweeney, which meant that the killer was still out there, and still unknown. Waiting for something to happen was making her anxious and irritable.

Keeping busy helped, and since she was caught up with work, she decided to tear her office apart and reorganize. Behind one long wall were file cabinets crammed with papers, and all of them needed to be cleaned out.

Regan really got into the task. Some of the files had already been transferred to discs, and those files could be shredded. Other files needed to be consolidated, and she was determined to see that was done too. There was a system to her reorganization, but she was the only one who knew what it was. There were stacks of file folders and papers all over her office floor. It had become an obstacle course from Henry’s office to her desk, but she felt she was making headway.

She wasn’t making any headway with her brothers, however, and she was developing a real love/hate relationship with them. Spence had been delayed in Melbourne, but he called her at least three times a day just to check in and make certain she was doing okay. Walker was also calling. His messages always had the same theme. He wouldn’t give up on the idea of her traveling with him until this situation was resolved.

After two weeks of the constant phone calls, Regan decided she was through placating them. She asked Henry to screen her calls and not put Spencer or Walker through.

Aiden was also making her nuts. She wanted to have a long talk with him. She had had it with his constant interference, and she was determined to make him listen to what she had to say. Then she would go to work on the other two. She didn’t care if it was bad timing or not. She was sick and tired of all three of her brothers trying to run her business and her personal life, and if she wanted anything to change, she would have to start with the most aggressive brother, Aiden. If she could just get him to stop interfering, then the other two, like dominos, would follow his lead.

That was the plan, anyway… if Aiden would stand still long enough to listen. He had canceled a business trip to stay in Chicago and was looking in on her a hundred times a day, and yet he just couldn’t find the time to sit down and have a conversation. He knew where she was every second, and when he couldn’t personally look in on her, the security guards he’d hired kept tabs for him. She knew he was worried, and in this instance, she understood why he was being so overly protective. What she found amazing, however, was the way he could vanish whenever she asked for a few minutes of his time.

Emily sent a message through Henry that Aiden simply didn’t have time to listen to Regan’s petty complaints. Henry had been furious when he conveyed it.

“I’ve finally figured out her plan,” Henry said. “She wants you out of here, and she’s going to do anything and everything to make that happen.”

“She does know I’m Aiden’s sister, doesn’t she?” She was teasing to let Henry know she wasn’t upset.

“Of course she knows, but when she started, she didn’t know who you were. She was rude and obnoxious. Since she can’t fix the past and she knows you don’t like her, she’s got to make you look incompetent. That way, Aiden won’t listen to you about anything, including your opinion of her.” Before Regan could say a word, Henry continued. “She’s after your brother. She wants to marry him, and you, Regan, are messing with her plans.”

“Aiden will figure out what she’s doing, and he would never have said ‘petty complaints.’ ” Aiden was deliberately avoiding Regan, though, giving her time to cool down. He had to have known how furious she was about her car—she still couldn’t believe he’d had the audacity to have it towed away—but he also knew that if he waited long enough, she would eventually get over it and let it wash over her the way she let everything else these days.

She knew what the problem was. She loved her brothers and would do anything for them. She went to great lengths to keep them happy, even to the point of trying to change who she was.

When she was growing up, Aiden had always been the one she went to with her problems, probably because he was the oldest and more of a father figure. He was also the most rigid. He couldn’t stand to see her cry—which she seemed to be able to do at the drop of a hat back then—but over the years she’d tried really hard to learn to hold her feelings in. Sometimes, though, they bubbled to the surface.

Regan took after the Hamilton side of the family. They were all emotional twits, at least that was what Spencer had told her. The Madisons, on the other hand, were stoic and very disciplined. They were also workaholics like Aiden and Spencer. No one knew what side of the family Walker took after, but it was theorized that he was a throwback to a great-great-uncle who began to sow his wild oats when he hit puberty and didn’t stop until he was on his deathbed. It was rumored that he was propositioning a young, pretty nurse when he took his last breath.

At the moment, Regan didn’t want to be related to anyone. The conditions of the will had put her in a no-win position with her brothers, and just as Alec had said, the stress would do her in if she didn’t find an outlet.

Her brothers weren’t the only ones giving her trouble. She was also developing a love/hate relationship with Alec. The truth was, she loved being with him—he was smart and funny and sweet and kind—but she hated the reason why he was always there at her side.

For two weeks now, she and Alec had been inseparable. He refused to take any days off and only left her after a policeman had been posted on her floor, between the elevator doors and the stairs, which were the only ways to get to her suite. Alec was the last person she saw every night before she locked her door, and the first person she saw in the morning when she stepped out into the hall.

He was definitely growing on her, but she kept wondering—would he even have given her the time of day if it hadn’t been his job to protect her? If he had met her under different circumstances, would he have been interested? Would he have wanted to ask her out?

Henry also liked having him around. The two seemed to talk for hours about sports trivia and rock bands, and when Henry was struggling over a paper he was writing for a summer political science course, Alec offered to help him. Before long, Henry was asking his advice about girlfriends and his own future.

In the evenings, Regan and Henry and Alec changed into running clothes and worked out together in the gym. Alec beat the socks off her and Henry on the track. He was in much better shape than she was and gleefully pointed that out, several times, as a matter of fact. She used her recent surgery as an excuse for having to hold back, but each day she went a little faster and a little farther. There was an annual charity race coming up, she told him, and she wanted to walk as much of the course as she could.

Regan knew she couldn’t follow her normal routine, and she cooperated as much as she could, but there were a couple of events she refused to cancel or postpone because she felt they were too important. One of them took place at the hotel, and that made things easier for Alec.

It was toward the end of the second week, and Regan was getting ready for the reception she was hosting that evening. She wanted everything to go smoothly. Alec helped her measure the spacing between hooks on the walls in the corridor leading from the lobby to the gift shop, and when they were finished there, he followed her to the atrium and she checked the measurements there. She had already had the electricians work on the gallery lighting, and Frank from maintenance was happy to lend a hand.

“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing and why?” Alec asked as he handed her the measuring tape again.

“We’re measuring the distance between the paintings one last time just to make sure the spacing is right. I don’t want them to look crammed together.”

“Where are these paintings?”

She smiled. “You’ll see.”

He could feel her excitement, and his curiosity was aroused. He didn’t even mind that he had to wear his suit a little longer.

Regan changed into a simple black dress with a jewel neckline. Because she was running late, she didn’t have time to put her hair up. She brushed it, sprayed it, and then put on lip gloss and blush and was on her way out the door with five minutes to spare.

The reception began at seven o’clock. Alec wasn’t happy about the crowd gathered in the atrium.

She was ecstatic. When she tried to walk away from him, he grabbed her hand and forced her in to his side.

He leaned down and whispered, “Stay with me.”

She nodded to let him know she had heard what he said.

They were both getting speculative looks from men and women. Regan introduced Alec as her friend, but Henry was being plied with questions. Was Regan serious about this man? Who exactly was he, and what did he do for a living?

Henry’s friend Kevin had also been invited, and he helped Henry with last-minute details.

After Regan had welcomed her guests, she took Alec’s hand and led him to the first of twelve beautifully framed paintings. The cream-colored walls came to life next to the vibrant and joyful colors.

Yes, joyful, Alec thought as he studied one bold abstract. The names of the artists were printed in black block letters on a white square plate underneath each painting.

“I’ve never heard of any of these artists,” he said.

“You’ll get to meet them before they become famous. Do you have a favorite painting?” He shook his head. “I like all of them.”

Henry and Kevin stood together while they waited for a quiet moment to talk to Alec. Kevin’s hands were jammed into his pockets, and he was shifting from foot to foot.

“Don’t lose your nerve,” Henry whispered. “Alec will help you. I know he will.”

“I won’t lose my nerve. I’m gonna do it. So when do you think—”

“After the presentation but before he takes Regan upstairs.” Henry’s gaze was on Regan and Alec.

“They look good together, don’t they?”

They were laughing and talking, and Henry noticed Regan taking Alec’s arm as she guided him from picture to picture. They seemed so comfortable with each other. As they headed back to the atrium, Henry and Kevin intercepted them. Alec shook Kevin’s hand when Henry introduced him. He could feel the kid trembling, but he already knew from the look in his eyes that he was scared.

“You look familiar,” he said, thinking he might have busted him at one time.