“I won’t hurt you,” a softly spoken promise.
“I should hope not.”Still, I needed to remind myself that, thus far, he’d been nothing but helpful.Maybe not always kind about it, but he’d certainly done nothing to cause harm.
“Being able to change my features has come in handy when I worry about being recognized.”
“Like when your supposed father dies and the son takes over the estate,” I murmured.“Guess you both can’t have the same face.”
“Exactly.Now that we’ve cleared that up, back to the police presence at the hotel.From the crowd gathered, I heard rumor they found a body.”
My lips turned down.“Not a rumor.A maid was murdered in my room.Head twisted with enough force to kill.”
“Which, despite the movies, isn’t easy to do.Seems like Red Cap on the isle wasn’t the only minion Nessie sent to fetch you.”
“Hardly fetch, since he murdered the woman!”I retorted.
“Could be it lay in wait for you and, when she entered instead, it wanted to get rid of a witness.”
“I guess.”His explanation did make sense, but didn’t help the situation.“Apparently, the police initially thought I was the dead body, but now that they’ve identified her as one of the staff, I’m a person of interest wanted for questioning.”My lips twisted.“Kind of wishing I could change my face like you.”
“If the police are looking for you, that will make your journey tricky.”
“Unless I turn myself in.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m innocent.I couldn’t have killed the maid because I wasn’t here but on the Isle of Rum.You can vouch for my presence.”
He grimaced.“You expect me to get involved?”
“Hardly involved.You’d just have to make a statement to the effect I wasn’t in Mallaig at the time of the murder.”
“Won’t they question how we got here without the ferry?”
“We could tell them we rented a boat.”
“And if they ask the name of the boat owner?”
My lips pursed.“I guess the fact we flew over isn’t something we can admit.”
He simply arched a brow.
“We could fly back to the Isle of Rum and pretend we never left.”
“We could, but seeing as how that’s at least two Red Caps Nessie has sent, I don’t get the impression she’ll be patient about a delay.”
“You’re thinking there will be another attack.”
“Don’t you?”
I sighed.“This is such a mess.”
“It is.I am surprised the body wasn’t found until so late in the day.You’d think someone would have noticed when the maid didn’t finish her shift.Unless…”
Alistair trailed off, prompting me to say, “Unless what?”
“Perhaps she returned to your room later in the day.”
“Why would she do that?”
