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Everyone else seems to have disappeared; which leaves me without suspects — other than Bella herself, of course — and I don’t think I can afford to discount anyone at this stage. Probably not even Edna.
I head for the library door, mulling over my short list of people who’d been present when I sent the message, and who could potentially have received it. So far, we have:
Jack
Rose
Frankie
Bella
Jimmy
Edna
Brian
Lexie’s mum
Doreen
Anyone else who might have been in the building, but left while I was talking to Bella.
I’m just congratulating myself on at least being able to take McTavish himself off the list, when I push open the library door and almost walk right into him.
“Hiya, Emerald,” he says. “What are ye up to? I’m just here to fix the photocopier for Bella, but I bumped into Frankie and got talking. I’ve been standing oot here for ages!”
McTavish
“I’m fine, thanks,” I mutter vaguely, deciding on the spot not to tell him or Frankie about the latest message until I’ve had the chance to do a little more digging.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell anyone? Maybe I should just keep this one to myself until I know for sure who I can trust?
I wander slowly home, guilt slowly eating away at me as I go. It doesn’t feel right to be hiding this from Jack. Or from Frankie and McTavish, for that matter. You’d think I’d know by now that every time I find myself thinking the words, “I’ll just keep this to myself for now,” it’s almost always followed by disaster of one kind or another. But, then again, Jack hid his little visit to the library from me, didn’t he? He’s barely said anything at all to me this morning, actually; which isn’t like him. I know my phone is working, but our WhatsApp chat, which normally pings away all day, has been totally silent: not so much as a “how’s your day?” or a random meme about cats.
And it’s not like he’s shown much interest in the messages, anyway. As far as he’s concerned, it’s probably just someone trying to get money out of him; which would make perfect sense if that wasactuallywhat was happening.
But it isn’t. So far, my mystery correspondent hasn’t asked for any money. They haven’t asked for anything at all.
So whatdothey want?
And why do I feel like I might not want to know the answer to that one?
Chapter 9
Reasons Not to Trust Jack: a list
Don’t really understand what he actually does all day? I know he has the distillery and now Emerald View, but he has people to run the distillery and the View is aliteralbuilding site. So why does he need to spend so much time on his laptop?
And his phone?
Still think it’s weird that I’d never met his family until they found out we were engaged.
Doesn’t like talking about his feelings. But surely a lot of men are like that?
Has really weird rules about how to stack the dishwasher, which Frankie says is a red flag for a control freak.
Hates mess. See above.
