“A body?” A stupid thing to say. He’d hardly misidentifythat. But finding a body in their vineyard had definitely not been on her bingo card for the year.
“Male. Definitely dead but turned away so I couldn’t see his face.”
“Someone from Sundaram?” she all but whispered. They paused when Kendall shot them a look over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed, but a step later, she faced forward and trudged dramatically toward Helia’s house.
“I don’t think so. He was wearing a suit.”
“Good. I mean, not good, but good,” she said. No one who worked at Sundaram, or who lived on the property, ever wore a suit.
“Blondish hair. Under six feet tall, but hard to tell exactly. He was curled on his side,” he added.
She didn’t know many blond men, and at this point, it wasn’t worth speculating. Ha, who was she kidding? In the five minutes before reaching her little abode, she ran through every memory she had trying to identify men who met Collin’s description. By the time they reached her door, she had five possibilities.
“I need to call the police,” Collin said when he shut the door behind them. Kendall didn’t even try to hide her panic.
“If you want to stay here, we can keep them out of Helia’s house,” Collin said to her. “We can meet them at the main building.” He paused. “Or you can go back to the castle. You know the way, and I can give you the code to get in.”
Her eyes searched Collin’s. “You’re not going to tell them?”
“I told you I wouldn’t. As far as you’re concerned, my priority is reuniting you with your mother,” Collin answered.
The girl stilled, then swallowed. “Can I stay here?” she asked, her tentative gaze flickering to Helia.
Helia nodded. “Of course. You may want to stay upstairs, though. And away from the windows,” she added, hoping she wasn’t harboring a felon.
Collin cocked his head. “You have your phone, right? You can watch something while we deal with the police.”
Slowly, Kendall nodded.
“Why don’t I show you where everything is and get you the Wi-Fi code,” Helia said, setting her hand on Kendall’s shoulder and turning her toward the bedroom. Five minutes later, she and Collin exited the house and headed toward the main building.
“What about CCTV?” Collin asked.
She waved him off. “It’s all over the place by the gates and the main buildings, but not out by my house or the vineyards. If we have to turn over more footage, they won’t see her.” They crossed the courtyard side by side, the packed gravel crunching under their feet. “When we were upstairs, I told her what you saw,” she said. “Who is she?” Helia asked. “No, scratch that. You can tell me later. What I really want to know is why did she say this has been thethirdmurder in less than three weeks?”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Monk huffed out a breath as they walked to the main building. “Let me call the police, and I’ll tell you while we wait.”
Helia’s hazel eyes searched his. For a moment, he got lost in them. He’d heard that saying a thousand times before but always thought it ridiculous. You got lost in the woods or when driving through a new city. Not in someone’s eyes. He had no other way to describe it, though. No way to describe how time slowed, or how there seemed to be an invisible magnet between his eyes and hers, making it impossible to pull away. Or how the connection between them conjured images in his head, recalling the past but also hinting at a future. And he definitely had no way to describe the feelings roiling through him. Want and desire were the obvious ones. But something deeper lay at the foundation of it all, something binding him to her in a way he couldn’t—wouldn’t—deny even if he didn’t understand it.
“Helia? Collin?”
He held Helia’s gaze for one more beat before turning. “Vanessa, it’s good to see you again.”
“You, too,” she said, walking over and giving him a hug. “What are you two doing out here?” she asked, hugging Helia, too.
He glanced at Helia, who nodded. She’d tell her mom while he called the police.
He stepped away and dialed 911. By the time he was done giving dispatch the details, Vanessa and Helia stood in mirrored poses, one arm crossed across their stomach, the other elbow resting on top, fingers covering their lips.
“The police are on their way,” Monk said, rejoining the pair.
“I texted Harry. He’ll be down in a second. He was getting out of the shower,” Vanessa said. “You didn’t recognize him?” she asked.
Monk shook his head. “I didn’t see his face. Even if I did, I don’t know a lot of people around here. I probably wouldn’t have recognized him anyway.”
The door opened and Harry strode out. “What the hell? Who is it? Where?”
