“Name?”
He seemed reluctant to say, lips pressed closed. Finally, he said, “Lowell Jeffries.”
“Your ex-wife’s brother?” Mason’s eyebrows hiked.
Delaney blinked, surprised at this new information. Mr. Aylett had been married?
“He has reason to dislike me.”
The detective asked, “Reason to try to hurt you?”
“He thinks so.” His gaze flicked to hers but didn’t hold. Instead, he focused on Mason, who had information Delaney did not. “Which brings us back to Lena Monroe.”
Mr. Aylett’s stalker, but what did she have to do with this Lowell character?
And what would Lena do if she thought Delaney was standing in her way?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Noah watched through the kitchen window as Charlotte chased a butterfly across the backyard, her delighted giggles carrying on the breeze, but his attention kept drifting to the woman seated on the porch in the wicker love seat.
Delaney hugged a throw pillow, her face pale despite the afternoon sun. Every few minutes, she’d shift, wincing at some movement that sent pain through her bruised sternum. Her discomfort sent a familiar surge of rage through his system—white-hot and useless.
Mason had called an hour before to tell them what he’d learned from the security footage. The cameras at the superstore had captured a figure crouching beside Delaney’s Highlander, all right—someone in baggy clothing and a baseball cap pulled low, face never visible to the lens. Could have been anyone. Male, female, tall, short—impossible to tell. And there was no footage of Lena’s car anywhere in the parking lot that evening.
She could have killed Delaney—and she would have gotten away with it.
The coffee in Noah’s hand had gone cold while he stood there, wrestling with the impossible choice that had been eatingat him all day. He should send Delaney away. Back to Maine, back to safety, back to a life that didn’t include psychotic stalkers.
But Charlotte had been through too much loss already. Her mother, her grandmother, her useless father… Everyone who was supposed to protect her had abandoned her. She’d found safety with Noah, but she’d bloomed under Delaney’s care. How could he rip that away from her?
Who was he kidding? He didn’t want Delaney to leave either. In three weeks, she’d become more than Charlotte’s nanny. She’d become the steady presence that made their house feel like a home. The woman who made him laugh in leaf piles and whose coconut scent lingered in rooms after she’d gone.
His phone rang, jolting him from his brooding. He checked the screen and answered. “Hey, Richard.”
“Did you get my message?”
“I haven’t listened to it, but I saw that you called. We had some excitement around here last night.” He explained about Delaney’s wreck and the SUV whose driver had watched but never offered to help. “It wasn’t an accident.” Noah stepped away from the window, afraid his voice would carry through the glass. “Someone cut her brake line.”
“You’re sure?”
“Cops told me.”
Richard was quiet for a moment. “Any guesses?—?”
“My guess is Lena Monroe. She was waiting for me at my car yesterday after I left the office.”
He sighed, the sound weary. “I was afraid she wasn’t gone for good. Are the police looking for her?”
“There’s no evidence it was her. They have nothing to charge her with.”
“Okay, well… I’m sorry you’re going through that. I’ve got more information about Frederick Hayes.”
“Tell me.”
“My friend was representing a company in a merger about ten years ago. The details aren’t important, but the morning the contract was to be signed, his client backed out. Understand, by not signing, he lost millions.
“My friend found out later that someone had threatened the client’s wife.”
