Because he was. Clearly.
She sank into the chair. ‘Will you just get rid of the flowers? Please?’
Nick had never picked something up so fast or hurled it out into the hall quite so hard.
Alex’s eyes were closed and she pinched the bridge of her nose as if trying to ward off a headache, or tears. Nick waited, worrying his fingers together. He’d never seen anyone react like this. Not to flowers.
After a moment she moved, more like an automaton than a living breathing human, grabbed her laptop and after briefly doing something with it, handed it to him. Her email was open on the screen, a subfolder filled with unread messages. So many of them. All of them vile.
Nick put it down on the desk. She was sitting down again, her head in her hands.
‘What is that?’
‘Ed set up a script that filters them before I see them, and auto-forwards them to the cops. Not that there’s a lot that can be done about them. But at least I don’t have to deal with it. I mostly just try to forget it’s there.’
‘Abusive emails?’
‘I wish that was all,’ she murmured. Nick didn’t dare move. He didn’t dare speak. He had to wait. It was excruciating. ‘We had a case,’ Alex said at last. ‘Ted Sanderson. He was obsessed with the Black Dahlia murder, Elizabeth Short. She was killed in 1947 in LA. It was brutal, horrible and no one ever found out who did it. Sanderson tormented his daughters, made them believe that whoever killed Elizabeth was coming for them too, that it was a demon. And he loved the celebrity of it, thrived on every second of notoriety. There was no demon, of course. I exposed him on the show and he was arrested. I testified against him. He went online and tapped into a whole world of men who hate women like me. They used to send me black dahlias withinnocuous little messages, just like that. Every week. Sometimes every day.’
She shuddered and looked up at him, wide-eyed.
‘You think this came from them?’
The glare she turned on him then was terrible. ‘Or from you. An attempt to get rid of me. Frighten me off.’
That…that had never occurred to him. Cursing, he realised he was still standing there, too big, too threatening, the man who had made no secret of the fact he had never wanted her here and wanted her to leave as soon as possible. The man who frightened her. God, this was…this was not what he’d intended. Carefully, he sank to his knees in front of her. Alex watched him and the wariness in her eyes made his heart ache. ‘The delivery man brought it.’And later on I’m going to deal with him too.‘I didn’t realise. I knew you left your show. I didn’t know any of that.’
What she must have gone through, was still going through… God, if he could get his hands on Sanderson or any of his followers right now… What were the cops even doing?
‘Well, I didn’t exactly make it public.’
‘Is that why you left the show?’
‘And the States. It wasn’t worth giving them the target anymore. I guess they’ve found out where I am then. There was a guy in the village, when I had lunch in the pub. I thought maybe…he knew who I was.’
‘Seán MacBride?’ He ground out the name.
‘Yeah, Seán something.’ She sounded so tired, exhausted. And all he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms. But he didn’t dare touch her. Not now. ‘That was what Fionnuala said.’
Oh yeah, Nick was going to kill him. ‘Seán brought them with him. He was driving the delivery truck with your equipment.’ Alex’s eyes brimmed with unshed tears and she bit her lower lip. Nick felt something twist inside him, a new type of anguish. ‘I’lldeal with him. Worse, I’ll tell Patricia and she’ll deal with him. She’s friends with his mum.’
‘Why do they always live with their mum?’ Alex murmured numbly. ‘I’m sorry I accused you. It was…it was a shock. They know where I am now.’ She put her head down in her hands again, trying to calm her breathing. She looked like she was about to have a panic attack. ‘I’ll have to find somewhere else. I’ll pack and…and maybe you could drop me to the train or…’
‘You aren’t leaving,’ he said aghast.
She barked out a hollow laugh. ‘Oh, come on, Nick, I thought that was what you wanted.’
‘Not now. Not like this. Not because ofthem.’ This time he did reach out and take her hands in hers…carefully, gingerly, stroking the skin as softly as he could. And to his amazement, she let him. ‘I won’t let them get near you. I won’t let anyone hurt you, Alex. I promise. I’ll protect you.’ The words felt right and true. Nothing had ever felt quite so right. ‘Alex, I am your guardian. I can help you. Shield you. Please. Don’t leave.’
CHAPTER 29
ALEX
Eduardo had sent top of the line stuff expressed to her from a supplier in Dublin. He must have done so as soon as possible after Daphne’s collapse – Alex refused to call it a psychic attack on principle, but that’s what the others had said it was. The speed at which he’d swung into action made it feel even more urgent than before. If only they were here with her now. Gabe making jokes, irreverent to the last, Arnold triple-checking everything, Daphne waxing lyrical about atmosphere and spirits, Ed setting up all this shit…
Too dangerous. Far too dangerous. The house felt like an oppressive weight on her shoulders. It ate into her consciousness. The shadow of Blaise Chambers fell over everything.
There had been no other obvious incidents though. For that Alex was thankful. Not supernatural ones anyway. The flowers had left her rattled enough. Sharing the truth of all that with Nick had been an unexpected relief.
