Walking out of the building, I felt a weight lift from my chest.
Turning to glance back up at the high-rise as life buzzed by me, I realized my relationship, my existence here, was an anchor weighing me down in the wrong place.
Scotland.
The word whispered through my mind.
Yeah, maybe it was time to go back.
“Tierney Silver?”
I spun to find a strange woman peering at me. A man in a suit bumped into her and she huffed and stepped to the side. She had pixie-cut brown hair and wide, curious brown eyes. There was a small, sparkly blue stud in her nose, and she wore a blue knitted vest top over a white T-shirt paired with slouchy brown trousers. Brown loafers completed her casual office outfit. On anyone else, it would look frumpy, but she made it look effortlessly cool.
I’d definitely never met her before.
“Do I know you?” I asked wearily.
I was tired and needed to find a place to stay.
She held out her hand. “Perri Wilcox. I’m an investigative reporter.”
Oh great. “Look, I don’t?—”
“My colleague Ben Rierson was killed two days after your parents died in a helicopter crash.”
I froze.
“I’ve been investigating Ben’s death and recently discovered the two were connected.”
Shaking my head, I took a step back, like I could sense what was coming.
“I believe my colleague was murdered because he was helping your parents with an investigation. I believe your parents’ death was not accidental, Ms. Silver. I think someone shut them and Ben up.”
The sidewalk began to spin, and I stumbled against the side of the building.
Perri Wilcox reached out to steady me. “Whoa, you’re okay,” she murmured in her husky voice.
I took a few calming breaths before I met her dark gaze. “Tell me.” My tone was hard. “Tell me everything.”
1.Tierney
Isle of Glenvulin, Scotland
The handsome Scot at my side kept talking as we wandered through the derelict guesthouse, but his voice had become like background music. Mostly because the questionWhat have you done?kept repeating over and over in my mind.
Only a week ago, buying the old guesthouse that had once been a pillar of the community on this part of the island had seemed like a good idea.
“Tierney? Tierney?”
The Scottish accent changed my name from “Teer-Nee” to “Teer-Neh” and pronounced “Teer” so quickly, it took me a second to realize the Scot was calling my name.
I whipped around to find Quinn McQuarrie, my main contractor, standing in the doorway of what had been a dining room, waiting expectantly for me to follow him. His brows drew together. “You all right?”
Pasting on a smile, I nodded and followed him out of the room.
“Starting to feel overwhelmed?” Quinn guessed as we strode down the dark hallway and out the front door. We hadn’t finished our final tour before renovations were set to begin, so I didn’t understand why he was leading me outside.
“Um … maybe a little,” I admitted. “Where are we going?”
