Lachlan (Dangerous Doms #5) - Jane Henry Page 0,80
asleep myself, and raise up on one elbow. “What are you talking about, lass?”
Her hands flail in the air as she tries to explain, always talking with her hands when excited. “I know, my God, I know now.” She throws off the covers and paces the room. “The guard, Lach. It was the guard. You all thought the guard was attacked by the men in Boston, didn’t you?” She mutters to herself, shaking her head. “You all trusted the guard. I mean, of course you would, Keenan vets all of them, doesn’t he?”
I sit up and draw in a deep breath.
“Fiona. Slow down, lass. You’re not making any sense.”
She nods, still talking to herself. “The day of my birthday,” she begins. “Tiernan was here. He was pretending to be the guard at the gate, wasn’t he?”
I nod. “Aye.”
“He had on his uniform, I saw it. Just the standard guard uniform, Lachlan. And there was a crest on the sleeve, I figured you guys had new uniforms or something. Didn’t even think twice. And it was the same crest Matt had in Boston.”
I furrow my brow. “Matt?”
She nods excitedly. “Yes, Matt. The same name of the guy I hung out with my first night in Boston. Remember I told you, he asked me all sorts of questions about my home and where I came from? He wanted to be sure he had my identity.”
I listen warily.
“Think, Lachlan. Did you find the bodies of my guard? Did you?”
I think back to what Keenan said. “Mutilated beyond recognition.” I pick up my phone and dial Keenan.
He answers on the first ring, sounding tired and weary.
“Keenan, when you found the guard that was supposed to be with Fiona — did you identify their bodies?”
“No.”
“How did you know it was them, then?”
He curses under his breath. “Suppose I didn’t. I sent our Ballyhock guard to accompany her on the plane to Boston, but they came straight back. Tiernan’s crew arranged guard for her in Boston.”
“We need to call Tiernan,” Fiona says excitedly. “But God, Lachlan, do you know what this means?”
I hold my palm up to her. “Slow down, lass. Slow down. Let me call Tiernan.”
Tiernan answers on the first ring. I put him on speaker.
“Tiernan. Lachlan here. Sitting with your sister.”
“You two alright?”
“We’re fine,” Fiona says, eager to talk to him. “Tiernan, do you remember the day of my party?” I watch her speak with wide, excited eyes, her hands flailing around her like sailboats. My pretty, brilliant little brat.
“Aye,” he says. “Remember it well.”
“Where did you get the coat?”
“What?”
“The uniform you wore. It was different, and it just came to me all at once, like my subconscious was working it out or something.”
“Just found it in the booth,” he said. “Put it on. Why?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “But we need to do some investigating. Has anything happened over there involving the McCarthy Clan since we left Boston?”
“Not a thing.”
She nods, her eyes bright and cheeks flushed, she’s that intent on unravelling the mystery. “Can you call your connections in Boston, see if anyone in a homeless shelter went missing that night?” she asks Tiernan. “You never saw the bodies of my guards, Tiernan. You saw the mutilated bodies of men who wore the uniform, didn’t you?”
“Aye,” he says with a groan. “You’re right.”
“And who arranged for my guard to meet me in Boston?”
“Calum, but you can trust him.”
Fiona’s eyes come to mine.
“That will be my next call,” I tell Tiernan. “You look into what your sister said, and I’ll call Calum.”
I call Calum, but dread already suffuses my limbs. I know what he’s going to find when he investigates.
There was no guard watching Fiona in Boston. It was a set up from the beginning.
Our enemy’s in Ballyhock.
Chapter 21
Fiona
It all makes sense now. It’s like I can see every part of the puzzle with the vivid recollection of someone who’s studied this for ages.
Lachlan hangs up the phone with Calum, and shakes his head. “Bloody hell, lass. You were right. Calum did some investigating, seems the guard he assigned that night were told to take the night off in a message they thought was from him. Wasn’t him, though, he apologized his bloody arse off. Every one of his guard’s fine.”
The phone rings. Tiernan. “You were right,” he said. “Same bloody night your supposed guard got attacked, two men went missing from a shelter. Haven’t found their bodies yet.”
“It’s just a hunch,” I say. “But we need to investigate the guard here at