specific. It hadn’t taken long to figure out what it was and who had been responsible.
Keith Clayton wanted his camera. Or, more likely, he wanted the disk. Probably because the photographs on the disk could get him in trouble. No great leap of logic, considering what Clayton had been doing the first time they’d bumped into each other.
All right, so Clayton wanted to cover his tracks. But there was still more to this than met the eye. And it had to do with Elizabeth.
It didn’t make sense that she hadn’t had any relationships in the past ten years. But it did jibe with something he’d heard while standing around the pool table, showing her picture to the group of locals. What had one of them said? It had taken a while to recall the exact words, and he wished he had paid more attention to the comment. He’d been so focused on learning Elizabeth’s name, he’d ignored it at the time—a mistake. In hindsight, there was something menacing about the comment’s implication.
. . . let’s just say she doesn’t date. Her ex wouldn’t like it, and trust me, you don’t want to mess with him.
He reviewed what he knew about Keith Clayton. Part of a powerful family. A bully. Quick to anger. In a position to abuse his power. Someone who thought he deserved whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it?
Thibault couldn’t be certain about the last one, but it all fit the picture.
Clayton didn’t want Elizabeth to see other men. Elizabeth hadn’t had any meaningful relationships in years. Elizabeth occasionally wondered why but hadn’t even considered the possible connection between her ex-husband and failed relationships. To Thibault, it seemed entirely plausible that Clayton was manipulating people and events and—at least in one way—still controlling her life. For Clayton to know that Elizabeth was dating someone in the past meant that Clayton had been watching over her for years. Just as he was watching over her now.
It wasn’t hard to imagine how Clayton had ended her previous relationships, but so far, he’d kept his distance when it came to Thibault and Elizabeth. So far, Thibault hadn’t seen him spying from afar, hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Instead, Clayton had broken into his house in search of the disk when he knew Thibault would be at work.
Getting his ducks in a row?
Probably. But the question was, to what end? To run Thibault out of town, at the very least. Still, Thibault couldn’t shake the feeling that this wouldn’t be the end. As Victor had said, there is more.
He’d wanted to share with Elizabeth what he knew about her ex, but he couldn’t come right out and tell her about the comment he’d overheard at the pool hall. That would mean telling her about the photograph, and he couldn’t do that yet. Instead, he wanted to point her in the right direction, hoping she would begin to make the connections herself. Together, once they both knew the extent to which Clayton was willing to sabotage her relationships, they would be able to handle whatever he chose to do. They loved each other. They would know what to expect. It would all work out.
Was this the reason he’d come? To fall in love with Elizabeth and make a life together? Was this his destiny?
For some reason, it didn’t feel right. Victor’s words seemed to confirm that. There was another reason that he’d come here. Falling in love with Elizabeth may have been part of it. But that wasn’t all. Something else was coming.
There is more.
Thibault slept the rest of the night without waking, just as he had since arriving in North Carolina. A military thing—or, more accurately, a combat thing, something he’d learned out of necessity. Tired soldiers made mistakes. His father had said that. Every officer he’d ever known had said that. His wartime experience confirmed the truth of their statements. He’d learned to sleep when it was time to sleep, no matter how chaotic things were, trusting he’d be better for it the following day.
Aside from the brief period after Victor’s death, sleep had never been a problem. He liked sleep, and he liked the way his thoughts seemed to coalesce while he was dreaming. On Sunday, when he woke, he found himself visualizing a wheel with spokes extending from the center. He wasn’t sure why, but a few minutes later, when he was walking Zeus outside, he was suddenly struck by the notion that Elizabeth wasn’t the center