Goody Two Shoes (Invertary Book 2) (26 page)

“I asked Archie to call the houses. I don’t have his mobile phone number. He programmed it into the phone he gave me, but the phone is in my kitchen drawer.”

Lake sighed before reaching for his cell phone. “Get to the community centre. Caroline got a package you need to see, and she’s made national news.”

Everyone looked at Caroline. There was silence. The men were stony-faced. Archie’s cheeks were red and he looked like he could hit someone. All the women’s faces, except Betty’s, were hugely sympathetic. Helen had tears in her eyes.

“Let me see that box. I can help.” Betty tried to elbow past Lake. He grabbed a handful of tartan dress at the back of her neck to stop her. “I watch
CSI
. I know what I’m doing.”

Lake stepped in front of her, his arms folded.

“Kirsty,” Lake said. “You and Helen sort out tea for everyone. Take Betty with you. Everyone waits in the blue room. Nobody talks about this until they’ve spoken with us. Got it?”

Kirsty nodded, and with Helen’s help, she manhandled a grumpy Betty out of the room.

“Archie,” Lake continued, “close up the centre. Get everyone except the domino boys out of here.”

Archie nodded and bustled out of the room. Caroline was left with Lake, Officer Donaldson, a pile of offensive articles and a box with a heart in it. They stared at each other.

“Everything will be okay,” she told them. “I’ll sort this out.”

The window to the library opened.

“Got a woman on the line,” James said. “She’s from the BBC and wants you to come on her programme. She says you’ll get a makeover and they’ll give you free clothes. Sounds like a good deal to me.”

Lake reached over and slid the window shut. James stared through it for a moment before he disappeared.

“Now about this box…” Officer Donaldson said.

Caroline sat in her chair and tried to focus on his words. She needed to get the chaos under control. She’d learned the hard way as a child that when people lost control, terrible things happened. Her parents had lost control of their car. Caroline couldn’t lose control of her life. She straightened her back. No. She needed to get on top of this situation. And fast.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

As soon as Josh got Lake’s message, he dropped his sandwich on the bar at The Scottie Dog and ran for the door—with Mitch hard on his heels. They sped up the high street to the community centre, attracting curious glances as they went.

Josh’s mouth thinned when he saw the notice pinned to the door:
Temporarily closed. We’ll let you know when we open up again. Don’t worry about library fines in the meantime, we’re postponing them.

He pushed past the notice and into the library. He spotted his mum and Kirsty sipping cups of tea with the domino boys, and an irate Betty stomping around at the back of the blue room. Ignoring them, he pushed open the door to the office.

Caroline stood behind her desk, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. She looked calm, in control and perfectly fine. If it weren’t for the slight hint of panic in her eyes and the tick on the edge of her jaw, he wouldn’t have worried. Josh went straight to her, holding her close, and relaxing slightly now that he had her in his arms.

“You okay?”

She nodded against his chest before pulling back to look up at him. “I tried to call, but I forgot your number.”

“It’s programmed into your phone, baby. Give it to me and I’ll show you.”

“It’s in a drawer in the kitchen.”

Josh stared at her for a beat. “It’s called a
mobile
phone, Caroline. The idea is that it’s
mobile.
It goes where you go.”

“I know that.” She stepped away from him. “I didn’t think I needed it with me at the community centre.”

“Well, now you know you do.”

She frowned at him, folding her arms tight against her chest. Josh left her to sulk. He turned to the men in the room. “What’s going on?”

The cop cocked his head towards the box. Josh leaned across the desk to peer in. There was thunder in his ears. “Who sent it?” His voice was tight.

“We don’t know yet.”

“Postmark, Fort William. Could be a local. Could be a visitor,” Lake said.

“Fingerprints?” Josh clenched his fists to stop from hitting something. Or someone.

“I’ll send it off,” the cop said, shrugging, “but the lab can take weeks.”

“Was there an outright threat with it?”

His eyes were on Lake and Donaldson, but it was Caroline who spoke. “Apart from the note, I’m taking the fact someone stuck a needle through a doll’s eye as a threat. The doll is supposed to be me. She has the same fashion sense.” Her voice was brittle, making Josh think he was missing something.

“What’s the rest of this story?” he asked Lake.

Lake nudged some tabloids and magazines towards him. “Caroline has made national news, and it isn’t good. Same story in all of them. Some are sympathetic, some aren’t. The photos were taken over the past few years. Looks like someone local fed the press.”

Josh felt pain in his jaw as his teeth clenched hard. He handed the pile of papers to Mitch, who let out a grunt of disgust as he sifted through them.

“This is why your mum and Kirsty are here. They saw the papers and came to offer support.” Lake smiled slightly. “We were in the newsagent when Kirsty went ballistic. She tried to buy every copy until I pointed out that even if Caroline was in the shop, she probably wouldn’t notice. Romance novels and Scottish heritage magazines, yes, tabloids and fashion mags, no.”

Caroline beamed at Lake. Josh stepped towards Caroline, threw an arm around her shoulders and tugged her to his side. Sure, it was a possessive move. But he was too annoyed to care.

“I think you should ask the butcher if he’s sold any hearts recently,” Caroline told Donaldson.

“Aye, I thought of that, Caroline,” the local cop said.

“And you should also ask at the newsagent if anyone bought a big parcel box.”

The cop just stared at her. Josh squeezed her shoulders. “I think Officer Donaldson knows what he’s doing, baby.”

She wasn’t listening. “Another question is why did the package come here instead of to my home address? Maybe it was sent by someone who only knew where I work? I know!” She shrugged out from under Josh’s arm and bent over her computer. She pressed some keys, and a minute later a list of email addresses began printing out. “All of these people applied for the job as my assistant based on the fact I’m marrying Josh. Most of them aren’t from town, so they would only have the community centre address. Maybe one of them doesn’t want me to marry Josh.”

The cop accepted the list. “That’s a good idea, Caroline, but I know what I’m doing.”

She snapped her back straight and stuck her nose in the air. “I’m not saying you don’t. I’m only trying to help. To coordinate this situation.” She didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, she looked at the magazines. “As for this. We’ll organise some people to check where the photos were taken; that should narrow down who took them and lead us to whoever sold the story.”

“Or”—Josh nudged her away from the magazines—“I can have Lake and Mitch deal with that, while you get fitted for your wedding dress.”

Her eyes snapped to the clock high on the wall. “I forgot all about the fitting.”

“I know. They called me three times because they kept getting the voice mail on your cell.
Mobile
phone, babe,
mobile
phone.”

“Right.” Caroline bent down and picked up her ugly briefcase. “I better get to the castle.”

Josh stopped her before she could escape. “Do me a favour, make sure Mom and Kirsty go with you.”

“Why?” She looked genuinely confused.

He bent and kissed her nose. “They’re upset. It will be a good diversion for them. Plus Kirsty has to try on the bridesmaid dresses they brought for her.”

“Right. Of course she has a fitting too.” Caroline strode to the door. “If I think of anything else you should do,” she said to Officer Donaldson, “I’ll call.”

“You do that,” he said with a smile.

Once Caroline was gone, Josh felt his rage build. “Your guy is still with her, right?”

“You don’t need to worry. I told him to wait outside. He won’t let her out of his sight.”

Josh took a deep breath then looked to Mitch. “The tabloids and mags…I need you on damage control. They know Caroline doesn’t have a team behind her or they wouldn’t have tried this garbage. Now she has my team. Make this go away. Do everything you can think of to turn this around for her. Okay?”

Mitch gave a tight nod. His disgust was clear. “Half of this is slander. I’ll throw the book at them. While I’m at it, I’ll pull strings, get the name of the person who fed them the story and the photos.”

Josh nodded, feeling slightly relieved. He could always depend on Mitch.

The cop gathered up the box. “I’ll follow up on the box and keep an eye on the mail. I’ll have the domino boys run interference in case anything else turns up. It would probably be for the best if Caroline didn’t open any more packages.” He ran a hand over his face. “We all know she thinks she can handle anything, but that girl doesn’t have a clue about her own limitations. We need to save her from herself.”

Josh couldn’t agree more. “I’ll talk to the domino boys about keeping the centre closed until after the wedding. That will make it harder to get anywhere near Caroline.”

“Good idea.” The cop pointed at Josh and Lake. “Keep her safe. I don’t know what this means—it could just be someone screwing around, but we don’t take any chances.” They nodded. “Josh, I’ll need a list of anyone who’s been overfamiliar, issued threats, that sort of thing. They could be targeting Caroline to get to you.”

“I’ll get it to you,” Mitch said.

The men stood grimly silent for a moment.

“Right, we’re done here. This used to be a nice, quiet job,” Donaldson grumbled. “Then all you foreigners started coming to town and now I’m dealing with crazy ex-boyfriends, buildings burning down, voodoo dolls and sheep hearts, crazed reporters and road blockades. I need a vacation.”

“What’s he talking about?” Mitch asked Lake.

“Kirsty’s ex burned down her shop. He’s making a big deal out of nothing.”

“Yeah, right,” the cop said.

“It’s not us,” Lake told him. “It’s the women. Wait until you get one of your own, then you’ll see.”

Donaldson’s grey eyes went wide. “This commitment thing isn’t for me. I have plans.”

“Yeah.” Lake’s grin was wide. “That’s what we all say.”

Josh left the men to their argument and went in search of the domino boys. The sooner they shut down the centre, the better. In fact, if he could have locked Caroline away to keep her safe, he would have done exactly that. He snorted. He could just imagine how well that would go over with his little control freak.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“I love, love,
love
your dress,” Kirsty cooed.

“I know. You said.”

Caroline stood still on a stool while the dressmaker pinned and marked the gown. They were in Helen’s bedroom, which had the only full-length mirror in the castle. It was also one of the few rooms where the dress wouldn’t get covered in restoration debris. She turned to see the dress from the back. It was gorgeous.

“Champagne.” Helen waved the bottle as she entered the room. Her eyes went misty at the sight of Caroline. “Oh, darling, you look wonderful.” She held Caroline’s hand in hers. “If your parents were here, they would think that they’d never seen anyone more beautiful.”

Caroline saw Kirsty suddenly turn towards the window as she wiped her cheek.

“Thank you,” Caroline told Helen.

Helen’s eyes softened before she took a deep breath. “Now, champagne for everyone. Including you,” she told the woman at Caroline’s hem.

“Not for me.” Caroline smiled at Helen’s enthusiasm. She could see where Josh got his. “I don’t drink.”

“With everything that’s going on in your life, now’s a great time to start.” Helen put a glass in her hand.

Caroline gave Kirsty a stunned look, and Kirsty laughed.

Helen held her glass high in the air. “To Caroline, the perfect daughter-in-law. I couldn’t have picked better if I’d done it myself.”

As everyone sipped, Caroline blinked back tears. She dared a sip too. It didn’t taste anything like the terrible wines she’d tried over the years. It was sweet, bubbly and delicious. She took another sip and decided she did drink after all—but only champagne.

Josh was in the mood for a fight. Unfortunately, seeing as none of the people he wanted to hit were available—namely, all of the UK tabloid press, every paparazzi photographer he’d ever met and whoever was behind Caroline’s sick gift—he’d have to settle with the only thing he did have access to that was driving him nuts. He went back to Caroline’s place to deal with his dad.

He found his father sitting in his underpants, surrounded by the debris of constant snacking. He was watching the trashiest talk show Josh had ever seen. Some guy was undergoing a polygraph because his girlfriend didn’t believe he hadn’t slept with her two sisters. Josh shuddered and snatched the remote up from beside his father. He clicked off the TV.