Page 19 of Hush Money

Ted again: “You want to take one of the cars? I can get you the keys for the Range Rover.”

“I don’t need the Range Rover.” I catch my voice pitching higher and make a mental note to tone it down. “I need the exercise. Didn’t I see bikes in the garage yesterday?”

Maddie grins with way more delight than the situation warrants. “We have bikes, yes.”

“Great! I’m all set.” I speed for the door before anyone can come up with anything else?—

“Wait,” Ted calls after me. “I’ll just make sure there’s enough air in the tires.”

“I’ve got it,” I call without stopping. “I’m fine. Thanks. Bye!”

I make my escape, half expecting them to tumble out of the house after me. Perhaps with a high-tech tracking device in tow just to make sure no one loses me during my perilous trek up the straight driveway and left to head into town. But nothing follows me, so I begin to relax. By the time I make it to the garage, I’m looking forward to a little solo adventure. I help myself to a nice bike and take off for the little town, where I spend a quiet day exploring all the shops by myself. It’s pleasant. Or it could be.

If only I could escape the feeling that someone is hovering over my shoulder just out of sight, watching me.

Eventually I run out of things to see and head back. The tangy breeze feels good against my face, and I finally start to relax. I even note the way the stump from the fallen tree has now been ground into a fine mulch along the drive. All seems well.

Which is why it’s such a shock to see several cars in the circle driveway, doors open and engines idling. A group of staff is listening to Lucien as he shouts instructions and gestures at the cars. I’m too far away to hear what he’s saying at first, but I have no problem picking up his grim urgency and air of command.

Oh, God. What now?

My stomach lurches because we don’t need any more shocking developments. Not today. I speed up, thighs burning with the effort to get there and find out what the hell is happening. That’s when someone looks around, sees me and points.

Lucien’s head whips around just as I screech to a halt and hop off the bike. “Tamsyn?”

“Oh my God,” I say, pulse thundering in my throat. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

CHAPTER NINE

TAMSYN

“What’s happened?” Lucien doesn’t bother to hide his incredulity or his thundercloud face. “We were just about to come looking for you.”

“What?” I glance around again, and it all makes sense. The collection of grim faces now looking relieved. The cars. The urgency. The only things missing are lit torches and the pack of baying bloodhounds I feared earlier. “What are you talking about? Why on earth would you need to come looking for me?”

“Because you’ve been gone all day, Tamsyn,” he says, his voice rough. “And you haven’t answered your phone.”

“My phone? I’ve been checking my phone all day.” I pull it out of my back pocket to show him that there have been no messages whatsoever. “I checked right before I started back and— Oh, no. The battery is dead. I didn’t get to charge it last night with the power out.”

“You don’t say,” he says, his scowl deepening.

“Sorry about that,” I say, taking inventory of the crowd. “But I told Ted and Maddie where I was going, right?”

Ted and Maddie nod.

Unfortunately, Lucien does not seem to be in a forgiving mood. “You don’t know the area, Tamsyn. Anything could have happened.”

“Anything?” I say with a disbelieving laugh. I don’t know what’s in the air out here at Ackerley, but I’m quickly discovering that rich people and their minions are C-R-A-Z-Y. “I basically rode in a straight line out to the main road, a straight line through the town and then retraced the path back here. I’m a lifelong New Yorker. I’ve been navigating Brooklyn and Manhattan by myself for over a decade. What could happen on these country roads? You think one of the horses was going to jump a fence and attack me?”

There’s a long pause while he stares me down. “I like to be vigilant,” he says, his voice deathly quiet now. “We have a painful history of women disappearing without warning around here.”

The words linger in the air for an agonizing beat or two before crashing down on my head. Now I feel like an asshole. A sheepish asshole. “Oh my God. I get it. I’m sorry.” I focus on the crowd at large again. “I didn’t mean to worry anyone. I just went into town.”

“Okay, gang.” Lucien ducks his head, clears his throat and runs his hand over the back of his neck. When his head comes up again, he’s got two patches of bright color on his cheeks and avoids making eye contact with anyone. “Stand down until the next crisis. Let’s put the cars away and call it a day. Thanks.”

The crowd disperses with a few parting murmurs, leaving me and Lucien to stare at each other in a wary silence. He looks much the worse for wear, I realize for the first time, with rumpled hair and a badly wrinkled linen shirt, neither of which are the normal, polished Lucien look. The sharp edges of his five o’clock shadow are beginning to dull because he hasn’t had the chance to shave. Worst of all are the purplish hollows under his eyes that give him a haunted look.

“Lucien…”

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