It took me a few minutes to get the camera angle right, but once I had, I raced around, collecting as many photos as I could. Periodically, I’d look out the window to be sure neither Mrs. Drummond nor David were in the vicinity.
I returned to the bookshelves, studying the titles more closely than I had earlier. Many were recent releases but in a multitude of genres with no set pattern. It was almost as though they were chosen as props rather than by someone interested in reading them. I was about to pull a crime-related hardback out when I glanced toward the window and saw Mrs. Drummond approaching. I quickly returned to the bedroom and set my computer on the desk. I was headed out to the living room and gasped when something occurred to me.
“Where’s David?” I asked.
Mrs. Drummond looked up from where she was making another cup of tea. “Is there something you need, luv?”
“I must speak with him right away.” I looked up at the clock on the wall. “Is that right?”
She glanced behind her, then at her watch. “It is.”
I counted the number of hours I had left before the “dead man’s switch” protocol I’d set up for my investigation would activate.
I’d already missed the first twelve-hour digital check-in. If I didn’t do it before the twenty-four-hour mark, level-one activation would automatically commence.
First, the news agency would be notified of my disappearance. No doubt they’d stage a press conference. Then Clive would be alerted to where he could find my notes. It wouldn’t be all of them. Those would come in increments, based on how much time had passed between check-ins. Theoretically, if I were dead, Clive would have all of it within a maximum of forty-eight hours. Given what I’d overheard of his conversation, I couldn’t risk him accessing any of the investigation, even the preliminary notes.
“It’s imperative I speak with him in the next fifteen minutes.” I had more time than that, but who knew how long it would take before someone could arrange for me to have the access I needed.
“Of course,” I watched as she pulled out her mobile and sent a message. The sight of it infuriated me all over again.
“Where the bloody hell is mine?” I muttered under my breath.
“Pardon?” she asked.
“My phone wasn’t in the box with the other items,” I snapped, immediately regretting my tone. None of this was Mrs. Drummond’s fault.
“I hope it didn’t get tossed with the rest of the rubbish,” she said.
I’d sifted through it more than once before, deciding nothing else of import was in the box, so I was certain it hadn’t been.
“Perhaps you should take another look.”
While I doubted it would miraculously turn up in the stuff I’d unpacked and left scattered on the bed, it was at least worth a try. I was about to return to the bedroom, but when I glanced out the window and saw David approaching, I stepped outside instead.
There was something about the way he stalked toward the cottage that seemed familiar in the same way his eye twitch did.However, there was no way I’d met the man prior to his saving my life last night. If I had, I never would’ve forgotten him. Better put, my girly bits wouldn’t have.
There was power in each step he took. It reverberated from every muscle in his chiseled body. The closer he got, the more I wanted to know how it felt to be in his arms with his mouth fused to mine. I slowly walked toward him.
“What’s this about, Sullivan?” he asked when we were almost close enough to touch.
“Dead man’s switch.”
His eyes scrunched, then he nodded. “How much time do you have left?”
I wasn’t surprised that he knew what I was referring to. “Approximately six hours before level-one activation. However, without a mobile or internet access, I have no way of checking in.”
“Understood.”
He pulled out his mobile. “Meet us at the cottage.”
I looked beyond him a few seconds later and saw two men headed our way. “Who’s that?”
“People I work with at SIS.” He glanced over his shoulder, hesitated for a moment, then added, “They are also two of my closest friends. I trust them with my life. Therefore, I trust them with yours.”
His response felt oddlypersonal. “David?”
He turned from looking at them to me. “Yes?”