Page 35 of The Art of You

“How could myfriendship be relevant to anything?” I hissed, not meaning to take out my frustrations on her when she’d made the trip out to the Hamptons to help.

“If Isabella has a stalker obsessed with her, and they see you as a threat, then yes, that’s relevant in helping me figure out what’s going on.” She reached for my good arm and gave it a light squeeze. “I’m here for you. But I can’t help if you’re going to play hardball with me. I’m not the enemy. Looks like you have enough of them already.”

Yeah, like Special Agent Clarke, who was up my ass itchingto throw bogus manslaughter charges at me. Something told me that coffee-drinking prick wouldn’t stop even if Bigfoot killing those two men was a more plausible story.

“Stop Doctor Phil’ing me.”

Instead of giving me the eye roll I deserved, she worried her brows together and offered me a sympathetic look.

Her sad expression hit me with just about the same effect as an ASPCA commercial about neglected and abused animals. Growing uncomfortable, I rushed out, “Did you find out something new you haven’t told me that’d lead you to believe she does, in fact, have a stalker?”

“Well, there was something you never mentioned, or maybe you didn’t remember, that has bothered me.” She produced her phone from her pocket and a moment later offered it to me. “Someone photoshopped you out of the picture sent to Isabella on Friday.”

I stared at the two side-by-side images. A photo she’d taken of the one sent to Bella along with another. “No, I wasn’t in that shot . . . was I?” I didn’t remember being in it, at least.

“I couldn’t sleep last night, so I decided to do some digging. I pulled up the article that Kit wrote in connection to the photo, and as you can see there, you were in the background. Not close, almost like a shadow off in the distance near Bianca’s apartment building, but you were there. Definitely you. So, my question is, why did this person choose to photoshop you out when sending her the picture?” She took her phone back and pocketed it.

The biting sting of chills crashed over me. Any direction she was about to run with this wasn’t a good one. No road was worth traveling when it came to this. “This is your area, right? What are you thinking this means? Just tell me.”

“Well, I did some checking, and I haven’t been able to find a single photo of just you and Isabella online.Like ever. You’ve been in images with her and her brothers, but never only the two of you.Asidefrom this one.”

I hated this. Hating every second ofthis.

I needed an enemy. A target package. A place to point and shoot. Instead of feeling like a sailor without orders lost at sea.

“Two possible reasons for this.” She was shifting comfortably into FBI mode. “One, our suspect is obsessed with Isabella, and they see you as a threat, which is why they chose this photo to send. It was the only one they had of just the two of you, so they used it to get their message across. They want you gone from her life. It could also serve to cast suspicion on the reporter, but that would mean this person has pretty intimate access to Isabella’s life to be aware you were going to the party together. High-level knowledge to also know Kit had been added at the last minute.”

Stalker. Intimate access. Someone she knows?That unacceptable idea sent more unsettling chills crashing hard over my skin.

“This is often the case when it comes to women who’ve been abducted. It’s almost always by someone who knew them, someone already in their life,” she shared, her tone somber again.

I bowed my head and gritted out, “What’s the other reason why I was cut out?”

“That Isabella receiving that photo could have more to do with who’snotin it than is.” She’d need to spell this out for me, the murderous mood I was in making it hard to think clearly. “Instead of this being about her, someone could’ve sent the photo as a message for you. They’d assume she’d tell you about it.”

I felt the blood rush to my face in real time, feeling like I’d been hit by a fever. “I’m their target, and they’re coming after Isabella to get to me.” I abruptly turned away from her, unableto handle either possibility. I stared out at the ocean in the distance, forgetting how to breathe for a moment.

“I need a lot more to go on before I can piece this together.” She set her hand on my back, coming up next to me. “We don’t know their motives, or if this photo has anything to do with the kidnapping case. Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves, okay? It could be this reporter trying to get into your head, too.”

“I’ve never wished so much that a reporter was looking to fuck with me more than I do now.”

“Before we talk to her, I’d like to see what she does next. See who she talks to. I’m assuming your team already has her under surveillance?”

“Of course.” I turned toward the house, and she let go of my back. “We should fill in the others. Get this over with.”

“Wait.” She reached for my arm, stopping me from heading in. “You haven’t answered me yet, and I assume you’d rather do it in private.”

“About what?” I raced through my memories, finally landing on what she was referring to. “No, there’s nothing between us.”Only in my head and dreams.

“If this isn’t that reporter’s doing, are you sure there’s nothing that might trigger someone obsessed with Isabella to make their first move in scaring her?”

I flipped through months’ worth of moments where I’d come close to messing up when it came to Bella, finally landing on a genuine answer. “We’ve flirted, but it’s been harmless, and was always in private.”

I knew Adelina was just doing her job and covering her bases, but these types of questions were going to give Constantine an ulcer if he had to hear them asked of Bella.

“We’ve been working together a lot. I pretty much see her seven days a week. But nothing has ever actually happenedbetween us.”And it can’t.“Doubtful anyone witnessed our kiss when we were in Rome.”

She lifted a brow, letting go of my arm. “Kiss, huh?”

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