Page 122 of Keep Her from Them

“Because ye haven’t heard the words from her lips,” Jackson said.

Dori swung his gaze up. “Exactly. That’s why I went. It felt off. It still does. But what am I supposed to do? I don’t know where she is. There’s no way her management company would tell me—I know, I tried. I can’t call or text her any more as my number was blocked. The one place I can still see her is an account that she doesn’t use anymore.”

“Have ye tried messaging her there?” I asked.

“Yes. No reply.”

The conversation had taken us all the way through the woods so we were above Braithar.

Jackson planted his hands on his hips. “What if someone else tried to get in touch with her?”

Dori shrugged. “She knows about Alex, but I can’t imagine she’s going to reply to her. Not when she ignored me. Why would she?”

“What if she can’t reply? What if ye were right all along and she’s somehow restricted and her comms are being controlled?”

Dori didn’t answer, but emotion brewed just under his surface. He hadn’t given any part of this up.

“One of the things Ben trained us to do is think outside the box,” Jackson continued. “To get ye to answer the phone,Valentine used a local number trick. We could do similar with Elsie.”

“What are ye thinking?” I asked.

“Leo. He can approach her. With his star power, there is no way she’d ignore the contact. Especially if she has a new album coming out. Her record company would bend over backwards at the hint of him helping to promote her. We can try it. Even ask her to come here for a recording session if we think she’s being manipulated and needs a way out.”

It was a good plan. I turned to the count. “Ye knew her, Dori, even if ye think those two weeks were a fever dream, there was a connection. Believe me, I fell in love in a shorter time than that and would move mountains for Alex. Tell us to do this or tell us to mind our own business. Either way, we’re friends and we don’t want to see ye down.”

The count looked between us. Surprise shifted to certainty in his eyes. “You really think this will work?”

“Only one way to find out.”

“Do it.”

We half ran the rest of the way to Braithar and hunted down Leo. As an old romantic, he needed no convincing to join in our conspiring, directing us into a music room to plot.

In thirty minutes, his friend request to Elsie’s private account had been accepted. That had been our first plan of attack, the record company approach a second. Good to know we didn’t need it. The greater the privacy the better.

“Okay, to the DMs. I’ll ask if we can discuss cowriting a song,” Leo said.

Dori swallowed and nodded.

Leo sent the message, and we all stared at the screen, waiting on her reply.

Elsie: This should really be approved by my manager. My contract is pretty tight, and I get no say, which I know soundsridiculous. I only accepted this request because I respect you as a musician. How did you even get this account name?

Leo: A mutual friend. If you’re by yourself, can I call? I’ll explain it better.

A long several minutes passed. We’d scared her off. She wasn’t going to reply.

Leo’s phone rang with a video call.

He answered it, careful to keep the background behind him a wall of guitars and not the rest of us. “Elsie?”

A small, tentative voice filled the air. “It’s me. It’s nice to meet you, Mr Banks. Who did you mean by a friend?”

“Are you alone?” Leo checked.

“I am.”

“I know him as Dori.”

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