Page 40 of Refuge for Ailsa

“Keep an eye on her. That’s kinda spooking me.”

“Hell, man, it’s spooking me too. Thanks, Harley. Let me know if you hear anything.”

“Will do. I’ll do the same for you. Later.”

Tavish sat there and held his phone, unable to process what Harley had said. If the guy was there, why? What did he want?Think, Stewart, he told himself.

And it hit him. Under Kentucky law, if Bentley was convicted, he wouldn’t get any insurance money his wife might’ve had. That would be what he was hoping to get to pay off his debt. And who could testify against him? Ailsa.

Was she in danger? They wanted to stop her from testifying so Bentley could collect his wife’s life insurance. Tavish didn’t know what to do. He had to get to the office and look at that video footage, if there was any. They had to find that guy before he came back.

And there was no doubt in Tavish’s mind that he would be back.

* * *

“Hey, babe.”Ailsa stepped out of the office when she heard the bell on the door ring, and she smiled when she saw him. “What’s up?”

“I need to see the footage of the guy who came to talk to you.”

“Okay. It’s back here. I’ll show you how to use it. I’m in the middle of ordering inventory so I’ve got to get this done, but it’s pretty simple. You’ll catch on fast.”

Ten minutes later, he was sitting there, running through the video footage. When he got to the morning before, he slowed the feed and watched closely. Sure enough, the door opened and a man came in. He was well over six feet tall, slim, older, and had a headful of dark, closely-cropped hair. As Tavish studied the screen, he could see that all of Ailsa was out of range except her hands as she stood at the counter. The man’s lips could be seen moving from time to time, and he knew that was when he was asking Ailsa questions. He seemed calm, prepared, and maybe even friendly. That scared the law enforcement officer. It told him that the man might be a cold, calculated killer. Tavish didn’t want to believe that he could be just that, but it looked very suspicious. “Hey, babe, can you tell me how to do a screenshot on this?”

“Yeah. Just hit shift, control, and three.”

Tavish pressed the combination and heard the sound of a shutter snapping. “Where do they save?”

“In a file in OptiFile called Screenshots. Emailing?”

“Yeah.”

“I use QuickMail. It’s on the toolbar at the bottom.”

In seconds, Tavish had emailed the pictures to Harley and to himself as well. Past that, he didn’t know what to do. Whoever the guy was, he hadn’t seemed concerned about a camera or other monitoring device, and he wasn’t the least bit nervous.

His phone rang two minutes later. “That the guy?”

“Yeah. Can you do anything with it?”

“I dunno.” Harley hesitated. “I mean, it’s not a good shot, and looking for a match in facial recognition may not help us, but I can try it.”

“Please. I at least feel a little better knowing somebody besides me has the pic. So thanks.”

“You’re welcome. If you get any more information, please let me know.”

“Will do. Thanks again.” Tavish hit END and sat there. He’d done all he could do.

There was movement in his peripheral vision, and he glanced up to see Ailsa staring right at him. “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. Just sent a pic of that guy to Harley to see if he can find out who he is. Ailsa, do you remember anything else? Like what kind of car he was driving? Or any identifying marks on his face or hands?”

“No. I just wanted him to leave. Starlight did too.”

He chuckled. “I’ve gotta say, I feel a little better knowing she’s with you.”

“She’s good company. I love having her around.” She tipped her head to the side and grinned. “When am I going to get to see your apartment?”

“Why the hell would you want to see that? It’s a garbage can.”

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