Page 39 of The Unknown Colton
“You’re tough, Lakin,” Eli said. “But a lot of victims were.”
She sucked in a breath.Victim.“I’m not in danger of anyone killing me,” she assured him. “I’m just…”
“What?” he asked. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. Then she pulled the photograph out of her purse and handed it to him.
Before he even looked at it, he asked, “What’s this?” Then he studied the snapshot, and his jaw clenched. “This is you…in the picture…”
“The little girl,” she clarified, just in case he thought she was the woman who had to be her biological mother.
“Where did you get this?” he asked. “Did Mom and Dad have it?” Then he flipped it over, probably looking for a date like Troy had. “Jasper Whitlaw. Who is this?”
“The man in the picture,” she said. “He claims he’s my father.”
“He can claim whatever the hell he wants,” Eli said. “But he needs to prove he actually has a biological relationship to you. And even if he does, he’s not yourdad.”
“No, he’s not,” she agreed. “That’s why I haven’t said anything to Mom and Dad about this, so please don’t…”
“Lakin.” Eli’s blue eyes studied her face with the intensity he’d given the photograph moments ago. “When did this guy give you the picture? Before the break-in?”
“The morning after it,” she admitted.
“I don’t like this,” he said. “Has he bothered you again?”
She didn’t deny that he had. There was no point; she was still trembling a bit from the interaction earlier. “Today,” she said. “He showed up at the office.”
“What does he want from you?” he asked.
“Money,” she admitted with a pang of regret that Troy had been right about him.
Eli cursed. “We really should tell everyone else about this, warn them to be on the lookout.”
She shook her head. “Mom and Dad are already on edge because of this serial killer. I don’t want to needlessly put them through anything else. I gave Whitlaw forty bucks, so he knows I don’t have much money. Maybe he’ll just leave town now.”
“He wants more than forty bucks, Lakin,” Eli said. “He’s going to be back. And I want you to keep your distance. Make sure you’re never alone with him.”
She nodded. “I’ll be careful.”
“You said Troy bugged you to call me,” Eli said. “So he knows about this guy?”
She nodded again. “Yes.”
“And clearly he doesn’t trust him anymore than I do,” Eli surmised.
She smiled. “You’re both cynical and overly suspicious.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re wrong.”
She sighed. “No, it doesn’t.” She didn’t trust Whitlaw, either. She hadn’t when she first met him and she definitely didn’t now after how he acted in the office. He’d barely disguised his threats to go to her family for money. “I… I’m worried,” she admitted. “I don’t want him bothering Mom and Dad.”
“Or you,” Eli said. “I’ll check him out. And then I’ll track him down and have a little talk with him.”
She smiled. “You mean you’ll run him out of town like it’s the Wild West?”
“Something like that,” he said with a grin.
“Before you run him out of town, can you do me a favor?” she asked.
