Page 39 of Save Her from Me

I slept badly, weird dreams punctuating my sleep. Of creepy, skinny boys, haunting my footsteps. More than once I woke with a gasp, shooting up to dislodge a phantom hand from my mouth.

But I was alone.

The day passed slowly. Raphael crammed in hours of final study then slept. Tonight, he was leaving, and I wasn’t about to let anything disrupt his plans, no matter what was happening to me.

Callum McRae, the owner of the castle we lived in, showed up with Brodie, his son-in-law, and two of his young grandsons to install a camera outside the tower’s entrance and another in the downstairs hall. The men sat with me and got it linked to my phone, working through the security features.

It was always live, always recording. It notified me when something moved in the frame and tracked any figures. We had the boys test it, running across the snow-covered gravel and sneaking up the steps to test the boundary.

In equal measures, it unnerved and reassured me.

“When your brother wakes, show him how to add this to his phone,” Callum instructed me. “No one else can access it, unless ye allow them. It’s naw much, but on top of all the other measures we’re taking, it’ll help.”

“Other measures?”

“Jackson’s patrol and search,” Callum stated.

“His what?”

The older man squinted at his son-in-law. Brodie gave the explanation.

“Since the evening your car was hit, we’ve had people out patrolling the estate, plus we installed a number plate tracker on the gateposts that alerts us if a stranger drives in. Just to be on the safe side, we also did a sweep of known empty buildings and lodges in the surrounding hills, anywhere someone might hide.”

My mouth had dropped open in surprise, so I closed it. “I had no idea. Jackson organised this?”

Callum gave a fond smile. With his salt-and-pepper beard and lined face, he was the picture of a kindly grandfather. The two little boys followed him around like he was their commander-in-chief. “Aye, that he did. He’s a good addition to the bodyguard team. His instincts are sound, even if we didnae find anything.”

Callum and Brodie left, and I sat in the lounge and just watched the cameras.

I didn’t want to be scared, but the sense overwhelmed me, the idea of someone lying in wait in a nearby cabin vivid. I was strong, but no match for a man, even with the self-defence classes Daisy and I’d had.

Jackson had given us those. He’d got grumpy while delivering them, maybe because of me.

I wished I’d known all he was doing so I could’ve thanked him.

Of all the dangers I was facing, he made me the most nervous of all. Which was wild because we’d be living together. I needed to put him in a box and keep him there, metaphorically speaking. Not like Daisy’s sex toy analogy.

Friends with benefits needed to be friends first.

Taking out my phone, I sent him a message.

Ariel: What time will you get here this evening? We’re going to call my dad at seven.

Jackson: Before then.

Ariel: Don’t forget to bring your toothbrush.

I waited for his response. He was working in Edinburgh today, I knew. If he was writing back then presumably he wasn’t the one doing the driving.

Jackson: I haven’t forgotten a single thing.

A thrill hit me. He could’ve replied with a thumbs-up or an okay, but his text felt like it had a double meaning.

Ariel: Something particular stick in your mind?

Jackson: A lot of things.

Ariel: Be more specific.

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