Enigma, Maine, Bundle 2

by Iris Abbott

  The voice on the other end of the phone grew more insistent. “Hello! Who’s there?” He grumbled in a deep voice.

  “Justin, it’s Scarlet Valentine. I’m at my grandmother’s old cottage!” she whispered into the phone. “I hear a lot of noise outside. Something’s banging around like someone’s trying to get inside.”

  She heard a rush of air hiss over the line. “Relax. Scarlet. We can get some pretty nasty storms out this way. Tonight is one example of Mother Nature’s awesome power.”

  Scarlet wanted to believe he was right, but he didn’t know the full story. Before she knew it, she was blurting out the horrible truth to a client. “I left a stalker behind in Boston! What if he found me?”

  “Damn! Lock yourself in your bedroom and wait until you hear from Mitch or me,” he demanded.

  “I already did that,” she admitted with a shaky voice. “Please hurry.”

  ****

  Mitch’s phone buzzed. He saw his brother’s number and immediately answered. “Hey! Good timing,” Mitch greeted his brother. “I just left a meeting where I discussed security for an upcoming party with Alessandro Russo, Phillip Saint John, and Logan Justice. Those witches of theirs sure are social.” He chuckled.

  “And get this. They want to host a masked ball at Russo’s castle to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I’ve never been a big fan of the mushy day. This year all the fuss will be worth it just to watch them squirm!”

  “Any other time I’d make some inane comment about the absurdity of a vampire, cat shifter, and time traveling wizard participating in a masked ball. Now though, there are more important things to worry about.”

  Mitch’s body stiffened. “What are you talking about. His gut churned, warning him he wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “I got a phone call from Scarlet. She heard some loud noises outside the cottage and got scared enough to lock herself in the bedroom before calling Gannon Security.”

  Mitch chuckled. “I’m sure it’s just the wind from the storm. Did you try explaining that to her.”

  “Yea, I did. That’s when she informed me she was being stalked when she left Boston.”

  Mitch slammed on brakes right there in the middle of the highway. Thank goodness, there was no one behind him. “Damn it! I knew I should have done a background search on her as soon as she showed up in Enigma and caught my interest.”

  He did a three-point turn on the deserted road and drove toward the cottage Scarlet now occupied. “I don’t want to take any chances with her safety. I’m on my way to her place right now. Meet me there as soon as you can just in case I need backup.” That wasn’t likely, but better to be safe than sorry. At least until he knew exactly who or what he was dealing with.

  He drove at breakneck speed on the highway that bisected the woods. He made a quick turn into the almost hidden driveway and practically stood on the brake to come to a screeching stop in front of Scarlet’s cottage. So much for trying to sneak up on an intruder, he thought. He jumped out of the large black SUV. His heightened sense of sight and smell weren’t detecting anything out of the ordinary. He should perform a perimeter check of the cottage, but he was in too much of a hurry to get to Scarlet. He went straight to the front door and knocked.

  He waited a few minutes, but there was no answer. He called Scarlet from his mobile phone, but the call went unanswered too. He ran a hand through his hair and bent down to inspect the lock on the door. It was too easy for a security expert like him to pick the lock, which only served to add to his frustration.

  His wolf howled on the inside to claim Scarlet. It had been ever since she set foot in town. She seemed to have other ideas, however. She did everything in her power to avoid him since their first run in. So he bided his time and gave her space. Now it looked like time was up for both of them. The threat of danger escalated his timetable.

  He opened the door and silently closed and locked it behind him. He looked around the inside of the cottage. Neat and orderly and he didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary.

  “Scarlet,” he called into the silence. “It’s Mitch Gannon. Justin told me you needed help. Come on out, so I know you’re all right.” He waited, but there was no response. He walked toward the master bedroom in the back of the cottage on silent feet. He rattled the doorknob. “Scarlet, everything’s okay. Let me in.”

  Mitch rattled the knob. “Scarlet, open the door!” The door was yanked open fast enough to startle him.

  Scarlet flew into his embrace. She let out a low, strangled sob. He tightened his hold on her. Mitch rubbed one hand over her mass of tangled waves and the other over her back. He made small comforting circles.

  “It’s okay, darling,” he whispered in a husky voice. No more sobs were forthcoming, and Mitch released the pent-up breath he held. He sat on the edge of the bed and cradled Scarlet in his lap. “I’ve got you. I promise nothing’s going to happen to you,” he whispered in a calm voice that belied the worry churning in his gut.

  Scarlet nestled against him, and he tightened his embrace. Finally, after a couple of minutes, she lifted her face from his chest. “Thank you for getting here so soon. Somehow I thought I’d be on my own for a while yet.” She shuddered.

  Mitch felt the tremors running through her body. “Luckily, I was already in my car and not too far away when Justin called me. He’s on his way just in case I needed backup.” He stared into her eyes, dark black into golden brown. “I’m not very happy with you right now.”

  She put some space between their bodies. Mitch folded his arms across his broad chest and continued to stare her down. “Justin told me you left behind something in Boston.” His eyes narrowed. “A stalker,” he growled.

  “I can’t believe you haven’t mentioned this to one of us before now. You’re in danger, and we only run one of the best security businesses in the country. You can’t plead ignorance, because you’ve been working on our website for weeks. You know exactly what we do for a living. And I’m sure you’ve garnered just how well we do our job.”

  Scarlet chewed on her bottom lip. “I know how well you do your job, Mitch. That was never in question. I hoped that he couldn’t find me here.” She let out a heart-wrenching sigh before continuing.

  “I just want to feel normal without eating and breathing fear. I’m sick of constantly looking over my shoulder and jumping at every unknown sound I hear. I just want to forget about it. Leave it all behind.”

  “Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t make the danger go away,” he warned. Scarlet visibly paled, and Mitch cursed himself for being so insensitive. He didn’t want her to take any chances. If being harsh got his point across and helped keep her safe, then so be it!

  He shoved one hand through his already tousled hair. “Look if it makes you feel better, I didn’t see any signs of an intruder when I arrived. Of course, I was so worried about you I didn’t exactly sneak up to the cottage. If someone were here, they might have heard me and scurried off into the woods to wait for a better opportunity to get to you.”

  Scarlet hugged herself. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better? Gee, your attempt to calm me is working rather well.”

  The sarcasm in her words was not lost on Mitch. He narrowed his eyes and glared at her.

  “Calm equals complacent. Complacent can equal dead. That’s not going to happen, not on my watch anyway. You need to pack a bag. You can’t stay out here by yourself. It’s too isolated,” he insisted.

  The thought of a stalker getting his hands on Scarlet made his gut churn. “At the very least, this place needs a state of the art security system. I also want to change out your door and window locks and replace them with commercial grade locks. Of course, I know what I’m doing, but I picked the lock on your front door in under two minutes.”

  ****

  Scarlet backed up a step. She didn’t like the way Mitch barged in and took over. Yes, having a stalker was terrifying, and as she almost found out in Boston, it could be deadly. Scarlet survi
ved then, and she’d survive now. She didn’t need another man trying to take over her life. After all, wasn’t that how this whole mess started?

  “You can’t come in here and start barking orders. I need to stay in my own space. You said yourself that you didn’t see any signs of an intruder.” She shrugged a shoulder and tried to seem unconcerned.

  “I must have overreacted to the storm. I’ll be fine here on my own.” She was careful to add the last part. She didn’t want Mitch to think she was inviting him to camp out at her cottage. The space definitely wasn’t big enough for the two of them.

  “I think you might want to reconsider that,” another voice said from the doorway. Scarlet and Mitch turned to see Justin standing there. He had a grave look on his face.

  “What did you find?” Mitch barked out the question in a gruff voice. Scarlet shivered.

  “Her phone line was cut. Also, a back window has gouge marks around the casing that look fresh. I’m certain there was an intruder.” He looked at Scarlet. “It’s a good thing you kept your head long enough to call Gannon Security and an even better thing that Mitch was nearby. A few more minutes and the intruder may have smashed the window to gain entry.”

  Mitch moved closer to her. “That settles it. You can’t stay here. Surely you realize that.”

  Scarlet wasn’t about to give in that easily. She glanced from Justin to Mitch and then back to Justin. “Maybe I can stay with Justin.” She might feel safer with Mitch, but there was her peace of mind to consider.

  An awful noise that sounded a lot like a snarl escaped from Mitch’s curled lips. Taken aback by the out of place reverberation Scarlet took an instinctive step backward. She couldn’t help but notice that Justin did the same.

  “Justin will be there too. We share the family home. Besides, the two of us have some work to do.”

  He looked at his watch. “The sooner we get it done the better. Hurry up and grab enough things to tide you over for a few days. It’ll take me at least that long to get this cottage up to snuff when it comes to security.”

  Scarlet bristled on the inside at being ordered around, but she didn’t have much choice. She couldn’t stay at the cottage that was for sure. Scarlet hadn’t made any friends in Enigma. Not that she would want to put any new friends in danger by placing them in the path of an obsessed lunatic.

  Somehow, she couldn’t work up the energy to worry about Mitch Gannon. Scarlet knew deep down inside that he could hold his own against anyone, even a crazy stalker like Travis Linden.

  She went to her closet without further argument. It wouldn’t take her long to pack. She was too tired to bicker, and Scarlet couldn’t wait to get away from the little cottage she once hoped would be a haven.

  Scarlet stuffed several changes of clothes and all the toiletries she would need into a medium-sized suitcase. She trudged to the living room to find Mitch and Justin with their heads close together engaged in deep conversation. They both stopped when she took a few steps toward them, lugging the suitcase behind her.

  “Let me get that for you.” Mitch sauntered over and picked up the piece of luggage as if it weighed nothing. He wrapped his free arm around Scarlet’s waist and deftly led her out to his SUV. “Ride with me tonight. You won’t need your car before tomorrow anyway,” he insisted. “And my SUV is much more capable of handling the stormy weather.”

  Scarlet was emotionally drained and in no shape to argue. She let him help her into the passenger seat. She froze when he reached over her to fasten the safety belt, but she didn’t protest. He made her nervous. He evoked feelings she wanted to forget, but she very well couldn’t tell him that.

  Instead, she leaned back and relaxed into the soft leather of the seat. She should be nervous about going off with someone she barely knew. She reminded herself that Mitch dedicated his life to protect other people. His company had an impeccable reputation not just in the state of Maine but all over the country. Surely, she’d be safe with him.

  Mitch got behind the wheel, started the ignition, and began driving.

  Scarlet closed her eyes and rubbed her aching temple. The thought of her stalker tracking her to Enigma affected her more than she wanted to let on.

  “My house is about twenty-five minutes away. You have plenty of time to fill me in on everything you know about who would want to break into your cottage and why.”

  Scarlet shivered at the thought of having to dredge up such nasty memories, but Mitch was right. If he was going to protect her, she needed to tell him everything she could about the unpleasant situation. She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around herself for added encouragement.

  “I had a stalker in Boston. It’s the main reason I packed everything up and headed to Enigma when I inherited my grandmother’s cottage. It was hard for me to leave behind my parents, and the friends I’ve known all my life, but I felt like I didn’t have a choice.” Not if she was going to survive. She didn’t want Mitch to think she was melodramatic, so she kept that statement to herself.

  “I heard about the stalker from Justin. I need more details. Do you know the stalker’s identity? And exactly how long has he been harassing you?” Her skin broke out in goose bumps.

  “Don’t leave anything out,” he instructed in a much softer voice.

  Scarlet sighed. “His name is Travis Linden, and he lived in a neighboring townhouse. We ran into each other occasionally in the neighborhood. He asked me out several times, but I wasn’t interested, and I kept telling him no. After a couple of months, strange things started to happen.”

  She shuddered, and Mitch turned up the heater. She was surprised by his awareness and powers of observation. Then again, it was probably what put him at the top of his field.

  “What kind of things? I need details, so I know exactly what kind of danger we’re dealing with here. In my job, it pays to be thorough,” he added before she could object to all his questions. “You need to know that I am not going to let anything happen to you, but your cooperation would go a long way in allowing me to keep that promise.”

  Scarlet nodded her agreement. “Someone started leaving presents by my door. At first, it was innocent things like flowers or chocolate, but sweet soon turned into disturbing. The last gift was a see-through piece of lingerie complete with crotchless panties. I was repulsed by such an intimate gift from a secret admirer, so I left the package by the door.”

  She twisted a strand of dark blond hair around her finger. “I was hoping my admirer would get the hint that I wasn’t interested if I didn’t accept the gift.” She shrugged, and her voice trembled. “Instead, I think it was the final snub that sent him over the edge. The next morning the lingerie was still by my door, but it was ripped to shreds.”

  A little sob escaped. “A stray cat lived in the neighborhood, and I usually fed it several times a week. I found him a couple of days later.” She couldn’t stop the violent shudder that shook her body. “Someone stabbed him and left him to bleed out by my back door.”

  ****

  “How did you figure out it was the Linden person? Did you go to the police about any of this? Local authorities are very cooperative with Gannon Security. An existing restraining order would speed up the process of obtaining one in this jurisdiction.”

  Mitch wanted as much legal documentation as possible to support a case for death in self-defense if it came to that. And if the stalker were pursuing Scarlet in Enigma, it wouldn’t end any other way. Mitch wouldn’t let it. The wolf inside him would cheerfully and permanently eliminate any threat to Scarlet without skipping a beat.

  Scarlet seemed to shrink right before his eyes. She sank into the seat and tried to curl inward. Finally, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes in preparation to share her nightmare.

  “Travis followed me home from an evening jog a couple of weeks later. I tried to make polite excuses to get rid of him, but he wouldn’t budge. I decided to forego politeness in favor of rudeness. I took out my key, planning to go inside to get away
from him.

  Unfortunately, I underestimated the danger. He waited until I was halfway in the door before he pushed his way inside. I threw my entire weight against the door, but it wasn’t enough. He attacked me. Luckily, he forgot to shut the door behind him, and I was able to let out a couple of loud screams. A neighbor called the police, and they arrived in time to save me. Unfortunately, Linden got away.”

  She sighed. “The police were still looking for him when I left Boston. I didn’t get any more packages or visits, but I got several hang-ups on my landline right before I moved. I assumed it was Linden’s way of tormenting me from a distance.”

  Mitch growled.

  She blinked. “I got a restraining order. I don’t see what good a piece of paper is going to do,” she grumbled. “Especially if he’s the one who tried to break into my cottage.”

  Mitch’s inner wolf snarled in anger. He worked hard to hold back his emotions. He didn’t want to scare Scarlet, because the rage was in no way directed at her. He took his right hand off the wheel and reached out to hold her hand. He wanted to wrap Scarlet in his arms and soothe away all the bad memories, but that wasn’t going to happen while he drove.

  “It must have sent him over the edge again when he discovered your Boston number was disconnected. Either you didn’t cover your tracks as well as you thought or he watched and followed you here. Justin and I will make finding this maniac our top priority.” And once they did, he’d never terrorize her again.

  If the man was in Enigma, he couldn’t hide forever. He’d be easy to find. Mitch made a mental note to contact Phillip Saint John as soon as possible. He was one of the magical guardians who protected paranormal beings, and he lived in Enigma. Phillip and Mitch were also friends. He’d want to take out the trash as much as Mitch did, especially if the stalker was polluting Enigma with his foul presence.

  Mitch intended to claim Scarlet as his mate soon. Mate to a wolf shifter put her in the realm of the paranormal. It put her under the protection of his pack and the guardians as well. Not that he needed help protecting what he considered his, but extra eyes and ears might help track down the deranged jerk faster. The sooner, the better as far as Mitch was concerned.