Glow (Glimmer and Glow #2)(60)

He seemed to consider this for a moment as they walked.

“No. Mr. Kehoe has a pretty tolerant attitude about it. Kids have been stealing and returning that statue for years.”

“That’s what I thought,” Alice said as they entered the woods again. A moment later, they broke the tree line and trudged up the steep slope of the side yard of the castle.

He halted at the edge of the stone terrace and nodded toward the patio doors. “They’re open. He’s in the den.”

“Thanks. Nice getting to know you,” she added drolly, because getting to know Rigo was like familiarizing yourself with a walking rock.

“You aren’t easy to guard,” he stated bluntly.

“I’ll try to be easier, now that we’re such good friends.”

“Don’t be too easy. You’re observant. Quick. Those aren’t things you should change.”

Maybe she was wrong about the rock thing, because the stone gave her a small smile before he turned away.


*

ALICE pulled up short ten feet away from Dylan’s den when the door whipped open. Thad stalked out, looking tense and preoccupied. He halted upon seeing her, seeming as startled as she was.

“Alice.”

“Thad. What are you doing here?”

She heard a solid tread on the wood floor.

“He was just leaving,” Dylan said as he crossed the threshold. “I’m going to see him out. Go on in and make yourself comfortable, Alice.” Before Alice could think of anything to say, she was staring at both men’s retreating backs.

Dylan returned a moment later, shutting the door quietly behind him. Her heart jumped when he locked it.

Alice watched him over her shoulder as he approached and went behind his desk. He was dressed for work at the office. He wore a dark gray suit that was perfectly tailored to his tall muscular frame. His dark hair was groomed immaculately, the hairline at his nape crisply trimmed. Had he gotten his hair cut today? When he’d escorted her from the castle early this morning, his thick, lustrous hair had been mussed and wild from her delving fingers, his jaw and lip shadowed with whiskers. He’d smelled of spice and outdoor air and sex.

She was a little intimidated by the reappearance of the business mogul. Her stomach felt tight and hollow. She’d chosen to sit in one of the leather chairs in front of the massive desk. While she waited, she’d noticed his discarded glasses on the blotter along with several reports opened to various pages, as though he’d been comparing numbers. It suddenly struck as he sat why she felt anxious. The situation had reminded her of her nerve-wracking interview with him last spring.

“Why did you ask Thad to come up here? Did you threaten him again?”

“I’m more concerned about what threat he poses to us, to be honest,” he replied dryly. He noticed her mutinous glance. “He’s admitted to following you at times without your knowledge, Alice.”

“I told you he’s infatuated with me. It doesn’t make him a bad guy,” she said, uncomfortable with the information despite her continued defense of Thad.

“Do you ever see Schaefer talking privately or behaving suspiciously in any way with anyone on this list?”

Her pique of irritation evaporated as she leaned forward to better see the piece of paper Dylan had shoved toward her. “I don’t even know who some of these people are,” she said, confused. “Who’s Meg Everett?”

“She was a good friend of Lynn Durand’s. She still lives in Morgantown. Her husband, Rob, is a Durand exec.”

“Oh, this is the list. The one you were telling me about last night, the list of people who could potentially have hired Cunningham and Stout, were around at the time of the kidnapping, and possibly knew our whereabouts on that day?”

He nodded. She peered again at the list.

“Why would Thad be talking to Meg Everett? Or Sidney Gates?” she asked incredulously, re-skimming the list. Some of the people she recognized as camp employees, but most of the names made no sense in regard to association with Thad.

“You’re under the impression that Thad doesn’t know Sidney personally?”

She shrugged and tossed the now memorized list back on the blotter. “I don’t know.” It bothered her, hearing about this secretive side of Thad. “Although he obviously knows who Sidney is, given what he told me the other night about Sidney objecting to you becoming CEO of Durand. And he seemed to recognize Sidney at the party.”

He nodded, watching her from beneath his lowered brow like a hawk. “Because Sidney says he’s never met Schaefer. Sidney was talking to you the other night at the Alumni Dinner. You looked upset. What did he say?”

“Is that why you asked me to come up here early?” she asked, bewildered.

“I’d like an answer.”

She sighed. “He was saying some stuff about Alan and Lynn Durand. Just about how they had trouble getting pregnant, and how much it upset Lynn.” Dylan looked especially somber. “It was fine. I wasn’t upset,” Alice lied. “He doesn’t seem to think I’m so fragile that I can’t hear about the Durands. In fact, he thinks I should see him on a professional basis and talk about Alan and Lynn more.”

“He said that?” Dylan asked very quietly.

“Yes. Not because he thinks I’m a potential resident for the local insane asylum. Because he thinks it’d be healthy for me. Helpful. Don’t you?” she asked, confused by his manner. Was he actually suspicious of Sidney now?