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“Hi,” Chelsea said. “I’m so excited to do this. So we’re doing it in the gardens? They’re beautiful.”

“Thanks, they are, and perfect for photography. I’m going to take some shots, check my lighting, and then we’ll go from there.” Maisie was trying to make sure Chelsea was really enjoying the photo shoot before the questioning began. She captured several shots of Chelsea then. “Great. Nice smile. Perfect. Aye, I like that.”

Robert was waiting for Maisie to direct him to do something, but she was so focused on photographing Chelsea and she normally never had anyone to help her, so she’d nearly forgotten he was there. Chelsea didn’t seem to notice, thankfully, but Maisie finally motioned to the spot she wanted thelight to shine. “Robert, can you move that one light over this way just a wee bit?”

He obliged, and she said, “Perfect, thanks.”

He smiled.

“I’m so thrilled to meet up with other wolves. Gus never said that the owners here were wolves,” Chelsea said.

“Oh, aye. We love it when wolves stay here.” Maisie was trying to figure out a way to approach Chelsea about the murder. “So you said you and Gus met up here, right?”

“Yeah. We’ve been dating on and off. I’ve also been dating another wolf, and he has been seeing other she-wolves, but he doesn’t like the idea that I’m seeing anyone else. That was the deal we’d made when we first met, that we were not dating exclusively, but if you ever see Jack Wolfson, please don’t say anything about my meeting up with Gus here.”

Maisie nodded, unable to say the poor guy was dead. “Do you want to crouch behind the roses and smile?”

Chelsea did what Maisie asked.

“Good. Looks nice. Now if you can sit on that bench, that would be perfect. I have a vase of flowers, if you can get them, Robert, on the check-in counter. Chelsea can hold a bouquet.”

“Coming right up.” Robert went inside the inn.

While Robert got the vase of flowers, Maisie said to Chelsea, “I know what you mean. I’ve dated a couple of wolves like that. Two of the guys tried to keep me from seeing my family and friends even. The one guy kept accusing me of seeing other wolves behind his back.”

Robert returned with the vase of wildflowers and handed them to Chelsea.

“Oh, yeah, that’s like with Jack. I have a twin sister and an aunt and uncle that I’m close to who he didn’t want me to be around any longer.”

Maisie nodded and took some more shots of Chelsea holding the bouquet of wildflowers. “Well, I told both of my former boyfriends who were controlling that I wasn’t about to neglect my family and friends. With Jude Springer—”

“Wait, Jude Springer?” Chelsea asked.

“Uh, yeah. I met him at a club in Glasgow, where I used to live.” Did Chelsea know Jude and Jack were the same person? She couldn’t believe it. This couldn’t be a more perfect way to lead into the circumstances surrounding Gus’s death.

“Glasgow,” Chelsea said.

“Aye,” Maisie said.

“I saw his—Jack’s—expired driver’s license one time, and his name had been Jude Springer from Glasgow. He said he changed his name because he’d used that name for so long that people were getting suspicious about why he was aging so slowly,” Chelsea said.

Maisie stared at her. “Have you seen Jack recently?” Maisie was trying to tread lightly. She noticed Edward and William were watching them out of the window, the window open so they could hear what was being said.

“No. It’s so odd. I had the date with Gus here, and it was so nice. He is always such a sweetheart. I still can’t believe he was so thoughtful to enter me in this contest. But I haven’t heard from him since the date. I would have stayed with himthat night, but I had a job to do the next day early. Gus had dropped me off at a petrol station where I’d left my car. Before I returned home, I had to get some petrol, and I saw Jack. I don’t know if he saw me or not, but he left, never saying a word to me, so I suspected he didn’t see me. I sure didn’t want to talk to him because he would have smelled Gus on me because we had kissed and hugged before I left him. I did worry that he might have witnessed Gus dropping me off there. But Jack didn’t confront him, so maybe he didn’t. I haven’t seen Jack since then either.”

“How far is the petrol station from here?” Maisie asked.

“About ten kilometers.”

Maisie wondered if that was where Iverson had found Gus’s car. “Do you think Jack knew you came to see Gus?”

Then it would have just been a weird coincidence that Maisie and her sister owned the inn and it had nothing to do with him stalking Maisie, which was a relief in part.

“I…I sure hope not. I don’t want to see Jack any longer, but before I saw him at the petrol station that night, he kept dropping by my place. I swore he had followed me before when I went to meet up with my family or friends—not for dates or anything even. Anytime I tried to see Gus, Jack would always show up, and the two would get into a fight. I wasn’t even sure about dating Gus any further because I didn’t like the way he’d act around Jack either.”

“Is that why you met Gus here? To try and ensure Jack wouldn’t show up and get in his face?” Maisie took some more photos.

Chelsea nodded. “Aye. We kept trying to get together, butJack always seemed to catch us wherever we went and start a fight, so we decided to meet here. We knew if we were well outside Glasgow, he wouldn’t happen to run into us. I mean, we can’t keep leaving the city to meet up. It’s not sustainable. But when I’m just with Gus and we don’t have to deal with Jack, Gus is a really nice guy. I keep hoping Jack will find someone else to date on a steady basis and give up on me.” She bit her lip. “So what happened between you and him?”