Page 11 of The Wolf of My Eye (Highland Wolf #8)

Robert took his dive knife to cut the rope tied to the man’s leg that was secured to a stone. Then he and Lachlan carefully pulled the body bag over the man. They had planned to leave him there for the police to recover him until he realized it was Gus. And that meant Robert would be doing an autopsy on the body to determine what had killed him. They already knew it was murder, unless Gus had tied a stone to his own leg and jumped into the water, but he suspected it wasn’t a suicide. Robert had wanted to go up with Maisie to the boat to make sure she was okay, but he had to help Lachlan retrieve the body. He hoped Iverson was taking good care of her in the meantime.

Once they secured the man’s body in the bag, Robert gave the signal to Lachlan to take the body to the boat. Robert headed back down for the rest of the rope and the stone it was secured to. That’s when his dive light reflected off glass down below and he went to the bottom and found his cell phone. He was shocked to find it so close to where Gus’s body was. Robert put the phone in his pouch, then grabbed the stone and pulled it up with him. It was heavy, but not so heavy that he couldn’t lift it in the buoyant seawater.

As soon as he reached the boat, he realized Grant had sent another boat, and Lachlan and Enrick had put the body in that boat. Good. Robert didn’t want Maisie to have to be near the body any further. He took the rope and stone to the other boat, and Lachlan and Enrick heaved it in. Then Lachlan rode back with Enrick and two other men—both Colleen’s cousins, Edward and William Playfair.

Robert climbed into the boat with Iverson and Maisie. They followed the other boat back to the beach.

“Anne and I thought Gus had checked out the next morning, like people often do without saying anything. They just leave the key in the room and their charges on their credit card stand.”

“You said he was looking at the clock at Heather’s pie shop the whole time when he went out to dinner with you,” Robert said.

“Aye, like he had a meeting with someone. He was really anxious. I think the stone you collected is the one missing from the garden. I saw that it was gone when I went to the garden to weed and found a man’s boot prints, a driver’s license, the cell phone, and Lady’s collar. With finding everything else, I forgot about the stone going missing.”

“What about the rope? It sounds like the murderer was an opportunist, just grabbing things that were handy, and hadn’t planned this out,” Robert said.

“I…I don’t know. We have some rope in a shed, but I never looked to see if any of it was missing. What…what happened to him?”

“I’ll have to do an autopsy to know for sure. I’m glad the clinic isn’t open yet. I have a walk-in refrigerator unit, so we can keep him until I conduct the autopsy. We need to notify next of kin so they can bury him properly.” Robert put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “Are you alright?”

“No, but I’m glad I was able to help you find him.”

“Aye. Finding Gus means that the man we saw at Heather’s pie shop wasn’t him.”

“What if the dead man isn’t Gus, but his brother, Ike, and the man we saw at Heather’s shop was Gus?” she asked.

“Except that he didn’t act like he recognized you, you thought. To me that sounds more like it could have been his twin who didn’t know you.”

“True.”

“Do you have video security around your place?” Robert asked.

“We do.”

“We’ll need to see what it captured that night,” Robert said.

“I’ll tell Anne when we get in. I still want to do the pet photos for Edeen and Colleen, and I guess I can do the photos of the dead man.”

Robert shook his head. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He really didn’t want her to have to look at the body again. She’d seen enough of him already.

When they reached the shore, Enrick and Lachlan were carrying the body up the steps. Other men had come down to help with their scuba gear. He was glad they were unencumbered so he could hold Maisie’s hand. Iverson was carrying the stone with the rope on it. He was wearing gloves, though Robert didn’t think they would get any forensics off them, considering how long they had been in the seawater.

“Oh,” Maisie said, “it hasn’t rained since I found Lady’s collar and the missing garden stone.”

Robert glanced at her and raised his brows.

“Someone left big boot prints in the garden bed.”

“We need to get a cast of them.”

“I need to tell Anne not to walk in the garden.” Once they had made it up to the castle, Colleen hurried as much as she could to come to see Maisie and guided her inside.

“You must have been horribly shocked to see his body.”

“I was,” Maisie said.

“Come in and you can have some tea or water. We’ll skip the photography session this afternoon.”

“Oh, no way. I need to get it done, and the weather is perfect for it. Besides, it’ll get my mind off what happened. I just need to go home and change and get my camera. I’ll be by after I take photos of Edeen’s animals.”

“If you’re sure,” Colleen said, getting her some tea and taking her into the sitting room.

“I’m going with the men to put the body in refrigeration, and then I’ll come back for you,” Robert said.

“Someone else can take me home,” Maisie said.

“No, I’ll do it.” He had brought her here; he needed to return her home.

“We need to take the garden stone back to my place and prove it’s the one missing,” Maisie said.

“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Robert agreed.

She called Anne and explained what they’d discovered.

“Och, not one of our guests. Don’t you think that whoever was meeting Gus must have done him in?” Anne said.

“Maybe.” But Maisie was thinking that if he had been seeing a woman, it had to have been someone else who had killed him. “Hey, whatever you do, don’t walk into the garden.”

“Wait, so who came to the inn to pick up his driver’s license?” Anne sounded spooked.

“We assume it was his twin brother, Ike.”

“Do we have to be worried?” Anne asked.

“I hope not. Someone will come and take a cast of the boot prints, and I’ll be home to shower, change clothes, and grab my camera equipment,” Maisie said to her sister.

“Do you feel alright about it?” Anne asked. “I’m not sure I could do anything the rest of the day after what you went through.”

“Yes, it’ll get my mind off it.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a little bit,” Anne said.

“Alright.”

By the time Maisie finished her tea, Robert had returned for her. He had already changed into jeans and a T-shirt and pulled her into a warm embrace. “I want you and Anne to be safe.”

“You’re worried about the murderer returning to the inn? I doubt he would unless he left evidence behind that he wants to destroy,” she said.

“It does concern me.”

“Me too,” Colleen said. “Any number of males would be willing to stay at your place to provide some extra protection.”

Maisie smiled at her. “Bachelor males?”

“Or married, if you would feel more comfortable with that,” Colleen said.

“I’ll stay with you,” Robert said.

Maisie let out her breath. “You need to be there for Colleen and Heather if they suddenly have their babies.”

“They are close by, and I’ll be there in a flash. But if there’s someone else you want to have stay with you…”

“Maybe…both you and someone else? That way, if you have to rush off, we’ll still have someone else there to watch over us,” Maisie said.

“Would you like anyone in particular besides Robert to stay with the two of you?” Colleen asked.

“Let me touch base with Anne on that.” Maisie felt her sister should have a say about it too.

“Okay, well, let me know. Whoever you choose will be happy to do this for you,” Colleen said.

Robert took Maisie home. When she got there, she thought Anne looked haggard. Maisie gave her a hug.

Someone drove up in a truck, and Robert checked to see who it was. It was Iverson. “I’m going to go out and help Iverson with casting the boot prints while you get changed and grab your camera.”

“Okay.” Maisie gave him a quick kiss, but he hugged her soundly, telling her he was going to be there for her to help her and Anne through this.

When he left the inn, Anne gave her a hug too. “God, how do you really feel?”

“It was awful. I know why Robert didn’t want me to see the body, but I had to have closure, to know what it was I saw, to be able to guide them to the location. I’ll shower and change and be out in a minute.” Maisie called out from the bedroom as she dressed, “Robert’s going to stay with us for safety’s sake. Because he’ll have to leave for Colleen’s and Heather’s deliveries, we’re going to have another male stay with us. Who else do you want to be here besides Robert? Colleen said bachelor males or married males would be happy to stay with us to watch over us—our choice.”

“Do you think we really need another guy here?” Anne asked.

“Well, it would make us feel more secure. I mean, you didn’t see the dead guy. And the fact that he possibly was killed here at our inn…”

“Okay, I agree.”

“So who do you want to stay with us?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess just tell Colleen whoever wants to join us here. I don’t know anyone else by name all that well,” Anne said.

Maisie came out of the bedroom dressed and with her camera equipment in hand. “We’re likely to have a whole bunch of bachelor males vying for the position.”

Anne laughed. “Let the fighting begin.”