Free Private Bodyguard by Tyler Anne Snell Page A

for the merger. I could have handled it and stayed in the city, but he’s getting stubborn in his old age.” He frowned, and his brow creased. “If he had listened to me, this whole ordeal could have been avoided. But he loves this place, the small town he came from and the people who love him. I wonder, though, if they’ll love him after all of this.”
    Oliver didn’t have an answer to that.
    â€œI should get going now. This merger won’t happen by itself.” Jace grabbed a water from the refrigerator and started to leave. “In case Nigel didn’t tell you or your boss, my mother will be here by the end of the week.”
    â€œNo, I haven’t been told that yet,” Oliver said, already cursing in his head.
    â€œThis family is all about supporting one another,” Jace said. “You accuse one of us of murder, you accuse all of us of murder.” He said it with sarcasm, meant to be an offhand joke, but Oliver saw the irony in it. Jace’s parents were, in fact, the top two suspects.
    For the next three hours, Oliver did the more boring parts of bodyguard work while his mind kept running. If a thought wasn’t about his current client, it was undoubtedly about a petite, sandy-haired woman with more attitude than even she probably knew what to do with. Darling Smith was incapable of ignoring what was wrong in the world. It was an infuriating and endearing quality that he hadn’t realized he missed.
    He moved through the first floor, scanning his surroundings with tried interest. Oliver liked to memorize each piece as if he hadn’t done it the previous day. That way, if something was off—if something had changed—he’d be more likely to notice.
    The smaller details often ended up making the most impact.
    * * *
    T HE LONGER D ARLING stared at the note, the harder she willed it to explain itself.
    â€œWho wrote you?” she asked it for the tenth time. “And why?”
    Like the nine times before, the note didn’t answer. Instead, it stayed frustratingly still against the top of her desk, its red ink blaring across the surface.
    You already did the right thing, Darling. Now stop .
    There was no denying the message had been intended for her.
    So, Darling had gone back to her car with the hairs on the back of her neck standing at salute, also confused. She had driven back to Acuity and pulled the newspaper clipping with the first note out to compare the two.
    The handwriting and color had matched perfectly.
    Whoever wanted Nigel’s affair out in the open was not only was watching Darling but also had taken her camera. Why? The cops had seen everything in that room plus more once they had gotten there.
    Darling growled to her office.
    It felt like a threat.
    Had Nigel caught wind of her case against him, or had he figured it out like Oliver had? But then why give her the pictures of Nigel and the red-haired woman, and urge her to turn them in to the police? And why tell her to stop?
    Stop what?
    Darling cast a long look at her empty coffee cup. It was nearly five, and she had put off calling Derrick for hours. Just as her resolve to disclose everything began to dissolve, her phone chirped to life with the name Liz across the screen.
    â€œYou’re very hard to get a hold of,” Darling greeted her, no humor in her voice.
    Elizabeth didn’t waste an excuse.
    â€œWe both know I’m a suspect in this murder. I’m having to cut my vacation short while recording my recent movements to send over to my lawyer. All under the ever-watchful eye of my mother. Be thankful I was finally able to step away from her.”
    â€œDoes she not know about your case with me?”
    â€œNo. I love my mother, but I don’t love her tendency to run her mouth. Give her enough wine and she’ll tell you every secret she’s ever been told.” Elizabeth was tired, that much Darling could tell. She pictured the woman’s