I hand Carolina her phone back. She stares at the screen and then throws it across the room and storms out.

“Jesus, she’s a fiery one.” Marcus smirks. “Better go after her. See if you can smooth things over. I’ll start looking into this woman for you, okay? Hey, this might turn out to be a short gig after all. Both cases might be solved ASAP, and then you can head on home.”

He grins, and I want to punch him.

“I know you know.” I roll my eyes at him.

“Hard not to, the way you two look at one another. Do the guys in Greece know?”

“Nope.”

“Fair enough. They won’t hear it from me.”

“I’ll let you out. I can set the alarm then.” I follow him into the hallway and almost trip over Brutus who is staring up the stairs where Carolina must have disappeared.

“I’ll look into this young woman. See if there are any other stalking incidences in her past. Usually with men there are. Not always with women. It’s a different pattern.”

“I thought you were intelligence,” I say. “You’re sounding like a shrink.”

“Both, my friend. I got a degree in criminal psychology a long time ago. Worked for the cops for a bit, then moved into intelligence. Stalking was my specialist area of interest for a long time.”

I consider him for a beat. “There’s a friend of Carolina’s you should meet. She’s having some issues with a guy. I’d be interested in your take on it.”

“Of course. Let me know.”

He nods at me before turning and jogging down the steps. He pauses to rifle through the bin. “What color bag is the dog in?” he shouts.

“Yellow tie trash bag.”

He hauls something out a few moments later, nose wrinkling. “Got it.”

I lock the door, set the alarm, and go to find Carolina.

14. Carolina

Chapter 14

Carolina

Not wanting to deal with Samuel immediately, I run a bath. When he knocks on my door, I shout to him to come back in an hour. “I’m having a soak,” I say.

Normally, he’d join me, but he picks up on my leave-me-alone-vibes, and the tread of his footsteps echoes down the hallway.

One hour later, on the damn dot, he knocks at the door again, and this time he doesn’t wait to be invited in.

“You lied to me,” I say as soon as he enters the room.

“Not a bad lie. I didn’t want you to be upset.”

“I can’t do this if you’re going to lie.” We haven’t talked about a this, or an us, but we are both aware one exists.

“Okay. No more lies. I promise.”

“Not even if you think it is to protect me. I don’t want it.”

“I promise.”

I brighten. “You were kind of savage, you know. With Joseph.”