Page 57 of Katie's Highlander (Highland Protector 3)
HIGHLANDLIFE ANDLEGENDSTHEMEPARK
“Excuse me. My name is Adam Smithson and I’m here looking for information regarding Katie Jenson’s whereabouts. Would you be able to help me?”
Esme looked up from her sketchbook. She’d been expecting people looking for Katie. They all had. Dwyn andMáthairhad coached them on what to say. She gave the man a quick up-and-down look then bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud.
This is the guy Ramsay was worried about? Seriously?
“Katie Jenson,” the man repeated louder, enunciating more slowly as though he thought she hadn’t heard him—either that or he thought her too young, pretty, and stupid to catch the gist of what he’d said the first time around. Esme ran into that a lot thanks to the proliferation of dumb blond jokes and portrayals in the media. That was okay. Folks found out differently as soon as she opened her mouth.
Adam Smithson, pale, extraordinarily tall and looking as though he’d missed entirely too many meals, pushed his thick black-framed glasses up his overly long narrow nose then stretched his hand out even with his bony shoulder. “Silvery-blond hair and about this tall. Athletic. Early thirties. She wrecked her car and called me for a ride but now nobody seems to know anything about her.”
“Katie Jenson?” Esme repeated just to keep the guy talking and make him squirm.You were supposed to show up here over a month ago for Katie. Some friend you are.
The gangly man greatly resembled a praying mantis—a sickly one that had been hit with a shot of bug spray. He quickly bobbed his head then swallowed so hard that his Adam’s apple raced up and down his long neck like a mouse skittering under the bedsheets. “Yes. Katie Jenson. I checked with the car repair shop first. They’ve still got her car but said they hadn’t seen her in quite a while. I was supposed to get here a few weeks ago, but a conflict came up and I couldn’t make it. I called Katie. Or tried to. Left a bunch of messages but never heard back from her. Now I’m worried. I can’t leave anymore voicemails. Her message box is full, and she doesn’t answer my texts.”
Esme held up a finger as she hopped off the stool behind the counter. “Hold that thought.”
Finally, she’d get to use Dwyn’s video message. Damn good video if she did say so herself, considering the fact that it came out of the tenth century. Of course, Katie and Ramsay had probably enjoyed helping Dwyn make it. Time to put it to use. She hurried through the employee-only door behind the counter of Highland Life and Legends’ costume shop, found her purse, and retrieved her phone.
Ross pushed through the back entrance of the shop just as she was about to return to the showroom. “Dwyn sent me. He sensed a stir. What the hell are ye up to now?”
“Come ‘ere.” She waved Ross forward, so they could both peep out the one-way window in the door leading back to the area behind the counter. “See that guy?”
“Aye.”
Ross sounded leery…and he should. If she had her way about it, Adam Smithson would wish he’d never heard of Highland Life and Legends by the time she was done with him. Abandoning Katie the way he did. What if Katie had been in serious trouble? This guy was a totally self-centered asshole—not showing up to look for Katie until she’d been missing for way over a month. Dwyn andMáthairhad given strict instructions about what should be said and done should someone show up—but surely, they wound’t care if she messed with this jerk.
Dwyn’s stern lecture replayed in her head and her mother’s warning look accompanied it. Esme’s conscience chimed in with a hard and familiar tap that gave her pause.Well…maybe I better not. I could so yank this guy’s chain for hours and make him so miserable. Guess I’ll just have to settle for the video’s effect.
“That guy…” Esme jabbed a finger at the man currently fidgeting nervously in front of the counter right where she’d left him. “That’s Adam Smithson. Katie’ssupposedfriend who was going to pick her up the Saturday after she wrecked her car but then never showed up until now.”
Ross glared at the man. “What a bastard,” he observed with a disgusted snort.
“Exactly.” Esme waved her phone in the air. “I’m gonna show him Dwyn’s text with the video. Wanna watch?”
“Aye,” Ross agreed and shoved through the door first.
Adam Smithson jumped a good six inches back from the counter and started stammering. “Th-the young lady that was j-just here. Sh-she was helping me.”
“I’m sure she was.” Ross took up a foreboding stance in front of the cash register and glared at the man.
“I found my phone,” Esme said, unable to contain her smile when the man wilted in obvious relief at her reappearance. “I’ll show you the last text I got from Katie.”
She brought up the text that showed it had been sent from Katie’s phone—approximately three weeks prior and adjusted the volume to full blast. Holding out her phone for Adam to see, she tapped the arrow to play back the video.
“Hey Esme! Guess what? We’re married!”Katie’s ecstatic voice echoed through the shop.“And we’ve decided to stay in Scotland.”Ramsay interjected, pure joy highlighting his words like a billboard flashing with blazing white LED lights.
Esme propped her chin in her hand, enjoying the full effect of Adam Smithson’s reaction.Wow. So that’s what the sayinghis eyes popped out of his headlooks like.
As soon as the one-minute video ran its course, Adam Smithson hit play and watched it again, his Adam’s apple flittering up and down his throat so fast that Esme thought for sure the guy was about to puke. At the end of the second playing, he shook his head and took a step back, still staring at the phone as though it were a coiled snake about to strike.
“Married?” he finally said, his eyes still locked on the phone. “Living in Scotland with some guy she just met?”
Oh, if you only knew.Esme smiled as though such an occurrence was as normal as a summer rain. “To my brother Ramsay. The guy in the video. I’ve never seen him happier.”
Adam turned away, his shaking fingers raking through his scruffy dark hair. “Katie would never do such a thing—not without telling me first.” He shook his head as he backed toward the door. “I can’t believe she’s married.” He swallowed hard. “She’d never…”
“Never what?” Ross interjected. “Never fall in love? Never be brave enough to grab hold of happiness? Never dare kick ye to the curb because ye only bothered yerself with her when it was convenient to yer own personal schedule?”
