Poor Ava. It must be hell on her to lose the man she loved and then watch another side of him emerge in the media. Not that Elizabeth was certain Jack had been involved with drugs. But if she’d been asked to assess the probability, she’d have put it at a solid ninety-five percent, and that was tempering it by Quinn’s faith in him.
The footage cut away to an older dark-haired man in an expensive suit. So that was MSP Alastair Whitehall.
“Jack Murray was a hard-working member of my team. If he were found to have been selling illegal drugs, I would be quite surprised, indeed. My thoughts are with his family during this trying time. Thank you. No further comment.”
Two things hit Elizabeth. The first was that Alastair, too, found it hard to believe that Jack could have sold drugs. The second was that the MSP’s accent was completely different from Quinn’s, almost more English than Scottish.
No wonder Leo hated him.
Then the image of a pretty young blond-haired girl appeared on the screen.
“Police are lookin’ for anyone with information about the overdose death of fourteen-year-old Katie Cameron. Cameron, of Muirhouse, was reported missin’ in October. Her body was found last week in a ditch at a construction site outside of Edinburgh.”
Muirhouse.
Why did Elizabeth know that name?
Thurston Tower, where Clive MacDonald lived, was in Muirhouse.
The printer beeped to let Elizabeth know it was out of paper. She refilled it, waiting while the last handful of pages finished printing. She charged the copies to her room and was on her way back toward the bank of elevators when her phone buzzed.
She glanced at the screen. A notification from the security cam in Quinn’s room. He’d probably just gotten back with their food and—
Her heart gave a hard knock, adrenaline hitting her blood stream.
The image on her screen wasn’t Quinn.
Shit!
She stared as a man with a balaclava covering his face moved through the room, as if searching for something.
The man who attacked Quinn.
Chills shivered down her spine.
Her phone rang, making her jump.
Quinn.Thank God!
“Where are you?”
“I’m in the business center. There’s a man—”
“I saw the bastard. That’s him—the man I saw that night. I’m on my way back. Dinnae go up to the rooms. Stay in a public place. Do you hear me? He’ll kill you.”
“I’m not stupid enough to confront this guy.” She watched as the figure on the screen prowled through the room, looking in drawers, searching Quinn’s bags. Then he disappeared into the bedroom. “We should alert hotel security, call the police.”
“Naw, he’ll gut those poor hotel security boys.”
The assailant reappeared then opened Quinn’s duffel and put something inside it.
“He just put something in your duffel bag.”
“Stay where you are. I’m almost there.”
Elizabeth watched as the intruder left the room, disappearing from view. “He left. I’m going to position myself in the lobby where I can see the elevators.”
“He’ll have a wound on his left cheek where I stabbed him. Dinnae follow him. Dinnae go near him. Do you hear me? I’m on my way from the car park.”