Enduring Mr McGregor

chapter 47

Tapping his foot impatiently, Robert stared as the numbers counted up till he reached the thirty fifth floor, the floor he knew she'd be on. She always stayed at the Prestige hotels whenever she came to America. Her habits were predictable, and he knew she'd be in her room either taking a nap or having tea.

Slowly the elevator doors parted and he walked out with his hands in the pockets of his dark tailored wool blend coat. He walked down till he got to the door at the end of the hallway. Lifting a hand, he knocked twice and waited a full minute before a lazy voice asked him to come in.

He didn't want to go in guns blazing and giving her the impression that he was up to something, he needed her to be relaxed enough so she could say things she had no intention of saying. Taking a deep breath and swallowing his brewing temper, he turned the knob and walked in.

A presidential suite, that's the room she was staying in, Robert thought with a scowl as he spotted her blonde head sitting outside on the balcony. She was sprawled out on a lounge chair in just her bikini bottom.

He slowly approached the glass doors but something else caught his attention before he could open the door.

Pictures of different sizes were arranged on a wall opposite her bed, hundreds of them. Some were in frames, some were pinned to the wall, some were taped, others were torn in half. Some were so small they looked like passport photographs, and some were so large they looked like a billboard advertisement.

The unusual thing though, the thing that triggered warning bells in his head; the pictures were all of him. And they were all taken of him unaware. In each picture he wore a different cloth and was in a different setting.

Some showed him walking into his office, others showed him seated in a restaurant but most were taken of him taking Willa on a stroll.

The pictures literally captured his everyday life.

"Jesus Christ," he whispered slowly.

Just how long has this been going on? He wondered. Lisa was watching his every movement, he didn't think there was anything more creepy than that, but it was proof.

Silently he took out his phone and snapped the pictures on the wall. He was pocketing it back when he saw a photo sticking out of an envelope. He was going to touch it when...

"You done baby?"

He hurriedly snatched his hand back and whirled around to glare at her. "What is this?" He asked nodding at the pictures.

"Nothing, just a sweet little hobby," Lisa said while tying the belt of her fluffy pink robe.

"This is not a hobby, it's an obsession. Lisa... do you need help?"

"Ha!" She laughed. "Help from what?"

"This isn't normal." He had no idea the extent of her obsession.

"It is." She walked over to the trolley and poured herself a cup of iced tea then stared at the pictures. "I think that position is perfect, don't you think? It's there so it's the last thing I see before I sleep and the first thing I look at when I wake up."

What the hell?

"Why are you here Robert?"

He  tucked his hands into his pocket. "I have a proposal," he began and she perked up.

"I'm listening."

"But first, you have to answer a question."

"What— "

"Did you try to kill Kate?" She blinked and he continued. "Don't try to deny it," he said and casually looked at the pictures again.

If she didn't feel threatened by his words or actions, she would admit to it. Psychology lesson from Sally; making someone feel comfortable and less threatened or intimidated in your presence can lead them to confessing.