Shortcake*

Chapter 17: Phone Call Warning

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*

Three days later, Link was uploading his pictures to his social media that he and Cleo had taken when he got a message from Will.

I need to talk to you, alone.

Link furrowed his brow and glanced at Cleo, who was lying in the hammock, a slushy drink on the table next to her and a book in her hand. He smiled slightly. The girl took her downtime seriously. They woke up at two in the morning the first night and watched the spectacular Perseids meteor shower. He had managed to get a decent time-lapse video of it, which was what was currently uploading; the satellite link was a little slow and spotty. They both slept until well past noon the next day and then spent the afternoon and evening cuddling together on the couch while watching movies. Yesterday had been spent exploring the small island, swimming and lying on the rocky beach to dry while watching the sunset. They had found a working balance of doing things together and doing their own things. Like now, her reading in the hammock just off the deck in the shade of the trees, and he was sitting in the sun, editing videos and pictures for them to post.

Give me a second.

He walked over and gently nudged the hammock so it swung back and forth; when she looked up at him, he smiled at her. "How's the drink situation?"

"I think I'm okay for now." She looked over at the drink and then smiled at him.

"I'm gonna go in and see about dinner. Want anything?"

"By the time you come out, I might need another drink." Link smiled and bent to kiss her.

"I will bring you another drink. I've finished the videos and pictures when you're ready to upload."

"Mmm-hmm." Cleo nodded and went back to her book.

Link headed inside, closed the sliding glass door, went to the only spot on the island with a decent cell signal - the upstairs balcony off his bedroom on the front of the cabin - and called Will.

"Link, how's everything going?"

"Great, the cabin is great, and the scenery is amazing. Cleo and I are working on getting to know each other. It's been really relaxing." Link ran his hand through his hair and dropped into the gravity chair. "What's up?"

"Annette and Haven don't think you need to know this, but Danielle and I have agreed that you do, and her opinion trumps theirs, so... The day before the premiere, Haven received a folder, and it was full of pictures. Pictures of pictures, of newspaper clippings, magazine articles and a note that was typed on a computer and printed. The note just said, "He's watching her." Everything had to do with Cleo. All the pictures are of her, going right back to her wedding day. There were pictures of the newspaper articles for her parent's death with the word "Accident" followed by several question marks written in Sharpie, the same for her husband's collision. Has she told you about all that?"

"Yeah, she has." Link sat up straight. "So whoever sent this is implying this... stalker killed her parents and husband?"

"I spoke to the detective who looked into her parent's death, and he said it was suspicious. There was a pipe on the hot water tank that was loose and leaking carbon monoxide, which happens, and it was a new tank that had been installed about a month prior, so it could have been installed wrong, but still, a whole month for the carbon monoxide to fill the space without them knowing? And the three detectors all had dead batteries. Everything was in the realm of possibility but just felt too coincidental. He never had any proof, and none of his potential suspects had been in their house in three months, and in Cleo's case, she was 150 miles away in NYC."

"As for her husband, he was a functional alcoholic, frequently drove drunk, had a couple of fender benders and some DUIs... but according to Cleo and what she said when the police interviewed her about his accident, he was a careful driver, he would normally go below the speed limit, but he was doing twice the speed limit for the area, and it was a road he drove all the time. The open bottles of alcohol in the vehicles were odd for him too. It was like they wanted the police to see alcohol and not look any deeper than that."

"Wow." Link leaned his head back. "I can't keep this from her."

"Well, our lead suspect is Nico, so we'd rather she didn't know. I wanted you to be on your guard. You aren't actually at my cabin; you're at a friend's cabin on a different lake about two hundred miles south of mine."

"Why Nico?" Link felt his stomach tense. He wasn't surprised. He would say Nico too if he had to choose someone, but that would destroy Cleo."

"Because he's been in her life since shortly after she married her husband, he's the one that makes all the important decisions in her life and career, and we got the information after he and Frankie broke up."

"You think Frankie is the rat?" Link put his head back against the chair.

"The timing is there, but it's also a little too perfect, in my opinion."

"So someone wants to cast doubt on Nico."

"Maybe? There's just too many unanswered questions right now. Haven hired a private investigator, and we discovered he's bisexual, not gay; he just gravitates toward men. He cheated on Frankie a few times with women. Frankie was aware but decided not to confront him because it was one-night stands three times in four years. All short, curvy women with long black hair."

"Fuck." Link muttered.

"Yeah... Once again, it's a little perfect, like someone, maybe Frankie, is trying to set him up to take a fall."

"So basically, what we have right now is someone has been stalking Cleo and has either been in her life for a long time or did a lot of research."

"Basically." Will paused for a long moment. "I also have to point out that you might be the cause of all this."

"Me?" Link sat up quickly, then slumped. "Because of our relationship, it could be someone jealous that I'm with her, or she's with me."

"Yeah... Do you think Jerrica...?" Will's voice trailed off.

"She's definitely capable of it." Link sighed. "Also, on the flight, the stewardess behaved really oddly." He quickly filled Will in on what had happened.

"That is a little strange. Your girlfriend is sitting across from you, and she just blatantly hits on you and then ignores Cleo?"

"She was furious I never took the bait. Like disproportionately angry, and when I threatened her job, she was just angry, not apologetic or remorseful, just pissed."

"I'll look into it. Look, I know you want to tell Cleo, but I would hold off until we have more information. I wanted you to know what was happening so you could be on your guard. When you go to town, don't post anything that can identify where you are. Google's reverse image search is the internet detective's best friend."

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*