Black Canyon Conspiracy. Cindi Myers

didn’t the grand jury believe Lauren when she told them what he’d done to her?” he asked.

      “People are afraid of mental illness. Prentice and his experts played on that fear.”

      “What about you?”

      Marco lowered the binoculars and stared at his friend. “Are you asking if I’m afraid of Lauren?”

      “Not afraid, but do you worry about getting involved with someone who’s dealing with something like this?”

      He shifted his backpack from his shoulder and stowed the binoculars. “I don’t lose sleep worrying about it.”

      “Sophie told me you volunteered to be her bodyguard. I thought maybe it was because you were interested in her. You know, romantically.”

      Marco zipped up the pack and shrugged back into it. “She needs protecting. I can protect her. That’s all.” That was all there could ever be between him and Lauren Starling.

      “So you’re just above all those messy emotions the rest of us mortals have to deal with,” Rand said.

      “I don’t have time for them.” Those “messy emotions” brought complications and distractions he didn’t want or need. He turned back to the view of Prentice’s castle. “We have a job to do.”

      Rand stiffened and put a hand on the pistol at his side. “What’s that noise?”

      The low whine, like the humming of a large mosquito, grew louder. Marco looked around, then up, and spotted what at first looked like a toy plane or one of those radio-controlled aircraft hobbyists flew. “I think it’s a drone,” he said as the craft hovered over them.

      Rand scowled at the intruder. “Is it armed?”

      “No, but I think it’s spotted us.”

      “The captain said Prentice had one of these. What do you think it’s doing?”

      Marco trained the binoculars on the craft. “It looks as if there’s a camera attached to the underside, so I’d say it’s taking pictures.”

      “Pictures of what?”

      “Of us. Evidence that we’re harassing the poor little rich guy.”

      “Nothing wrong with being rich.” Rand gave a big, cheesy smile and waved up at the drone.

      Marco lowered the binoculars, resisting the urge to make an obscene gesture at the camera. “No, but there’s a lot wrong with being a jerk.” And a jerk who used a beautiful, vulnerable woman in his sick games had to be stopped.