Only the Lost

by Amanda M. Lee

“Oh, she’ll never get a leg up on them. Her mother is too smart for that and is two steps ahead of Sami. It’s simply one of the family games they play.”

  “They sound interesting.”

  “They have their moments,” Paris agreed. “I really am sorry that she keeps calling. With her mother out of town, she seems to have a lot of free time on her hands. Aric isn’t as equipped to deal with Sami’s outbursts as Zoe is.”

  “And Zoe is your friend.”

  “She’s my best friend.”

  “Well, it’s nice that you take the time to deal with her daughter when she’s out of town. That’s the sort of friends I want to have.”

  “Don’t you have them now?”

  It was an interesting question. “I guess I do, but I just moved to this area. My friendships are still works in progress.”

  “What about the Grimlock girl? I mean ... there’s only one of them, right? That’s basically what I figured out while listening to Griffin and Cormack snipe at each other. Cormack referred to Aisling as his only daughter and said Griffin was lucky he still had hands given what happened at the wedding.”

  I could picture the argument — I’d witnessed it several times — so all I could do was laugh. “Yes, well ... they don’t mean anything by it. That’s simply the way they communicate. If it came down to it, they would die for each other ... and everyone in that family would die for the baby.”

  “Oh, I already figured that out. That baby is the center of their world. That’s how Sami was for us when she was born. She was the first baby in our group. She was special. She was also spoiled — still is.”

  “I think there’s every possibility that Lily will be the most spoiled child to ever live. As for Aisling, I like her a great deal. We simply don’t have the benefit of spending decades together like you have with your friend.”

  “It doesn’t take decades. Sometimes friendships are forged hard and fast. I’ll bet you’ll find it works that way for you.”

  “Maybe for us, too.”

  “Maybe.”

  “We should start looking for bodies now,” I offered. “Maybe that can be our first bonding exercise.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  WE FOUND NOTHING. It was both a relief and a worry.

  “We obviously couldn’t check every single nook and cranny on the island because there’re simply too many places bodies could end up,” I explained to Cormack. Lily was wide awake and playing with the button on his shirt. “We should consider that bodies might’ve landed in the water, too.”

  Cormack absently nodded. “I didn’t think about the possibility that other bodies might’ve missed landing in the correct location until you mentioned it. It makes sense.”

  “Brett and I can search the island after dark,” Oliver volunteered. “We’ll be able to scent a dead body if there are any. As for the water ... I suggest we enlist the merrow. They hate each other and won’t go out as a team, but they can split the territory. If the bodies are floating in the river, they’ll find them relatively quickly.”

  “Merrow?” Paris leaned forward, her interest piqued. “You have merfolk here?”

  “We do. I’ll introduce you later. They’re ... unique.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Oliver agreed. “We can search the island and surrounding waters in a few hours. That makes more sense than allowing you to blindly wander around.”

  I shot him a dirty look. “Thanks for your support.”

  “It’s a fact, not an insult.” Oliver turned his attention to Cormack. “I see the police are shutting down the bridge. That’s a wise idea.”

  “Griffin was right about them figuring out the identity of our dead guy relatively quickly,” Cormack replied. “Once that news spread they went into damage control mode. They don’t want looky-loos on the island screwing up their crime scene.”

  “How are we going to get off the island?” Paris asked. “I have a toddler waiting for me and he’s not going to understand police protocol.”

  “You’ll be allowed to drive your vehicle off the island tonight. There’s a parking lot directly on the other side of the bridge. When you return tomorrow, you will park there and be transported over on a boat. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to shut down the island.”

  Paris didn’t look thrilled with the idea, but she didn’t put up an ounce of argument. “I can see why keeping the island empty is important.”

  “Izzy, it’s up to you if you want to spend the night on the island or at my house,” Cormack supplied. “You need to make the decision quickly.”

  I’d purchased a vehicle several weeks before — it wasn’t new but it was reliable — and I understood what he was saying. If didn’t leave tonight, I would essentially be trapped. “I’ll drive to the other side tonight. I want to stop by the reaper headquarters anyway.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to see if I can find any information on the original incident in their library. I know it’s a long shot, but information is power and we need it.”

  “That’s not a bad idea. I’ll be heading in that direction, too. If I hear anything of importance, I’ll fill you in. For now, there’s very little else we can do here. If Oliver and the others find bodies, that changes. Right now, we still have five survivors who don’t seem to have answers and one dead guy who will never be able to answer questions.”

  “That’s a very concise explanation of where we’re at,” Paris noted.

  “Do you disagree?”

  “No. We’re stuck without more information. We’ll have to work together to get it.”

  I’D BEEN TO THE LIBRARY AT REAPER HEADQUARTERS several times. There was no rule keeping me out. I still felt like an intruder when I slipped through the door.

  The library was like visiting another world. A really quiet one with comfortable chairs, a warm fireplace and a gargoyle running the show. Yup, a gargoyle. His name was Bub. Word had it he’d been severely injured in a fight with the Grimlocks – he was an ally, not a foe – almost a year ago. I had no idea what a gargoyle was supposed to look like, but if Bub was any indication, they were scarred and slow-moving.

  “Hello, Izzy.” Bub moved between the aisles, his tail thrashing. I wasn’t even sure it was a tail at first. Heck, I still wasn’t sure. It could’ve been something else. If it was, I felt sorry for the female gargoyles. Sometimes bigger absolutely isn’t better.

  “Hello, Bub.” I greeted him with a bright smile. He wasn’t so bad. In fact, I kind of liked him. He was like a pet who talked … and you didn’t have to walk him because he walked himself. “How is life?”

  “I can’t complain.”

  But he would. He always did.

  “Life pretty much sucks, though,” he continued. “All the reapers are in a tizzy because those people came back through the gate. I hear you were there. Was it neat? Was there a bright light? Did God send them back because they were annoying or something?”

  The gargoyle was amusing, I had to give him that. “I didn’t see what happened. The noise from the gate knocked me out.”

  “It knocked you out?” He didn’t have eyebrows, but he arched some skin and it was fairly disconcerting. “That had to be some pretty powerful noise.”

  “It was.”

  “Did you see anything while you were knocked out?”

  “Why? What are people saying?”

  “That wasn’t a denial.”

  “I just want to know what people are saying.”

  Bub chuckled. “All manner of things. You’re a curiosity. The fact that you’re dating the surly Grimlock is as of much interest as your magic. As for what they’re saying about this, your name hasn’t come up … other than to say you were there, that is.”

  Well, that was something at least. “Why did you ask if I saw something? I just told you I was out.”

  “I see more than most. I know that you’re psychic. I’m guessing you saw something, because you’re here. The library is a place for research. You’re
researching something.”

  “Maybe I want to look up the mating habits of gargoyles. Have you ever thought of that?”

  He chuckled, the sound raspy. “I can tell you all you’d ever want to know about that topic if you’re really that interested.”

  “I think I’ll pass.”

  “So, tell me what you saw.”

  I told him. There was no reason not to. When I was finished, his expression was hard to read.

  “Well, it sounds to me as if something came for them.”

  I was hoping for more help than that. “You don’t know what’s on the other side of the gate either?”

  “No. Gargoyles don’t go there.”

  “Why not? You obviously have souls.”

  “All creatures have their own form of afterlife.”

  “Even dogs and cats? What about rats?”

  “All creatures.” He smirked and shook his head. “I don’t know much about this gate. Humans are the only creatures I know who are completely obsessed with death. The rest of us merely accept it as a fact and move on. Still, I’ve read enough about it to be intrigued..”

  “What about when the men went missing? Were you around then?”

  “Yes, but I wasn’t working with the reapers. I was an independent contractor at that time. Up until recently, I didn’t have much of an affiliation with anyone … including my own kind.”

  “Your injury forced you to work for the reapers,” I noted. “You don’t want to be here, do you?”

  “It’s as good a place as any. I don’t know where I want to be right now.”

  “You helped the Grimlocks.” I’d heard the stories. I knew how much he gave of himself to save Aisling. “You didn’t have to. You could’ve ignored what was right and let them die.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “It’s just an observation. I don’t think you were nearly as uninterested in the travails of the reapers as you pretend. Even if you were, you had to have heard rumors.”

  “I heard a few things,” he conceded. “Some said it was a cover-up. Others said it was an experiment gone awry. Still others said it was an accident. Most believed those men were long gone and never coming back. That’s the one thing I can say with any degree of certainty. No one expected to ever see them again.”

  “So that means all the stories were wrong. Something else happened to those men. Something that absolutely no one considered.”

  “That would be my best guess.”

  Mine, too. I let loose a sigh. “Are there reaper history records? I’m talking books that keep track of what was going on with the reapers at any given point in time.”

  “You want to know what the reapers were thinking when it went down.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “I think I can help you, but I guarantee there won’t be legitimate answers in the journals left behind. They’re not that stupid.”

  “I still want to see what I can find.”

  “Then follow me. I know exactly where to look.”

  Nine

  Cormack joined me in the library two hours later. I was surprised to find he still had Lily, although he’d shifted her from his chest to a handheld carrier. She was sleeping when he strolled into the library, but Bub, who had been lounging in front of the fire while I researched the incident, was suddenly on his feet. Initially I thought it was because he wanted to look good in front of the boss. I figured out I was wrong relatively quickly.

  “The littlest Grimlock’s baby is here.” He announced it in such a way that I had to smile. He wasn’t exactly awed, but he was clearly curious.

  “Lily,” I offered. “Her name is Lily.”

  “Not after the bad Lily, I’m sure.”

  “No, after the real Lily,” Cormack volunteered. He placed the carrier on the floor and didn’t complain when Bub scurried over to look at the baby. He didn’t leave Lily unprotected, instead sitting in a chair directly next to her, but he also didn’t reprimand Bub for invading the baby’s personal space.

  “She looks like Aisling,” Bub announced after a moment.

  “She does,” Cormack agreed.

  “She looks like all of you,” I countered as I flipped through another report. “I know you get sick of hearing this, but you all look as if you came out of the same test tube.” My eyes landed on Cormack. “I guess you’re that test tube.”

  He chuckled. “Yes. They all do resemble me. That wasn’t always good when they were in trouble as children ... and teenagers ... and, for that matter, as adults.”

  My lips quirked at the whimsical look on his face. As much as he complained about his children — and it was a regular occurrence — I knew he wouldn’t trade even one of them.

  “Was it hard for your wife?” I asked. “I mean ... the fact that they all looked like you. I’ll bet she would’ve liked at least one of them to look like her, though that might’ve been difficult when she died because it would’ve meant you didn’t want to look at your own children.”

  The words were out of my mouth before I realized how insulting and invasive they sounded. When I risked a glance in Cormack’s direction I found Bub smirking and Cormack watching me with contemplative eyes.

  “I didn’t mean to say that out loud,” I offered. “That was really rude. I mean ... really rude. I wasn’t thinking.”

  The smile he offered was small but heartfelt. “You don’t have to temper your words with me, Izzy. I don’t want you to be afraid to say what’s on your mind. That’s not how we operate in my family.”

  It was nice to hear, but I still felt like an idiot. “I don’t always think before I speak.”

  “None of my children do either. Well, Cillian does ... and occasionally Aidan. The other three are mouthy idiots.”

  “But you love them.”

  “I do. I’m quite fond of you, too. You didn’t hurt my feelings, so don’t worry about it.”

  That was a relief, but I still couldn’t shake the unease washing over me. “What did the big boss say?”

  For the first time since entering the library, Cormack’s expression darkened. “He said that he had no knowledge of what happened to those men.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “I have no reason not to. We’ve known each other for a long time. As far as I know, he’s never lied to me. Er, well, at least about something big. We’ve both told little white lies to get out of work occasionally, but that’s to be expected.”

  It wasn’t the little lies that concerned me. “I’m bothered by a few things,” I admitted. I opted to be upfront with my concerns. “There are notations in the files back then, but I don’t think there’s a complete record of what happened. That seems to indicate they’re hiding something.”

  Cormack shifted on his chair. “Be more specific.”

  “Okay, for starters, there were four council members who covered the event. They all had journals at the time. Those journals are in this library ... and all the pages in each journal that would’ve dealt with the disappearances have been removed.”

  He furrowed his brow. “What?”

  “Here.” I grabbed one of the leather-bound journals in question and turned it so he could see for himself. “The entire section on the disappearances is gone, completely ripped out.”

  Cormack’s mouth dropped open as Bub made cooing sounds to entertain Lily, who was suddenly awake. If the baby was bothered by what she saw, she didn’t show it. She merely watched the gargoyle cavort in front of her with unreadable eyes.

  “And you say all the journals are like this?” Cormack asked when he’d finished checking the book for himself.

  “As far as I can tell. Obviously it’s possible there were other people involved in the investigation and they have journals, but I haven’t made it that far yet.”

  “Right.” Cormack tapped his chin and turned his eyes to Bub. “Has anyone been in here to read the reaper journals?”

  “Not while I’ve been here,” Bub replied, mak
ing a comical face for the baby’s benefit. “Why won’t she smile?”

  “Because she’s going to smile at me first,” Cormack replied.

  “She’s not smiling at anyone yet and it’s driving them crazy,” I offered. “If you make her smile they’ll deny it happened. You’ve been forewarned.”

  “He won’t make her smile.” Cormack was firm. “She’s my granddaughter. She loves me best.”

  “I think it would be best if she smiled at Aisling first,” I said, going back to my books. “That would make her feel less unsure about how Lily feels about her.”

  Cormack stiffened and I could feel his eyes burning holes into my skin as I stumbled. Well, crap. I couldn’t believe I said that out loud. Today was clearly not my day. “I mean ... .”

  Cormack extended a quelling finger. “Are you saying Aisling doesn’t believe Lily loves her?”

  “I’m saying that Aisling struggles with the fact that her mother came back from the dead with the express purpose of killing her, stealing her body and taking over her life. That skewed her opinion on mother-daughter trust. You have to know that.”

  “I knew that Braden was still having a few issues, though you’ve done wonders for him.” He turned thoughtful. “Maybe I should insist on family counseling.”

  For another family, I would’ve thought that was a marvelous idea. For the Grimlocks? Yeah, not so much. “Do you have a therapist you absolutely hate? If so, go for it. You can drive her into the nuthouse. If not, I wouldn’t recommend it. Your family is difficult under normal circumstances. Adding a therapist to the mix will only make things worse.”

  Cormack pursed his lips and then sighed. “I guess you’re right. I don’t know what to do about this. I didn’t realize Aisling was still feeling insecure about the baby.”

  “Why do you have to do anything about it? She’ll get over it eventually.”

  “I’m her father. It’s my job to fix things.”

  That was a rather simplistic approach. “Perhaps when she was younger. She’s an adult now.”

  “And she’s still my baby. Just because she has a baby, that doesn’t change.”