by Dawn Brown
“Douglas,” Bristol said brightly. “Bristol here. I’ve Hillary sitting with me.” Her stomach dropped. So much for him not knowing she was there. “I was hoping you could help me with something.”
Silence hung in the room while Bristol listened.
“Actually,” the inspector said, frowning. “I need something from you. Hillary mentioned some account books of Agnes’s. I would like to take a look at them if--I understand, but--”
Bristol’s frown deepened, and for the first time since she’d met him, his small eyes darkened with anger and his round cheeks flushed.
“Hello?” he said into the phone, then lifted his gaze to hers and set the receiver down. “The little shit hung up on me.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Hillary sat cross-legged in the center of her bed with the phone set directly in front of her. She took a deep breath, struggling to work up the courage to lift the receiver and dial. Caid was already angry. The last thing she wanted to do was make the situation worse.
Please. How could it get any worse?
She shouldn’t have let him believe she’d gone home. She should have told him the truth. Pride had kept her silent. She’d been so afraid he’d see her as weak and clingy, refusing to accept the inevitable end to their relationship. Instead, she’d botched everything.
Still, she wasn’t the only one who’d been less than honest. He’d actually sold his parents Glendon House to get rid of her. Her heart squeezed tight. She drew in a deep breath in an attempt to ease the ache in her chest.
Whatever had happened between her and Caid, she still needed to see those ledgers.
She snatched the receiver from the cradle and started to dial. A knock at the door stopped her.
She set down the phone and scrambled off the bed. When she opened the door, Sarah stood smiling on the other side of the threshold.
“Hi,” Hillary said, surprised.
“I hope you dinnae mind me popping in.”
“No, of course not. Come in.” Hillary stepped aside so Sarah could enter. "What brings you by?”
“Just a visit.” Sarah leaned forward, her dark eyes searching. “I heard you and Caid were on the outs.”
Mrs. Semple’s blatant stare flashed in Hillary’s head.
“I was worried about you.”
Sarah’s kindness warmed Hillary. After Randall, she’d been a pariah amongst her friends and peers. It had been a long time since she’d had someone she could confide in. “I’m fine, but I appreciate your concern.”
“Glad to hear it. If ye’re no’ fine, though, and you want someone to talk to, I’m a good listener. I’d like to think we’ve become friends.”
Hillary flopped onto the edge of the bed. “The truth is, Caid and I never planned anything permanent. I always knew he’d be moving on, and he knew that I would eventually go home.”
“How much longer will you be staying?” Sarah asked.
“Three days.”
“Did you find everything you wanted in the journals?”
“Mostly. Someone tore the final entry from the book. The entry where Roderick describes Anne’s murder was still there. I have no idea what the last entry said that was worth destroying.”
“Are you certain it was destroyed?” Sarah asked pointedly.
“I’m not certain of anything.”
“But you’ve enough to write yer book?”
“I think so.” Funny, how apathetic she’d become about the book. When she’d arrived in Culcraig, the project had been everything to her, and now, for the life of her, she couldn’t remember why.
“I’m happy for you, but I’ll miss you once ye’re gone.”
At least someone would. “Thanks. I’ll miss you, too.”
“Let’s get something to eat, then. I’ve no’ had dinner and I’m half starved.”
“Actually…” Hillary’s gaze slid to the phone.
“Were you about to ring home?” Sarah asked.
“No. I was actually going to call Caid.”
Sarah smiled and nodded. “To make up. Good.”
“No, no, not that.” Hillary wished she didn’t sound so emphatic. “I need a favor from him. Not that he’s big into doing favors for me just now.”
“Anything I can help you with?”
“Maybe. You knew the Frasers. Did they ever say anything to you about finding dead animals on their property?”
Sarah frowned. “No, never anything like that. Nancy did say to me not long before she died that she felt there’d been a black cloud over her family for months.”
Hadn’t Jimmy said something similar to Bristol? “Agnes had complained about someone leaving dead animals in her garden, I wondered if anyone else had experienced something similar.”
“Do you suspect her murder is connected to the Frasers?”
“I don’t know,” Hillary said. “The thing is, Agnes claimed she knew who was terrorizing her and she kept ledgers listing the names of anyone who made her angry.”
“If she wrote down the name of everyone who’d annoyed her, the books must be bloody thick.”
“There were at least a half dozen volumes. I even found my name in one.”
“That’s what you need from Caid?”
“Yes.”
“So nothing to eat, then?”
Hillary shook her head. “Not tonight.”
“Let’s do something before you leave, though.”
“I’d like that. Tomorrow?”
“Aye. I’ll meet you here once I’m finished at the shop.”
“Great. I’m looking forward to it.” Surprisingly, she was.
After Sarah left, Hillary returned to her bed and the silent phone. With nerves tittering up and down her spine, she placed the receiver to her ear and dialed quickly before she changed her mind.
The shrill ring sounded in the earpiece and she nibbled on her lip as she waited. Three rings…four…five… Could it be? The taut muscles in her shoulders eased. Six…seven…eight…
She hung up and let out a breath. So much for her nerves. He wasn’t even home. She glanced at the clock on the night table. Not quite seven. Maybe he’d gone out to eat.
She still had a key. Of course, letting herself in would be illegal. Still, she should return the key before she left Scotland. No doubt his parents would want it when they took possession of the house. And while she was there she’d take a quick peek at the ledgers and Caid would never be the wiser, sparing them both any awkward, or worse, angry words.
She was rationalizing and she knew it. But she was so close to the truth.
She left the hotel room, urgency thudding through her veins in an odd, soundless rhythm.
Rain swept across the driveway, pelting the windshield and distorting Glendon House’s hulking image through the glass. Hillary sat behind the steering wheel, hand poised above the door handle, hesitating. Going inside was wrong. Dishonest. She should wait until she spoke to Caid.
But she couldn’t wait. For all she knew, Caid might have already left the house for good and returned to Edinburgh. If she waited until his parents moved in, she’d never see those books.
Decision made, she slid from the car and dashed across the drive to the front door. With wet fingers, she fumbled the key into the lock, opened the door and moved inside.
“Caid?” she called, running her hand over the smooth plaster wall, feeling for the light switch. She didn’t expect him to answer. His car wasn’t there and the house was dark, but just in case. “Caid?”
She found the switch. The chandelier overhead lit the gloom. A wave of sadness washed over her, catching her off guard. She let her gaze sweep from one side of the foyer to the other, taking in the dark paneling and chipped cornices. She did love this place. The house’s warm, rambling charm.
How strange, she’d been in this country nearly three weeks and her first bout of homesickness was for Glendon House.
She made her way to Agnes’s room, switched on the light and went straight t
o the boxes she’d packed nearly two weeks ago.
Two weeks. How could so much have changed in so little time?
She found the box with the ledgers almost right away, and dug through the books until she came to the one with her name in it.
“I could have you arrested.”
She jerked, her heart stopping altogether at the sound of Caid’s voice. Heat tingled in her cheeks as waves of red-hot embarrassment washed over her. Book still in hand, she turned slowly to face him. “I can explain.”
He snorted, dark, stormy eyes boring into her face. “I’m all ears.”
“I had to see the ledger. I’m certain the killer’s name is in here.”
Caid nodded slowly, his expression inscrutable. “And when you found I wasnae home, you let yerself in?”
Her face burned hotter. “I couldn’t wait for you.”
“No, of course not. Especially after I told Bristol to piss off.”
Irritation burned through her embarrassment like the sun through a morning fog. “If I’m right, this book could stop the killer from murdering someone else.”
“You actually believe Agnes wrote someone’s name with plans to kill me beside it?” Caid asked, his voice heavy with disdain.
“Of course not,” she snapped.
“Then how will you prove it? Warren isnae taking your theories seriously. So the only thing you’ll succeed in doing is putting your own life in danger.” He turned and started to leave.
“I have to know. I can’t be responsible for someone else dying.”
For a long moment, he remained silent. “Are you doing this out of some misplaced sense of guilt for Myers?” he asked at last.
Yes. No. Maybe. She sighed, suddenly very tired. “I don’t know.”
“He attacked you. You defended yourself.”
“I know what happened,” she snapped. “I was there.”
He softened his voice and took a step toward her. “Then remember it.”
She moved back. Everything inside her felt raw and exposed. If he touched her right then, she’d shatter. “I should go. I’ll just look through the book and--”
“Take it.”
“Thank you,” she managed around the thick lump in her throat, and scooted past him.
His voice stopped her at the door. “You said you cannae be responsible for someone else dying. What if that someone is you?”
She turned and paused. “I’ll leave your key on the table downstairs,” she said, then left, the ledger clutched to her chest.
Back in her hotel with the ledger open on the bed before her, Hillary sat cross-legged in a tangle of rumpled sheets. She ran her finger down the list of slights, her eyes following. Occasionally, her thoughts would flit back to Caid and she’d realize that she had been through two--sometimes three--pages and nothing she’d read had even come close to registering.
“Damn it,” she muttered, turning back through the pages until she found a line she remembered reading. She had to stop thinking about him.
He hadn’t come after her. He hadn’t stopped her from leaving. Well, what had she expected? That he would chase her out into the rain and declare his undying love for her?
Why would he? She looked like a basket case.
Was he right, though? Was it guilt for killing Randall that was driving her so hard? That had her sneaking into someone else’s house? Her face burned. Good God, she was obsessed.
Crap, she’d done it again.
She turned back the pages, searched for the last line she remembered, then ran her finger down the long list of slights.
Thief.
The word stood out bold and square, completely different from Agnes’s usually neat script, and underlined twice. The pen had dented the thick paper as if Agnes had been angry when she wrote it. Hillary looked to the name beside the furious scrawl.
Sarah Miller.
Sarah? What could Agnes possibly think Sarah had stolen from her?
Hillary flipped through the pages, searching for Sarah’s name again. Why she bothered, she didn’t know. Surely, Agnes had written Sarah’s name down during one of her more paranoid moments.
Two pages later she found Sarah’s name written three times all within days of each other.
Sarah Miller Caught snooping through my things. I think she’s stealing from me.
Sarah Miller Claimed to be a descendant of Anne Black’s. She’s a liar and I have proof. I fired her. No more favors, even for her poor gran.
If Sarah believed she was a descendant of Anne’s, why had she never mentioned it? Or that she had apparently worked for Agnes.
Sarah Miller Filthy creature. Wants me to pay her to lift Anne’s curse. A lot of nonsense.
As Hillary read, her stomach sank and a chill washed over her. Sarah had been trying to extort money from Agnes. Just like Anne had done.
Oh God, she’d told Sarah about the ledgers.
That Caid had them at Glendon House.
Caid stared blankly at the computer screen. He couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t been able to lose himself in a story. Probably because it had never happened before. Yet there he sat, fingers hovering over the keyboard as if frozen. Every time he tried to focus, Hillary’s image rose up inside his head.
Why couldn’t she let this drop? Leave it to the police and let them do their job? Why did she insist on putting herself in danger?
But were he to be honest, the thing that bothered him most was remembering how she’d backed away from him when he’d reached for her. The message had been clear. Don’t touch.
A loud rap on the front door yanked him from his thoughts. Hillary? His pulse jumped. He hoped so.
Leaving the study, he went to the front door and opened it. Sarah stood on the other side of the threshold. Her eyes widened and brows drew together as if he’d surprised her, but almost instantly her lips curved into a coy smile and she tilted her head slightly.
“You are here. I wasnae sure,” she said.
Caid shrugged. “Aye. What do you want?”
“Just to talk. May I come in?”
“I’m busy the now. Maybe another time.”
“Are you pining for her?” Laughter tinkled in her voice like tiny shards of glass. “You shouldnae sit alone brooding, it’s no’ healthy.”
“I’m working,” he told her, wishing she’d piss off.
The strange coy humor left her face and concern mingled with fear replaced it. She put one small hand on his forearm and he had to fight not to jerk back from her touch.
“Caid, please. I’m so afraid. I think something terrible is going to happen. I know Willie wasnae working alone, but I’m afraid to go the police. Please, could I speak to you?”
Bloody hell, he knew Hillary was putting herself in danger. Caid nodded. “Come in.”
“Thank you.” She stepped past him and he turned his back to her as he closed the door.
“I’ll make tea,” she offered. “Then we can talk.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Hillary leapt off the bed and scrambled for the phone. She dialed Glendon House. After a series of rings, the line clicked and the dial tone sounded in her ear, as if Caid had lifted the receiver then hung it up again.
“Of all the stupid, hard headed…” she muttered, dialing the number again.
This time the phone rang and rang. She slammed the receiver down. Damn, he could be stubborn.
She dialed Bristol. He answered on the second ring.
“I know who killed Agnes. Sarah Miller. I have proof, it’s in the ledger, but there isn’t time to explain. She came to see me earlier and I told her about the account books. I have the ledger now, but she thinks it’s at Glendon House. I’ve tried calling Caid, but he won’t pick up. Could you go over and make sure he’s all right?”
“Aye. I’m on my way.”
Hillary hung up and stood staring blankly for a moment. All her words about not wanting to be responsible for someone else’s death came back to haunt her. Caid h
ad been right. Her persistence had only served to threaten Agnes’s killer, but instead of putting herself in danger, she’d made him a target.
Her stomach swirled sickly.
She had to go to Glendon House and warn him about Sarah.
Caid came back into himself gradually, self-awareness returning in small bites of realization. His wide, staring gaze was fixed on the freshly painted ceiling above him. His arms hurt, and when he tried to move them he couldn’t.
He blinked dry eyes and bright spots of color danced behind his lids. The ground beneath him was hard and rough. His body felt achy and contorted. A putrid, sweet aftertaste filled his mouth. Had he vomited? His memory was blank, and when he tried to remember, tiny explosions of pain sparkled behind his forehead like mini fireworks.
The numbness tingling in his extremities faded, except for his arms pulled above his head. Something held them extended, something cold and metal at his wrists.
He turned his head, taking in his surroundings. He was in the kitchen, on the floor to be exact, stretched out over the hard stone on his back. He tried to sit up, but his arms above his head held him in place.
As he tilted his head back to get a look at the impediment, metal scraping against metal filled the silence. His gaze followed the length of one arm into the dimly lit cupboard. Silver handcuffs attached to his wrists and looped around the drain glinted despite the low light.
“What the hell?” he muttered, yanking hard. The cool metal dug into his flesh, but had no effect on the drain.
He turned his head and caught site of a broken cup on the floor next to the table and his memory rushed back like a flash flood.
Sarah had made the tea, all the while chattering on about Willie and his partner, whom she’d been too afraid to name. Finally, she’d set the cup on the table, then sat across from him.
