Alec moved his hand from her neck to her back, gently massaging in a circular motion.
“I must have sat on the ground for a few minutes, though I really don’t know how long I was there. I was vaguely aware of him talking to me. I think his name was David. I finally stood up and told him that I wanted to go to the cave. I needed to help. At first he refused, told me it was dangerous. I walked away, determined to find someone to follow to the cave. He ran up to me and told me he would take me.” She inhaled. “I think we walked for about ten minutes, the noise of people digging and shouting getting louder in the dark.
“We arrived at the site. There were people scattered around, but most were in the cave. I remember looking around, hoping to find my parents. You see,” she said, raising her head, “no one had actually told me where my parents were.” She swallowed. “I noticed several… several lumps, covered in tarps. I was drawn to them, why I don’t know. As I got closer, someone started to pull me away. David said we had to go back to the campsite. I pulled away and headed towards the tarps. Someone said ‘no, senorita, no.’ I remember yelling, screaming ‘mi madre, mi padre, where?’” she said hoarsely as a tear traced a path down her cheek before choking back a sob. “I couldn’t even ask them ‘where’ in Spanish, but the man understood and he led me to the tarps.”
“Jesus, Katie,” he gasped, “your parents were under the tarps?”
She nodded. “Their dead bodies were under the tarps. I willed myself to pull back the cloth. I needed to make sure that it wasn’t a cruel joke, that maybe they were still alive in the cave. The man had a flashlight and held it while I lifted the tarps. Their bodies were crushed. I could barely make out their faces, but I saw their wedding rings. The next thing I remember was waking up in my parents’ tent.”
“I’m so sorry, Katie. It must have been…” Alec searched for a word as he wiped her tears. “Horrendous.”
“It gets even better,” she said ruefully, shaking her head almost in disbelief. “I had to arrange for their transport, first back to Cuzco, then on to Lima. In Lima, David helped me make arrangements to return with their bodies back to the States. But before I could leave, I had to identify my parents in front of a Peruvian official. If I didn’t, it would delay the return of their remains. I went to the morgue and had to see my parents’ again. Only this time… this time…” She swallowed, choking down a sob, tears spilling down her cheeks. “This time, four days later, their bodies were… were…” A sob escaped her throat. He pulled her tight into his arms, her back against his chest. He smoothed her hair. She leaned further into him, drawing strength from his warmth, her mind readying her for the final push. “Their bodies were decomposing and, God, God help me,” she sobbed, “I can still… I can still smell them. And all I could think of is that if I had arrived on time, as originally scheduled, they wouldn’t be dead. They were dead because I failed them.” She broke down in his arms, crying, burying herself, letting go, letting it all go.
****
“All alone, my KitKat, you were all alone,” he said, kissing the top of her head, holding her shaking body. He understood her torment, her nightmare. She wasn’t trying to smother herself. She was trying to block out the smell of the decomposing bodies.
“Alone,” she echoed as the sobs subsided, her tears spent, “so all alone.”
She lay cocooned in his arms, her body spent. He wiped the salty tears from her face. “There was an investigation into the cave-in. The archaeologist in charge, Andrew Mason, was directly negligent. Seems”—she hiccupped—“seems he was overseeing another excavation at the time. I think it was in Honduras. He flew in for a day to certify that the tunnels were supported according to safety protocols and that the excavation could begin.” She shook her head slowly from side to side. “Only not all of the material for the support beams had arrived on site. He deliberately certified that the cave was safe, knowing full well that the supports were only fifty to sixty percent of what they needed to be. He flew back to the other site. My parents relied on his expertise. They respected this young, hot shot, arrogant archaeologist.” She shook her head and said, “That bastard killed my parents and do you know what punishment he received? He lost his funding. That’s it, nothing else. No fines, no jail. He never even apologized. Now do you understand why I hate diggers?”
Alec tensed as he struggled to remember the details. Slowly they surfaced and then bombarded him in relentless waves, like a tidal surge. His stomach roiled as the truth dawned on him. Josh Mason, his friend, had a terrible connection to Katie.
Shit… shit… shit. What the hell do I do now, he wondered.
He placed his hands on either side of her face and turned her head to face him. “He not only killed your parents. He killed Katie Walsh.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes again, but the recognition of what he said registered on her face. “Yes. Yes, he did.” She straightened her spine and leaned forward slightly. Even in the glow of twilight and the rising moon, she looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her. She turned her head and looked at him, gazing into his eyes. “But I think she’s in the process of being reborn, thanks to you.”
“Katie, I’m not like him. I’m not a digger. Please don’t lump me in with him. I would never do something like that, jeopardize someone’s life.” Alec stopped. His jaw tensed, the muscle twitched along the outer edge. Sadness, anger, and horror washed over him, leaving his brow furrowed, his mouth in a frown. It was never what he’d intended, but he’d done just that, put her life in danger in order to achieve his goals. He started to move. “Come on, Katie,” he said, offering her his hand and helping her to stand. “We should go back inside where it’s warm.” She stood beside him and they walked in silence back to the house.
R
Chapter Eleven
They stepped through the front entrance where Katie headed straight for the stairs. “I think I just need to go to bed. I’m exhausted.”
Alec nodded slightly and watched as she proceeded up to her room. He headed into the dining room in search of something to drink, to dull the pain throbbing in his head.
He fumed while he quickly downed his first and second scotch. How could I not make the connection between Josh and Katie? He shook his head. It’d had been ten years ago. Ten years since he’d last seen Josh. He’d kept a low profile after the investigation. Alec remembered trying to find him, trying to make sure he didn’t do something stupid, like kill himself. If he told her that Josh Mason was really Andrew Mason, Katie would believe he knew that from the start, that he kept the secret to use her knowledge, to use her to get what he needed. She’d believe he lied to her about everything. He’d never be able to convince her that he… Alec swallowed as it hit him like a punch to the gut. He’d fallen in love with her. He emptied the glass in one swallow and grabbed the bottle.
Alec’s body shook with barely restrained anger as he stormed up the massive staircase and down the hallway to his bedroom. If Josh weren’t already dead, Alec doubted that anyone would have been able to stop him from wrapping his hands around Josh’s throat, squeezing the life out of him, choking off the air, making him experience some of the agonizing death of Anna and Lincoln Walsh, the havoc, the collateral damage caused by Josh’s galling arrogance.
He slammed the door shut and placed the scotch on the bedside table before he pulled out his cell phone and called his brother. He took Robert for granted, assumed he’d always be there to help him, and more importantly, assumed he’d always just be there. He swore as he thought about Katie’s pain, her horrible experience with her parents’ deaths and the total aloneness. She had no one. All because of Josh. He threw the glass against the wall. “Son of a bitch.”
“Jesus, Alec, what the hell is wrong with you? And why the hell are you calling me a son of a bitch?” Robert growled.
“Sorry. It wasn’t directed at you. I’ve had an earful tonight.”
Robert sighed wearily. “From Katie? What did you do now?”
Alec heard Robert sigh before he replied. “Okay, Alec, take a deep breath and tell me all about it.”
Alec detailed what had transpired with Katie. He told Robert how she had opened up and revealed the nightmare that had been eating her alive for the last ten years. When he’d finished he heard nothing. “Robert? You still there?”
“Yeah,” Robert said hoarsely. “I’m just trying to absorb the full impact of what you told me. No wonder she doesn’t talk about. And she went through that all alone, no one to turn to, no one to help, so she turned inwards, erecting the walls. It all makes sense now. I fully understand her disdain for diggers.”
“How the hell am I going to tell her who Josh really was? I never made the connection until tonight. Lord, the pain she’s suffered all this time. I can’t see any good coming from this.” Alec raked his hand through his black hair. “I see nothing but pain and plenty of it coming straight at Katie and worse than that, it could very well change Katie, push her back inward, one final betrayal to lock her behind that damn fortress forever. It will finish what Josh set in motion ten years ago.”
“There’s something else going on, Alec. What is it?”
“Robert, I was holding her, telling her that I wasn’t one of her despised diggers. I told her that I would never do something like that, jeopardize someone’s life—”
“You wouldn’t. You’re not like Josh. You’d never put your interests over someone’s safety.”
Alec laughed, shaking his head. It was a sad, melancholy laugh. “You don’t see it?” Alec asked, swigging a mouthful of scotch from the bottle.
“See what?” Robert answered, clearly confused. “I’m afraid I don’t.”
“I told her that I would never do something like that, jeopardize someone’s life and yet that is exactly what I’ve done,” he hissed. “Her life is in danger because of what I did, because I sought her out. She’s an innocent victim, a pawn in my search. I’m no different than Josh.”
Robert swore softly. “You can’t beat yourself up over this. Your intentions are honorable. You’re trying to avenge Josh’s death, bring his killer to justice. You weren’t aware of any past connection between them.”
Alec slammed his hand down on the table. “What the hell am I going to do? No matter how I run the scenarios”— he pinched the spot between his eyebrows—“she’s collateral damage.”
****
Katie woke to a brightness so warm that she thought for a moment there had been a fire lit in the fireplace while she slept. An insistent knocking on her door refocused her attention. She gasped in surprise as she checked the clock on the bedside table. It was seven a.m. Was it possible that she’d actually slept the whole night, a real, honest, deep sleep?
She called out, “Yes? Who’s there?”
“It’s me, Alec. May I come in?”
Katie raised the sheet up around her chest, tucking it under her arms. “Yes.”
He stood in the doorway, the sunlight bathing his face in its glow. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept or slept well. His mouth was tight. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. I can’t remember the last time I slept like that.” She paused and then added, “Thank you.”
Alec smiled. “Glad I could help.”
She lowered the sheet. “If you come over here I can show you just how thankful I am.”
His smile turned into a frown in a flash and then he was gone.
“What the hell was that?” she snapped. “I can’t have said anything to piss him off, but clearly he was.” She swallowed hard. “Is he blowing me off? After a roll in the hay, is he done with me?” She threw back the covers and headed for the shower.
As she scrubbed her body, the one he’d so expertly caressed and loved, yes, loved, less than twenty-four hours ago, Katie knew something had changed. Something had happened, but what? Was it something she did or didn’t do? Was it something she’d said or didn’t say? “Arrghh,” she growled in frustration, “why can’t he just say it, be direct?”
She stepped out of the shower, dried off and quickly dressed in black jeans and a lilac long-sleeved T-shirt. She draped a pale green sweater over her shoulders and tied the sleeves together in front. “Damn you, Alec,” she said as she galloped down the stairs, “you will tell me what’s bothering you.”
If he was done with her sexually, then fine. Well, not really, but she’d deal with it. Maybe she’d convince him otherwise, or at least have fun trying. She strode into the dining room like a woman on a mission.
He sat at the far end of the table, reading the paper and sipping coffee. She headed to the sideboard, picked up a plate and filled it. She walked over to him and waited for him to look up. When he didn’t, she set the plate down in front of him.
“I’m not hungry.”
She reached over and placed the back of her hand against his forehead. “Mm, you don’t seem to have a fever.” She grabbed his chin in her hand and lifted it upward toward her face. “What seems to be the problem? Is it me? Did I do something, say something to piss you off?”
Alec pulled his chin out of her hand and shook his head.
“Well, something sure as hell is wrong. What is it? Tell me.”
“No.”
“Are you blowing me off, giving me the ‘wham, bam, thank you, ma’am’ kiss off? Because if you are, then just tell me.”
“Are you done here?” he asked.
Katie stepped back. “What?” She swallowed. “Are you asking if I’m done with you and me?” She felt a sense of sadness descending on her like a wet blanket, smothering her. My God, he is kissing me off.
He lifted the food-filled plate and held it up, waiting for her to remove it. Numbly she reached out and took it from him. “Have you finished all the research you wanted to do this trip?”
“Well, I could always do more. There’s so much here, but yes, I’ve finished all that I needed to do.” Katie walked to the other end of the table and sat down. “Why?”
“Because I need to make arrangements to leave.”
Confused Katie said, “But the arrangements are made. The jet will be here in two days.” She took a bite of a fresh-baked scone.
Alec shook his head. “I’m not going back to Boston.”
Kate let the scone drop to her plate. “Where… where are you going?”
“Scotland. I’m heading up to Duntulm. I’m going to find Josh’s work site.”
“Are you planning on leaving me behind?” She went to the sideboard and poured a cup of coffee, willing her trembling hands to be still. She turned and faced him before leaning back against the heavy furniture.
“I think it’s best if you return to Boston as planned.”
She stomped over to the table and set her coffee down. She ripped the paper out if his hands and tossed it on the floor. She braced her arms on the table edge and replied, “No. I’m not going back to Boston. I’m going with you. Like it or not, we’re partners in this quest. I won’t let you renege on our deal.” She glared at him. “In case you forgot, thanks to you, I’ve got nothing to go back to.”
He pushed back his chair and stood, dwarfing her. “It’s too dangerous. Someone knows you have Josh’s notes and that you’re working on the translation. You need to be where you can be protected. Robert will make sure you’re safe.”
“How? Lock me up in my condo or his penthouse? Until when? You’re not in control of my life. You don’t get to decide what happens anymore. You did that and look where we are.”
Alec rubbed his hands over his tired face. “Where, Katie? Where are we?”
“In a hell of a mess and one which I intend to clean up.”
He slumped back into the chair. “I don’t want to fight you, Katie, nor do I want to control you. I just want you safe.”
“Alec,” she said her tone softer, “I’m not a
porcelain doll. I don’t break easily. Besides, you need my help. It’s probably a good bet the runes are there. I can translate them. Just don’t shut me out.”
He sighed, seeming to wage an inner war.
Katie leaned against the chair and waited for his answer then added a sweetener. “I think Josh was close to finding something and I think it was related to or possibly the remains of Norland.”
Alec glanced up at her smiling face. She nodded. “You’re right. I still need you,” he finally replied.
Her heart jumped. He didn’t say he needed her help. He said he needed her. “So what’s the plan?”
“I need to get us to Scotland and then to Skye. I’ll see about renting an SUV and we need to get some warmer clothing and some camping gear.”
“Camping gear?”
“Yeah, that part of Skye is rather wild and remote. It makes sense to stay in the area. I’m pretty sure his work didn’t take place in the towns near there.”
“Oh,” she said, “I haven’t been camping since I was ten. Sounds… interesting.”
Alec smiled as he shook his head. “Yeah. Thankfully you’re low maintenance.”
Did he just give her a compliment or did he just insult her? She wasn’t sure.
R
Chapter Twelve
While Alec spent the morning making arrangements, Katie logged on to her laptop and checked her email. There was one marked ***URGENT*** from Eric with the subject line “CALL ME ASAP,” but there was no other information.
She logged onto Skype and entered his address. He connected immediately. “Katie, I think I’ve cracked those odd symbols. Well, most of them anyway.”
Trove (The Katie Walsh Mysteries) Page 18
