A lethal legacy, p.28
A Lethal Legacy, page 28
“Anything from Jay?”
“No. Not yet. He was going back through all of his applications and queries. I guess it might have taken some time, and it was late when I talked to him.”
She turned into Craig’s arms. “I guess at this point, another five minutes won’t matter.”
“Five minutes! Oh, ye of little faith!”
She laughed, and he pulled her out of the chair and into his arms.
His kiss was hot, wet and deep. They were quickly discarding their clothing and his lips fell everywhere on her flesh...still provocatively hot, wet and very deep.
Later, she rolled against him.
“Five minutes, huh?” he whispered.
And she curled against him, so sated, and so happy to be in his arms.
Saturday, 4:00 p.m.
Kieran was still sleeping.
Craig rose silently and headed to shower and get dressed.
When he came out of the tiny bathroom, she was still asleep. He walked over and looked down at her, and thought that he had to be one of the luckiest men in the world. Yes, she was headstrong—and could worry the hell out of him. But her determination to do the right thing at all times, to move forward...even her remarkable aptitude for diving into any situation...were all part of why he loved her so much. And, looking down at her, dark red hair splayed over the pillows as she slept, beautiful form half curled in the covers and half not, he smiled. She was so tempting as she lay there...
The better part of him insisted that he let her sleep.
Going down the stairs, he checked his phone for messages.
Both Brice and Egan had written him.
No news yet; the women were both meeting with their court-appointed attorneys.
If anyone was up yet, he thought, it would be Evie. If she wasn’t up yet, he’d figure out how to make himself some coffee—not a hard task, but he hoped to find a small pot and not have to deal with making a giant carafe, which, he was sure, Evie often did.
But it wouldn’t be a difficulty; Evie was up. She had just made coffee.
“You couldn’t sleep?” he asked her.
“I’m worried about Finn.”
“Don’t be—he’s stronger than he looks at times.”
Bracken walked into the kitchen. “Anything from Egan or Brice?” Bracken asked.
“Nothing new—Elayne and Margie have both clammed up, waiting for their lawyers,” he told Bracken. “So—”
“I’m going back to the caves.”
“All right. I’m going with you.”
“Sounds like a fine plan,” Evie said. “But aren’t the tunnels still filled with all kinds of stuff left by the crime scene people?”
“Yes, and no—some tape, maybe. But they finished with what they needed to do.” He turned to Evie. “Didn’t you and Victor know about the door from the basement?”
Evie paused, thoughtfully. “I suppose... I mean, yes. I opened it one day, but it just led to a black hole!” She shivered. “I wasn’t going into it! In fact, I never go to the basement, unless I absolutely have to. We haven’t been here that long, you know. Victor and me. We were here a few days when Finn first wanted to get out here and start planning—then Victor and I went back home to pack up to stay out here awhile. But of course, you know that.” She hesitated. “We weren’t here when Frank was killed,” she said softly. “I wish we had been. My poor Finn.” Her face hardened. “But of course, he had his Elayne then. And I told him. I warned him!”
“We all know that, Evie,” Craig said.
Bracken finished his coffee. “Well?” he asked, turning to Craig.
“I’m ready,” Craig assured him.
“Don’t you want something to eat?” Evie asked.
“I’m still full from the stew!” Bracken told her.
Evie smiled.
“Let’s go through the basement entrance,” Bracken suggested. “Follow everything that happened last night.”
“Right. There has to be some kind of stash there—where John Smith would have been stowing his alien gear. He came by his own small boat, concealed it on the shore—and really had his whole thing planned out and going smoothly—at first.”
“There should be a key to the door from this floor,” Evie told him. “Not sure where... Wait! Oh, yes, it’s in the drawer. I’ll get it for you.”
She did. Soon, Bracken and Craig were moving through the tunnel beneath the house.
“When the hell do you think this was dug?”
“Well, not until the house was built,” Craig said. “I guess...whichever Douglas built it back then, he or someone right after him had it dug. They probably discovered some kind of natural formation when they were doing the foundations for the house.”
“Probably,” Bracken agreed.
They traveled deeper into the system.
Bracken paused at one point. “Right there. That’s where the pills got me. I’d been feeling tired, and suddenly just couldn’t go on.”
“You probably should have gone to the hospital—God knows what they dosed you with.”
“I was out like a light. I just fell. It was pretty powerful.” Bracken was quiet for a minute, playing his light over the walls as they went along. “I wonder if she thought she gave me enough to kill me.”
“She might not have estimated your size right,” Craig said. “Then again, she didn’t know you were coming out into the tunnels—she might have just wanted to make sure you were out for the night so that she could slip by you.”
“Maybe, but I didn’t need a hospital. Once I started to come to...” He paused smiling. “Right when the little piece of work was about to race by me!”
“There were cops all over—we would have gotten them.”
“Probably. But I was really happy to get them myself.”
Craig agreed. They had come to the place where he had met up with John Smith.
There was still blood on the ground.
“Okay, Danny and I came in through the other entrance. And I actually think that I can find my way back, but...there are other archways. And they wouldn’t have used a tunnel that you walked through.”
“Right. They would have found a little niche. You check right—I’ll go left. And keep calling out to one another. It was really remarkably easy for John Smith to get on this island. I don’t think we know nearly all of it yet.”
Craig agreed. Bracken went one way, he went the other, checking out the tunnels.
“Anything?” Bracken called.
The cave made an eerie echo out of his voice.
“Nothing yet!” Craig called back.
He was very careful to stay in the center of each path. They were in the caves-beneath-the-caves already, but he didn’t trust anything here.
He saw a smaller opening. Hunkering down, he saw that it could fit a body.
He crawled in.
And he called out. “Bracken!”
His voice bounced around.
“Yeah!”
“I’ve got something!” he called.
“Where?”
“Follow my voice. I’ll keep talking. Or, I could sing. Never mind. I’ll keep talking. I have something here...capes. And more of those ridiculous masks. Alien masks...they’re made out of plastic. I’m betting you could find these about anywhere.”
“I hear you. Where are you?”
“Look down. Very small archway.”
Bracken dropped down beside him. With two lights in the little niche within the caves, the small area was clearly visible.
“Damn...there are a number of robes here. It looks like a cult was busy. One, two, three...four. Masks...there are more of these, too.”
Craig sat back.
“Because we didn’t get them all!” he said. He looked at Bracken. “We have to get out of here—fast. We have to get back to the house.”
* * *
Craig was gone when Kieran woke; he never seemed to need much sleep.
Rising, she first checked her email.
Still nothing from Jay Harding.
She decided on a long, deliciously hot shower. Then she dressed—jeans and her boots, just in case.
Downstairs, she found Finn in the dining room, just finishing his coffee. Mike was there as well, also drinking coffee and studying his emails.
“Good morning,” Kieran said. She looked at Finn. “Are you doing all right?”
“I’m fine, but...I need to walk, or something, I’m restless.”
“If you want to walk, I’ll go with you,” Kieran volunteered.
“That would be nice,” Finn said.
“Mike, do you want to come with us?” she asked. He looked up from his email. “Is there something new?” she asked him.
“No, sorry. Everything is on hold,” he said. “Neither Elayne nor Margie will talk to anyone until they’ve talked to their attorneys, and it’s the weekend.”
“Craig is—out?” she asked.
“Yes, sorry again! He texted me a bit ago, asked me to hold down the fort here, and so... I’m holding down the fort here, for whatever that’s worth. Craig went with Bracken. They’re back in the caves.”
Danny wandered on in then. “Coffee!” he said. Then he quickly looked at Finn. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Finn said. “I’m okay.”
“We’re going to go for a walk,” Kieran said. “Want to come?” She hoped that her look conveyed the fact that she wanted him to join them.
“Uh, sure! I’ll just slurp down some coffee and be ready,” he promised.
A few minutes later, they were outside. They went out by the back, and Finn paused to look at the pool. “The place is really beautiful, right?” he asked. “I’m going to let Bracken tear this place apart—as far as the caves go. I can hire more people. We can clear it all out.”
“That sounds great,” Kieran said.
“You never used the pool,” Finn said.
“I did!” Danny assured him. “It is beautiful.”
“I’m going to really enlarge it—I want a wading pool for young children. And we’ll have a kiosk—love kids, but little ones... I want to make sure that we have a good brand of those pool diapers for the really little ones.”
“Now, there’s a plan, my man!” Danny said.
They left the pool area and started to climb.
“Hiking is great—and didn’t Frank say you should have horses or mules or something?” Danny asked Finn, panting slightly.
“Well, he said mules because of the landscape. I’m thinking horses—and rides that go around the island, and not up anything!”
Finn paused. Where they stood, they were nearly halfway up.
Kieran looked around. The sun was just beginning to lower in the sky, casting beautiful glows everywhere; shades of yellow and pink and mauve fell over the pines and the brush and rugged landscape. They climbed a bit higher, pausing near the cave entrance.
“I’m going to get down in there myself,” Finn said. “It’s time that I do it.”
“Now?” Danny asked.
“No. I guess not. But I will.”
Finn started walking again. They followed, nearing the great cliff that stood high over all—including the treacherous and rocky shoreline beneath.
“The view here...it’s spectacular. And, yet, so dangerous!” Finn said.
Kieran’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She drew it out, quickly looking to see if Craig had called her. The notice wasn’t for a call.
It was a text message from Jay Harding.
Looked up people, sending you a list. But someone who wrote in sounding crazy was a Douglas. They signed their name as F. Douglas. Can’t be Mr. Finn Douglas, but...thought I should let you know!
Kieran tried not to react; Finn was standing at the exact precipice of the cliff.
“Come here!” he told her. “You, too, Danny. Be careful, of course, but...this is part of what brought me here—this absolutely spectacular view!”
“Yeah! The views are amazing,” Danny said, heading up to join Finn.
“No!” Kieran cried, racing after her brother. “Stop!”
And then she realized that she was standing there, and Danny was standing there...and jagged rocks were below, with the waves washing over them, whispering of death.
* * *
If it quacked like a duck, walked like a duck, it was a duck.
“Who the hell else?” Craig demanded, cursing beneath his breath. He wouldn’t get a signal until he was out of the cave. “I couldn’t accept it. I don’t accept it. Finn has always behaved decently—generous with his giving... He’s polite to everyone always, especially servers in a restaurant, even if things are going to hell. My aunt Deedee was the sweetest thing... Finn was always like her.”
“Then maybe he isn’t a duck!” Bracken said.
They finally burst out of the cave opening—the one that was halfway up the cliff.
“Why didn’t I see it? I didn’t want to see it—that’s the reason. I thought I knew Finn. But who else could it have been? It was Margie, Elayne and Finn on the island the night that Frank was killed. And the two women aren’t giving him up because they still believe that he’ll do something, and he’ll come to their aid. Of course, he couldn’t have done so right away—we would have been suspicious.”
“Craig, we know that others can get on the island.”
“Finn must have known about the basement and the way through. And that may be why he had Evie and Victor go away—Frank was supposedly helping him with the island plans, but he knew that Frank was exploring, getting too close. Ah, hell, I could be wrong, but how the hell do we take the chance?”
“We don’t take chances. We get to Kieran quickly, and we get to Finn,” Bracken said.
Craig called Mike. He answered immediately.
“You found the treasure!” Mike said.
“No, no...where are Kieran and Danny?”
“They went for a walk with Finn.”
“What?”
“They went for a walk. You know Kieran—she’s trying to do anything to make Finn better.”
“Mike, get after them. Get after them right away. Where are Evie and Victor?”
“Evie is working in the kitchen. Victor is out back. I’m just sitting in the White Room—holding down the fort.”
“Leave the damned fort—go after Danny and Kieran. And,” he paused, gritted his teeth hard. “And watch out for Finn.”
“Finn?”
“There were alien outfits in the cave...a bunch of them. Finn... Just get going, circle the island until you find them! I don’t know anything, except that something is still going on. And...and Finn just might be in on it.”
* * *
“Danny!”
Kieran reached her brother. Finn was dangerously close to the edge, beckoning to them. “Isn’t it beautiful?” he asked.
Kieran caught Danny’s arm and pulled him back.
“Beautiful,” Kieran agreed. “Sorry, I’m a little bit afraid of heights.”
“I found Frank down there,” Finn said.
“Danny, come on, get back!” Kieran said.
“Kieran, what’s the matter with you? You were never afraid of heights. And I’m sure as all hell not afraid of heights!” Danny said.
Finn was frowning as he looked at her. “Hey, it’s okay!” he said. Then he paused, staring past her.
Kieran quickly turned.
They weren’t alone up on the precipice—there were two people there, smiling at them.
Victor and Evie.
Victor was wielding a gun.
“Victor. What the hell are you doing?” Finn demanded. “Why do you have that gun?”
“Because you’re going to jump,” Evie said.
“What?” Finn demanded. He was still confused.
Kieran wasn’t surprised—she simply wanted to kick herself.
“They want us to jump off the cliff, down to the rocks,” she said. “One of them used your name in an email to Jay Harding.”
“That asshole!” Victor said. “The man has no guts—and no real belief. He said that I was a fanatic, and that I didn’t understand the true philosophy of his group. He didn’t understand! We’re the chosen ones...we are to find the Ark of the Covenant, for the gods, and when we do, they will return. They are due the glory—we are but ants on this earth. There was no comprehension there at all—none! The gods have been protecting the island for decades and decades, we have protected the island, from the Douglas family...from all.”
“I really do care about you, Finn, dear. We didn’t want it to come to this,” Evie said.
“Come to this? Are you crazy? I’m not going to jump!” Finn said.
“And you won’t get away with it,” Danny said. “The cops will know right away.”
“They would...except that they’ll never find us,” Victor said. “Even if they bring in an army. But they won’t. They’ll bring old Jamie Douglas back from wherever he is, and he’ll see to it that the island is shut up again, tighter than a drum.”
“No,” Kieran said. “Craig will find you. Mike and Bracken are still on the island. And they will hunt you down until they find you,” she promised calmly.
Her heart was actually thundering. Die by a bullet—or by the rocks? Or be stung by a bullet, and fall...down upon the deadly edges of the rocks below?
“We just find them first,” Evie said, giggling. “They sure don’t think that the poor help will be after them with guns.”
“I don’t get it,” Kieran said. “The two of you...and you got John Smith into this and Margie and...well, Elayne wasn’t a believer. I get it. She and Margie were friends. Margie found Elayne and got her involved. But...how did you get John Smith into this?”
“Oh, silly girl—John Smith found us. He wanted in the worst way to get to the island.”
