The Presence Part 37

Glasgow. It had all originated out of Glasgow. And Thayer was from Glasgow. Thayer had been in the forest. Helping him find Toni? Or trying to make sure that he didn't find someone--or something--else?

Toni had noted the couple in their tour group right away, simply because they were so attractive. She looked like she belonged on the cover of a magazine, and he was the tall, rugged looking sort who could have walked through a Western and been instantly perceived as the real thing. And though they walked the tour with the others, there was something about them that struck Toni.

So she wasn't at all surprised when the woman followed behind and stopped her, catching up with Toni at the bottom of the stairs as she tried to make her escape.

"Toni!"

"I'm sorry, but if you'll excuse me, the others will help you. I had a--er--fall today, and I've got a terrific headache," Toni said, eager to keep going.

"I'm Darcy," the woman said.

"Darcy?" Even as she repeated the name, Toni knew who the woman was. Dismay filled her.

"Darcy Stone, we talked on the phone--"

"I know who you are!" Toni said, shaking her head. "But I told you not to come here!" Despite herself, she looked around. All she needed now was to have Bruce think that she was going to fill his castle with ghost hunters!

"I know. And please don't worry--we've not let anyone know who we are."

"We!" Toni gasped.

"Just me and my husband."

"Look, I'm certain you went through tremendous trouble and expense to get here, but I can't.. .you can't be here!"

"We've taken a little rental cottage in the village. Adam tried to reach you himself, but he wasn't able to get through. He's eager to talk to you. He's also afraid that things may be very serious if you've actually tried to reach him. So...here we are. It wasn't really such a bad trip. We made it in this morning."

She had a level tone, a sweet smile and a certain down-to-earth manner that belied her sophisticated looks.

"There is a presence here," she said.

Toni stiffened.

"Look, I'm leaving. But, please, I'm certain you need to talk to someone."

"I can't talk to you here, now," Toni said.

"I understand. Can we meet?"

Tourists would be pouring out from the kitchen at any minute. "Lunch, tomorrow," Toni said. "There's a pub at the bottom of the hill in the village. You can't miss it. Meet me there, say, one o'clock? And if anyone asks, I'll tell you frankly, I intend to lie. You're someone I met in the States."

"I did see you do Queen Varina," Darcy said with a smile. She glanced over her shoulder, aware they were going to be interrupted any moment. "Please, don't stand me up. Honest to G.o.d, I think I can help you."

"I'll be there," Toni told her. "But, please..."

"Good night," the woman said calmly.

Her husband was the first one to return to the hall. He glanced at his wife, and she gave a slight nod. The man then offered Toni a quick smile, slipped his arm around his wife and started for the main door.

Toni turned and fled up the stairs as quickly as she could. She went for Bruce's door and then hesitated. She was the angry one! She backed away and went into her own room. She tapped at the bathroom door, but there was no answer, and the door to his bedroom was closed, also.

Turning away, she brushed her teeth, washed her face and found her nightgown. She hesitated again. She could just go in, but what if he was angry now?

She turned, went back to her own room and crawled beneath the sheets. Fear suddenly set in. What if the old Bruce, with his b.l.o.o.d.y dripping sword, appeared again tonight?

The solution was simple. She was going to go to bed, close her eyes and not open them again until morning.

But sleep didn't come easy. She spent the first minutes wishing that Bruce would suddenly come into her room. And finally, she drifted off.

Then she awoke. Don't open your eyes, don't do it! she told herself. But she opened them anyway.

She expelled her breath with a sigh. The room was empty. And yet... there was a feeling in it, a feeling of... sadness?

She sat up, remembering that, just after she'd seen what had happened, she hadn't been afraid.

Though she couldn't see her visitor from the past, she still somehow felt him. And she just wasn't ready to deal with it.

She rose, walked into the bathroom, hesitated, then opened the door to his room. She walked to the foot of the bed, biting into her lower lip, trying to see in the deep shadows. He was probably sound asleep. Should she dare take the next step and just climb in next to him?

"Are you coming in here?"

His voice, out of the darkness, caused her to jump.

"Well, are you coming in, or do you just intend to spend the night there at the foot of the bed, staring at me?"

"I'm coming in," she said. Her voice sounded ridiculously prim and sharp.

She crawled in, and his arms came around her.

"Toni--"

"No! Don't talk. Please don't talk!" she said.

"Toni--"

"Please!"

"Anyway you want it," he whispered. And he, too, sounded ridiculous, sharp and cold, especially considering the way he held her.

*17*

The couple were already seated in a booth at the pub when Toni arrived, and the lithe blonde introduced Toni to her husband, Matt. It might have been just a lovely meeting of Americans in a foreign country, where even casual acquaintances could suddenly become best friends.

"So you're Toni," the man said. And though the smile he offered her was warm and encouraging, she still didn't feel terribly a.s.sured.

"You saw Queen Varina, too?" she asked him.

He shrugged, looking at his wife with a half smile. "I am the Southerner," he said.

Toni shook her head. "You both came to the show with Adam?"

"Yes, actually, we did," Matt said.

"Adam has talked about you a lot," Darcy said.

"So I gathered," Toni murmured.

"And then, of course, when he discovered the castle was here, and that the owner was Laird Bruce MacNiall..." Darcy said with a shrug.

"Wait a minute. You're going to tell me that Adam knows Bruce MacNiall, too?" Toni demanded.

Matt Stone inclined his head and she realized that the barmaid had come to stand before them. "I'll take a pint of anything," Toni said, noting that the two were drinking beer.

"Lamb is great today," the barmaid suggested. "And there's a lovely chicken entree."

The three opted for poultry, and the barmaid smiled and moved on.

"Adam knows Bruce?" Toni repeated.

Matt inclined his head again; her beer was coming. She decided that, with his smooth, cultured Virginian accent, he might have made an interesting twist on James Bond.

She thanked the barmaid for her beer.

"Please. Are you going to answer me?" she asked.

Darcy smiled. "He doesn't know Bruce MacNiall. He knows of him. He's been watching him. Bruce is actually on our register, as well."

Toni stared at the two of them with a certain outrage. "He's on the register? This is beginning to sound a lot like Big Brother!"

Darcy shook her head. "I never do begin well, do I?" she said to her husband, who smiled. She looked back at Toni. "It's nothing like that, honestly. Adam is the most humane, caring individual I've ever met. His son was incredibly gifted, so Adam started doing research. Most people who have.. .well, I guess around here they call it 'the touch,' others call it a gift and many call it a curse. Call it what you will, most people who have it are afraid of it. And they don't want to use it."

Toni inhaled, watching her silently.

"Like you," Darcy continued. "What child could endure such things happening, seeing such things in dreams? Adam said that you retreated, but that you were incredibly strong willed and appeared to have put it all behind you. However, he always felt that you would call one day."

"As I did," Toni murmured.

"So," Matt said. "Want to give us the whole story?"

"In a minute," Toni said, still wary. "What were you talking about regarding Bruce? You said that he was on the register."

Matt leaned forward. "There was a case here, years ago--"

"Yes, I recently heard about it. He'd been a cop. His work led to the arrest of a serial killer. I think that means he must have been a good cop."

"An excellent cop. And according to him, he simply used the methods employed by profilers."

Toni nodded, looking at him expectantly. "So?"

"There were some articles written at the time that drew Adam's interest," Darcy explained. "Apparently, he actually managed to think as the man."

Toni frowned. "So," she said, still skeptical, "there must be a lot of good cops on that register."

"Oh, there are," Darcy a.s.sured her.

Matt smiled. "You're still looking at us as if we're crazy. But that's what you want to think, isn't it? Toni, if nothing else, we'll listen to you without staring at you as if you're mad, and we may really be able to help."

She drew her finger along the line of her beer mug, as if it were frosty, which it definitely wasn't. She'd actually grown accustomed to warm beer.

"If Bruce has any of the touch, he certainly denies it," she said, hoping that her voice didn't sound angry or bitter. "He thinks that I have nightmares, that I hit my head.. .anything but that I might really have seen a ghost."

Matt lifted his hands and grimaced. "Guys don't like to admit that they see ghosts," he said simply.

"I don't think that he does see this one," Toni said.

"Different people have sight in different ways. I think that when he was on the force, Bruce wanted to catch the killer--or killers--so desperately, that he was able to call on reserves he'd never want to acknowledge he has," Darcy explained.

"And probably never will again," Toni said.

"You never know," Darcy told her. "So...please, try to tell us more."

"Well, for one, they have a very contemporary problem here," she said. "There's a serial killer on the loose. He abducts prost.i.tutes from the cities and dumps them in Tillingham."

"Yes, we know," Matt said.

"Tell us more about the ghost," Darcy said. "Especially if anything new has happened since we spoke on the phone."

Toni arched a brow, staring at the woman. "Actually, something very new happened yesterday afternoon, not long before the tour."

"The entrees are coming," Matt warned lightly.

So Toni waited. And once the food arrived, she started talking. And to her amazement, she talked and talked.

"A ghost is usually trying very hard to say something," Darcy told her when she was done.

"Let's say I buy into that," Toni told her. "That I can even understand it! History didn't pinpoint him as his wife's killer, but legend and speculation certainly abounded. So now Annalise has been found. They're doing DNA tests, and if it's proved that she is Annalise, she will come back to the castle and be entombed next to her laird. He'll be vindicated. She'll be at rest. So this ghost should be happy and quiet now, right?"

"He should be," Darcy said.

"Unless..." Matt murmured.

"What?" Toni demanded.

Darcy exhaled softly. "Apparently, there's something else bothering him. And if you really want him to be at peace, you'll have to figure out what it is."

"We've company," Matt murmured suddenly.

Toni turned to find Bruce coming into the pub with Jonathan Tavish. They both looked grim. Toni felt guilty instantly, although she wasn't sure why.