The Presence Part 41

"You should be ashamed! A Scotsman, doing such a thing!" Jonathan said.

"Listen, I'm telling you--"

"Don't be tellin' me!" Jonathan warned him.

"Listen to me--" Thayer began.

"I'm warnin' ya!"

"Aye, and I'm beg--"

The constable had no more patience. He lifted his elbow as he drove, slamming it against Thayer's head.

The blow hurt. Like b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l! Stunned, Thayer reacted to the strike. He swung his elbow back, and caught the constable on the side of the head. Jonathan's skull crashed against the gla.s.s. He lost control of the car. It began to careen down the hill.

Jonathan swore just as the car hit a large boulder-- and flipped.

Toni kicked up a lump of hay and saw it--a plastic bag. She crouched down and picked it up, looking at the contents. Gra.s.s?

Running her hands over the floor, she found a second bag. It held matches and brown cigarette wrappers. She sniffed the first bag, no longer puzzled.

So Thayer had been coming to the stable rafters to smoke weed. It seemed evident, but it wasn't the answer she'd been looking for. She'd wanted something to either convict him or exonerate him on charges of fraud!

Sighing, she returned his stash, thinking she sure as h.e.l.l didn't want to get caught with it herself. Rising, she walked gingerly to the ladder, not wanting to run into Eban again. She crawled down quickly, then made a detour to Wallace's stall. She eyed the horse carefully and critically. He whinnied. "I don't have anything for you. And if that man is giving you anything bad at all to cause a colic, I'll punch him out myself, okay?"

She glanced at her watch. Though it had seemed like she'd spent aeons in the rafters, only fifteen minutes had pa.s.sed since the others left. She hesitated for a minute, afraid, and then she purposely walked back to the castle.

She resolutely made her way upstairs, into Bruce's room, and sat in the chair by the cold embers in the fireplace. Then she closed her eyes and spoke softly.

"If you're here, this would be a great time for you to appear," she whispered. "Please, we're alone now. And... I'm going to trust you. I'm not going to scream or panic."

And when she opened her eyes, he was there, watching her gravely, sadly.

Come.

"Yes, as you wish," she said.

He turned, tartan swaying, taking large steps with his long legs. He exited the master chamber, heading out to the hallway.

Toni moved along the hallway, following. He led her to the landing of the stairs and paused there. She waited as he looked back, a.s.suring himself that she followed. Then he started down the stairs and she came behind.

Once again, he paused in the great hall, a.s.suring himself that she was following stall. She knew where they were going. "Down to the crypts?" she whispered. He stared at her with silent gravity, turned again, and traversed the secondary hall.

As she had feared, the door to the winding stairway down to the realm of the dead was open. Once again, he awaited her.

She stared at him, shaking her head slightly. "Why me?" she asked softly.

There was no reply; she hadn't expected one. Again he turned and started down the winding steps. Toni followed quickly. This time, however, she turned on the lights.

The lights didn't seem to help much, though, not when she was down there by herself--with a ghost. She was grateful that the MacNialls had not chosen to lay their dead out in simple shelving, that there were no decaying shrouds resting upon bodies left to go to dust with the pa.s.sage of time. Still, ancient marble and words etched in Gaelic, monuments and carvings all reminded her of where she was. There was a certain cold down here that defied all logic. And as she wandered through the crypts, alone in the castle, with only the presence to guide her, she wondered at her own sanity.

As she ventured deeper into the recesses of the hallway, the light seemed to fade. On her left, the tomb of a laird from the 1500s was adorned with the life-size figure of a Renaissance man, seated upon his coffin, head resting upon a hand, marble eyes staring. She looked away quickly, feeling as if the blank eyes were watching her. She knew where she was going--the end of the hallway in the crypt.

She arrived, and though she had followed the vision of the great MacNiall down to this point, he was gone. The far end was cast in deep shadow. She stared at the marble figure, too much like the Bruce she knew, and wondered why she was here again, what it was that she hadn't seen.

Her blood seemed to turn to instant ice as she saw what was different tonight.

The stone sarcophagus just behind his--which had been set beside his own in the niche hundreds of years ago by someone determined that one day Annalise's earthly remains would one day join those of her beloved in death--was ajar.

She frowned and whispered aloud, hoping that the ghost would hear. "But she will come home, you know. Bruce will see to it. She will come home and lie beside you!" Her voice echoed back to her eerily in the arched stone corridor.

She moved forward, stepping around the edge of the effigy of the great MacNiall in death, trying to ascertain how and why the simple slab atop the second vault had been left open.

The shadows were thick and heavy. At first she could see nothing. She started to press at the stone, thinking she could see better if she could move it, but the weight seemed far too great for her at first. Then she heard a sc.r.a.ping, stone against stone. It was giving, moving back.

And she saw what lay within the coffin.

A scream tore from her throat. Loud, shrill, terrible. It ricocheted off the stone and echoed with resounding horror.

Toni backed away from the tomb, turned and ran down the corridor, desperate to leave.

She had her answer. She knew what the great MacNiall had been trying to tell her.

*19*

There was nothing like riding, especially a horse as fine as Shaunessy. And G.o.d forgive him a certain pride, but there really was nothing as beautiful as the hills of his native land. Drawing to a halt at the top of a crest, Bruce surveyed the lands--dotted with sheep and cattle-- that stretched in shades of green and purple as far as the eye could see.

It was amazing to look out over the peacefulness and tranquility of the scene below him. So much tragedy, bloodshed and pain had come before in this very area, where ancient tribes had battled for the best land, where the early nationalists had waged war against imperialism and where, in later years, men had shed their blood again and again for their loyalties, ideals and pride.

The last gave him pause, for he was disturbed, deeply disturbed. And uneasy, as well. He felt a growing sense of something...about to happen. Something about to break.

"Foolish, eh, old boy?" he said aloud, as Shaunessy pawed the earth.

He turned from the tranquil setting of the valley to stare into the dark green depths of the forest. Ten years had pa.s.sed, yet the case he had solved still disturbed him. Why?

He knew why. He had entered the mind of a heinous monster, and it had scared him. It had made him wonder if, in doing so, he could become a monster himself.

I do not believe...! he told himself. And yet.. .just as he had never forgotten the case, he had not, in the last days, been able to rid himself of the vision of Toni, facedown in the stream.

Ghosts and ghost busters! he thought angrily. Aye, tricks could be played with the mind, and all of this was playing tricks with his own.

Darcy Stone had gotten to him. As had Toni. There had been such a serenity about her. No driving pa.s.sion, no wild speech. And he couldn't help but wonder, as he sat there atop Shaunessy, what the h.e.l.l he was doing? Because one thing was true.

The vision returned again and again, haunting him. And the sense of fatalism was growing.

Toni slammed against the door, absolutely terrified that she would find it locked. But it burst open as it had before, easily allowing her an exit.

The phone. She had to get to the phone.

Eban! Eban was around somewhere. Not in the main castle. He never came in...or did he?

Striding for the main hall, she came to an abrupt halt before she could turn for the stairs.

Thayer was standing in the doorway, looking dazed, wild. Like a madman. Blood covered his forehead and caked his hair. His shirt was ripped; he was filthy. The handcuffs he'd been wearing dangled from his one wrist.

"Thayer?" she said.

"There was an accident," he said.

"An accident?" she said carefully. What she had seen below was still so vivid in her mind, that she realized she didn't trust anyone. An hour ago she had been defending him so staunchly. But now, the way he looked...

"What happened?" she asked thickly.

"Hit...the constable...b.a.s.t.a.r.d...hit me. I hit him back."

"Where? Where is the constable?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I crawled out. I...Toni!" He started walking toward her. Panic seized her. She'd been too trusting. He'd been up in the rafters, smoking dope, when they'd all been in a precarious situation. Can't hang a man for that! she chided herself. But the way that he was staring at her...

He grinned suddenly, but it seemed lopsided and eerie. "Toni, you look as if you've seen a ghost. Been prowling around in the castle graveyard, eh?"

That did it. Screw the phone. She was getting the h.e.l.l out. When he walked toward her, she pushed him. Hard. He staggered back, falling. "Toni!"

Ignoring him, she raced toward the stables, thinking to get Wallace. But she came to a dead halt. Eban was coining from the stables. He had an oilcloth in one hand and a sword in the other. He was just cleaning the sword! she told herself.

"Miss Fraser!" he said. "Coomin' to the stables, are ye? Aye, and good. Y'can see to old Wallace, good old lad!"

She shook her head, trying to appear nonchalant. Wallace! Good old Wallace. Was the horse dead this time? Had Eban poisoned him?

"I'm off for a bit of a walk, Eban!" she said, and waved jauntily, hoping Thayer wouldn't appear behind her right then. But.. .maybe it would be best if he did. Both men couldn't be guilty of heinous things....

Or could they?

She quickened her pace, grateful that she was going downhill. A walk at first, a trot, a lope.. .and then she was running.

"Toni!"

She looked back. Thayer, menacing in his stagger and tone, was coming after her.

It was a long, long way to the village.

She paused, looking back, taking a deep breath. He might not have moved quickly enough when Jonathan was coming after him, but he was cutting some speed now.

She happened to glance to the other side of the slope and saw the constable's car, overturned, down below.

There was no other choice.

She turned for the forest, tearing into its dark shadows as quickly as she could.

Bruce rode back to find the stables empty, the cars gone and his front door open. Striding into the great hall, he shouted, "Toni? Gina...David! Anyone?"

A sense of emptiness was his only reply. Still, he strode through the second hall, thinking someone might be in the kitchen. But he never made it there. The door to the tombs was standing open.

His heart thundered in his chest. d.a.m.n her! Had she gone down, fallen.. .scared herself into a state of catatonia?

He took the spiral stairs at a dangerous speed.

"Toni?" There was no answer, but he knew the route she would have traveled. He strode swiftly toward the great laird's tomb.

He frowned at first, seeing only that the slab was shifted over. Then he got a whiff of the sickening smell just as he looked in.

He didn't reel; didn't fall back.

He'd been wrong, dead wrong. They weren't going to find Annie O'Hara in the forest. She was here. How? his mind shrieked.

At the moment, how didn't matter. Toni was nowhere to be seen, and his sense of panic was growing.

He bolted back up the spiral stairs, feeling an urgency to find her unlike any premonition he'd ever experienced before.

Premonition. Aye! For that's what it was. That picture of Toni, blond hair trailing.. .facedown in the water.

The trees shielded her from the first second she moved into the cool green darkness. She tore across the brook, heedless of the fact that she soaked her shoes and jeans up to her knees. The cold didn't mean anything, not at this moment. Then, finding the thick trunk of an ancient oak, she leaned against it, getting her breath, trying to think rationally.

She was certain that, this time, she had found the remains of a recent victim, those of Annie O'Hara. It actually made sense; it was logical. The other bodies had been dumped here, in the forest. And now a body was actually discarded, right in the castle. Bruce's castle! That should make Bruce appear guilty. Except that.. .it couldn't be!

She heard thrashing, and she turned around.

"Miss Fraser!"

It was Eban's voice, Eban calling her.

Why? Why had he chased her in here? And where was Thayer? He had been far ahead of Eban when she had looked back. In fact, she hadn't even realized that Eban had followed her.

"La.s.s! Tis dangerous in here!" Eban called with dismay. "The laird doesn't want ye in here, y'know!"

Flat against the tree, she remained perfectly still until she heard his footsteps moving on. She started to move out from around the tree. But as she did so, she was stunned to see Thayer, frozen, dead still, standing directly in front of her.

"Toni!" he said softly. "Ah, Toni, here y'are! Luv, I've been lookin' for you. Ah, Toni! I'm sorry, really, truly sorry!"

They nearly crashed into one another. If Kevin hadn't shouted, David never would have stopped the car in time.

Ryan braked to a halt and leaped out his side of the car just as Gina came out of hers. They both rushed at the minivan.

"Something's wrong! Really wrong," Ryan said.

"Yeah! You can't drive!" David accused, but Ryan's look silenced him.

"What? What?" Kevin demanded.