Part 17 (1/2)

Ryan shook his head. A restlessness was sitting upon him. He gazed at Gina. She knew him, knew his moods, and she didn't look happy. She touched his arm. ”We're out for a picnic with friends now, Ryan,” she said.

”Right.”

”And everything is going well--as well as can be hoped, under the circ.u.mstances,” David reminded him.

”Yeah, great! A tall guy on a fantastic, huge horse rides in and we discover we've been gypped out of our life savings. Then we find out that this same guy has found the body of a murder victim in the woods. And now Toni is alone at the castle. What if MacNiall returns before we do? We don't really know a whole h.e.l.l of a lot about him,” Ryan finished.

”He's the laird,” David said.

”Yeah? And Countess Bathory sliced up virgins and bathed in their blood,” Ryan said.

Gina was staring at him hard. Warning him? he wondered.

”The laird has been d.a.m.ned decent,” David said.

”What? Do you think he'd chop us up in his own castle?” Ryan said.

”Oh, Ryan, stop! Please.” Gina begged.

”I like the guy, honestly like him,” David said. ”And Ryan, you've been riding with him, have talked horses with him. You seemed to be his biggest fan.”

”Yeah, that's true. He came on like a warrior lord of old that first night, but, hey, we were in his castle. And he's d.a.m.ned good with horses. Sure, I like him,” Ryan said. ”Respect him,” he added thoughtfully.

”Me, too. He demands a certain respect, but he's been d.a.m.ned decent to us,” Kevin agreed. ”Look, he probably wasn't even in the country when those girls disappeared.”

Gina s.h.i.+vered violently. ”Maybe he wasn't, but...”

”But what?” Kevin demanded.

”Nothing,” Gina said. ”Nothing, really.”

”I know what you were going to say,” David said, staring at Gina. ”We were in the country, probably, during the time of...well, at least two of the disappearances.”

”What the h.e.l.l does that mean?” Ryan demanded.

”It means I'm d.a.m.ned glad that we stick together,” David said. ”That we watch out for Gina and Toni.”

”Well, it probably helps that we're not streetwalkers,” Gina said pragmatically.

”True,” David agreed.

”Hey, can we get back to the beauty of the day, the champagne and all that?” Kevin demanded.

Ryan was still tense, but he joined Gina on the blanket, sat back, closed his eyes and let his wife work the knots out of the muscles in his shoulders.

Toni could see the skull protruding from mud and rock, and bits of flesh, she thought, blackened by the soil. There was also a length of hair and pieces of cloth, all but glued or fused with the bone, or plastered to it by the mire, the very dark muck that formed on the banks of the little brook or stream.

Get away! a voice of self survival cried in her head. Scream, just start screaming, and run as fast as you can!

And still, she didn't scream. There was no need to look farther. Whoever this victim had been, she had been here some time. There was certainly no need to feel for a pulse, to attempt to drag her from the water. None at all.

Get away! the voice repeated.

Yes! Now!

She thought that she would run then, able to scream and shriek at last, in the darkness of the eerie forest. But she didn't. Instead, she stayed, trying to ingrain every detail of the moment in her mind. It might be important.

The water was no more than two feet deep here, and the skeleton was lodged against a large rock. Until she had moved it, the huge branch had all but hidden the corpse. People could have walked right by without seeing it, for a very long time. How long had it been there? Had the rains carried it from elsewhere, or caused the earth to s.h.i.+ft so that they were dug up after a long period of time?

She turned then at last, slowly. Running could cause her to trip on the underbrush and hurt herself. She was deep into the wood, having followed the brook quite far in her attempt to catch up with Bruce. But she didn't think she'd get lost. All she had to do was follow the water.

She didn't dare think about fear. Fear could cause panic. If there was one thing she didn't want, it was to fall, sprain an ankle and remain in the forest as darkness fell.

She'd been shouting before, convinced that Bruce was ahead of her; now she was silent, careful in her footsteps.

She still felt...watched. Yet, strangely, that sense didn't create a rise of.. .terror. The trees would not come to life, branches like arms, and suck her into themselves. She was simply being watched as she left.

That woman had been hidden long before they'd come to Tillingham.

She kept her eyes looking forward, afraid of what she might see gazing out at her from the green darkness.

Straight ahead! Look straight ahead. Walk, don't run. Steady, steady, follow the brook, get out!

And at last...she did, emerging in the same area where she had entered.

She half expected her car to be gone, but it wasn't. And as she crawled into it, she realized just how frightened she'd been. Other bodies had been found in Tillingham Forest. Had she just stumbled upon the first of the killer's victims, perhaps? A woman never reported as missing? Someone lost to society, and then life?

Fear began to seep through her then, a very real fear. This was a killing ground. Yes, women were abducted from other places. But they were brought here.

Did that mean the killer knew this area very well? Knew that disposing of a body here meant that chances of discovery were small, or that this type of environment would play such havoc with a body that no clues would ever be left?

Her hands were shaking as she gripped the steering wheel, trying to decide what to do. It would be quickest to go back to the castle and call until she got someone on the line.

But Eban was at the castle! She felt a surge of hysteria at the thought of the man. Could he have done something like this?

He never seemed to leave. And if he did, she didn't think he ever went far.

But what if, when no one knew, he silently took a car and drove off, drove out to the big cities, where no one knew him. Where women who worked the streets for their income were accustomed to servicing men who were sometimes less than attractive?

Suddenly remembering that her cell phone was in her purse, she turned to scramble for it, only to hear a tapping at the driver's window.

Startled, she turned.

It was Eban. Face pressed far too close to the window. Macabre through the gla.s.s.

Fear, blind and, perhaps, unreasoning, let loose within her system and she let out a scream at last. She tried to twist her keys in the ignition, but they weren't there! Staring at the man, she fumbled on the seat for them. He backed away, looking puzzled.

She found the keys. After three tries, she got them into the ignition.

When she floored the gas pedal, he literally hopped away.