Part 39 (1/2)
”You're joking with me, right?”
Bruce sat across the table from Robert Chamberlain at the pub, having received a message to meet him there at eleven. He was surprised that Robert wanted to meet in the village; he usually chose Stirling.
But he was even more surprised by his friend's words.
Robert shook his head gravely. ”I've asked them to meet us here.”
Bruce groaned. ”I don't believe this. Not from you.”
”Bruce, law enforcement has resorted to such tactics many times. I wouldn't have called over to the States myself--”
”Why should you? It's not as if we don't have our share of quacks in Great Britain,” Bruce said.
Robert grinned. ”I wouldn't have known that they were here if you hadn't logged on to the police line to investigate them. But since I saw your inquiry, I looked them up.”
”Harrison Investigations,” Bruce said, shaking his head. ”They go into places where unusual events have taken place.”
”They're discreet, but not secretive,” Robert said. ”There's no sensationalism regarding the corporation. They've been called upon by law agencies in many places. They've worked for congressmen and senators, even a U.S. president--”
”Whoever said that men and women in the government were sane?” Bruce asked him.
Robert shrugged. ”Bruce, you have told me a dozen times yourself that we should be tearing the forest apart, looking for the remains of Annie O'Hara.”
”The last two victims were found there,” Bruce said. ”That's logic, not intuition.”
”I still think it was more than logic when you nailed the killers ten years ago.”
Bruce s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably. ”It seems to me that there's a great deal more we could--sorry, the law could be doing without resorting to...mumbo jumbo.”
”Be polite, please.”
”Hey, times have changed. I'm not the ruler of my own little kingdom. I own the castle and a lot of property. I have the t.i.tle, but you can buy a t.i.tle on the Internet these days. I can hardly order these people to get out of my village by sundown,” Bruce said.
”On a more realistic note,” Bruce said, ”I met with Jonathan yesterday. The boys in computer tech are apparently having some pretty good luck tracking down information on the phony corporation that rented the castle.”
Robert nodded. ”I've seen the reports. I've kept out of it. Jonathan is the local constable.”
”He's got it out for Thayer Fraser, I'd say,”
Robert shrugged. ”We can't make any arrests on what we have right now. But the man's bank account pretty much matches the amount the Americans put up. And he reported a bank card stolen. If it proves that the bank card was used at the Internet Cafe in Glasgow where the site was formed.. .well, then we'll have to bring him in for questioning, at the very least.”
”Doesn't make sense. He'd have to know he'd be caught.”
”Aye, but there's a certain defense in that, too. They're trying to track his money now, as well. That will help. Naturally we need legal resources to do all that.” Robert leaned back. ”You won't see this one in the papers, because we've been keeping the inquiries quiet, but I've had my men go a lot deeper into the disappearance of the barmaid in Stirling.”
Bruce frowned. ”She'd cleaned out her room. She was packed up, bag and baggage.”
”But no one knows where she went. She didn't take a bus or a train. She's just gone. Annie O'Hara could have gone back to Ireland, but I don't believe that. And our boy, Thayer, was seen with the bar maid that same day.”
”Wait, you're accusing him of fraud--and of being a serial killer?”
”I'm not accusing him of anything,” Robert said. ”I'm telling you what we've got.”
”It doesn't gel,” Bruce said. ”It sounds like grasping at straws.”
”Straws are all we've got.”
”With a good attorney, the man could skewer the force,” Bruce warned.
”We can't make an arrest. But since the fellow is living in your castle...”
Bruce shook his head. ”The fraud is one thing. But to a.s.sume the man might be a killer because he was in a pub...that's pus.h.i.+ng it, don't you think?”
Robert didn't answer. ”They're coming,” he said. He and Bruce stood as the handsome American couple strode over to the booth.
”h.e.l.lo,” Bruce said, shaking hands along with Robert. ”What did you think of the tour at the castle the other night?”
”It was quite remarkable,” the woman said.
Bruce stared at the man. The fellow didn't look like a quack. ”So, did you feel anything in the castle?” His words were polite, but he couldn't keep his tone as cordial.
”No, but then, I'm not the one who would,” the man said.
”Matt is actually the sheriff in a town named for his family,” Robert explained.
Bruce cast Robert a dry stare. Might have mentioned that before, old chap! But of course, Robert had refrained on purpose.
”I didn't ask them to meet about the castle,” Robert said.
”No, of course not.”
”It's a beautiful place,” Darcy told him. She wasn't obsequious, just pleasant. Still, he knew he had a chip on his shoulder regarding them.
”Sat.u.r.day, I've got men coming in from a number of the surrounding areas,” Robert explained. ”We're searching for the body of a woman almost certain to be a victim of a serial killer. I was hoping that you would be willing to search with my men.”
”Of course,” Darcy said, glancing at her husband.
”Naturally.” Matt glanced at his wife.
Robert nodded. ”Naturally,” he agreed.
Darcy Stone looked across the table at Bruce. ”You'll be there, won't you, Laird MacNiall?”
”I will.”
”Of course,” she said. ”You feel a responsibility.”
”The forest borders my castle.”
She nodded. ”It's interesting, Laird MacNiall. You really haven't spent much time at your castle in the last decade or so.”