Chapter 29 #3
He wanted to pace, but the note had been clear: be by the main doors. A wedding was taking place inside, and he could hear the rustle of the guests. He hoped the outcome of that wedding would be better than his own.
Then the clock tolled one, just a single, startling peal of a great brass bell. He looked up to the bell tower, and that was what saved his life.
Darkness was hurtling down toward him, and it was as if he’d never left the battlefield.
He leapt away from the spot he’d been standing, heard a thunderous crash, and then rolled several yards further until he ran into a low wall near the street.
He looked up past his arms, which he’d brought up to cover and protect his head, just as he’d done in the army when the shelling started.
But this was a churchyard, not a battlefield. And it wasn’t a shell that struck, it was a statue.
He got up slowly, taking in the ring of shattered stones that had so recently been a…gargoyle? He looked up and noticed an empty spot on one side of the bell tower, where a line of carved statues was now incomplete.
A few people strolling near the church had cried out when the crash happened, and they ran toward Struan, fearing the worst. He was able to wave them off, saying there was no harm done.
They drifted away, still glancing back. The doors of the church opened, and the first of the wedding guests began to stream out, chattering happily.
Then Calan and Kai appeared, both looking confused.
“What’s the matter?” Calan demanded.
“Well, I’m fairly certain someone just tried to kill me.”
“Fairly certain?”
“I’m still alive. If someone was serious about it, they probably would have tried harder. Perhaps it was an accident.”
Calan glared at the loose stones and rubble lying on the path. “Ah, yes, one of those accidents when statues that have perched safely on the top of a building for two hundred years suddenly fall at the same moment a distinctive and recognizable man walks beneath them.”
“You make a good point.” Struan looked up again, assessing. “Whoever was up there is going to be impossible to find by now. He’ll mingle with the crowd from the wedding, or slip out a side door.”
“And they must know that you survived the attempt. Which means they’ll try again.”
“Maybe we should leave the area,” Kai suggested. “Just in case the man has another weapon to hand and hopes to end the business quickly.”
The men retreated to Struan’s townhouse, and sent word for Thane and Duncan to join them there as soon as possible. When they’d all gathered, Struan gave a short recounting of what happened.
Calan stood up. “Hear me out before you reach over and strangle me, but…this was obviously orchestrated by your wife.”
“No!” Struan snapped. Then he sighed. “When Ellie wants to crush me, she simply tells me the truth. Besides, she’d never stand for a murder like this, with debris everywhere. She’s very tidy.”
“It’s rather touching that you know her habits so well, with your marriage still so new,” Duncan said dryly.
Struan knew far more than her habits. He knew the exact texture of the skin on her inner wrist. He knew how she smelled after a bath, when her hair was still wet and shining. He knew which shift in her breath signaled that she’d fallen asleep.
He knew her heartbeat.
Did he know if she was capable of killing?
“It wasn’t her,” he insisted.
“Then who?” Thane said. “You don’t have any enemies…other than the French, and that’s not personal.”
“It’s her father, yes?” Duncan asked. “There’s no one else it could be.”
Struan grunted. “That feels like the most logical answer. I spoke to him at the party last night. Twice, actually. The second time was more harsh.”
“What brought that on?” Thane asked.
“He struck Ellie.”
The sudden quiet in the room was ominous.
After a long moment, Duncan said, “I’m slightly surprised that he survived the second chat.”
Kai suggested, “It would have provided incentive for him to make certain Struan didn’t live for long after that. Maybe he panicked.”
“You’re sure your wife couldn’t be involved? Death is simpler than divorce after all,” Calan said.
“I don’t believe she’d participate. She’d probably just be pleased to learn I was dead.”
“You’re being mean,” Duncan said flatly. “I was watching their house this morning, and I happened to see her go out with her sister. She didn’t look overjoyed.”
“Well, she doesn’t know Struan’s still alive,” Calan said.
“Not funny,” Duncan snapped back. “It’s one thing to think her father is the culprit—his debt is a strong motivation, especially with the threat to his reputation added in. But he’d never tell his daughter of the plan beforehand.”
“To spare her feelings?” Calan sneered.
“No,” said Struan, suddenly certain. “Because he wouldn’t bother. He tried to kill me because of what he wants, not what she wants. He’s never cared about what she wants.”
“That’s disheartening,” said Kai. “I bet he also didn’t tell her because she wouldn’t have condoned it. She would have stopped him if she knew.”
“You’ve got too much faith in women, Kai,” Calan told him.
“You love women,” Kai objected.
“Of course I do. But I don’t have faith in them. There’s a difference.”