Chapter Seven #3
“Oh, I’ve been itching for some mystery. Do you want to be Velma or Daphne?” she asked. “I’ll let you pick first, simply because it’s your castle. Oh, and by the way, they are Fred and Shaggy.”
Michael lifted a brow.
“Do I need to explain why that isn’t going to work?” he asked. “Because…”
Graham laughed.
“I’ll be Shaggy, but I’m getting a dog for the castle then,” he stated, understanding the reference.
Truthfully, he hadn’t before, and he’d had to look it up after Ian had mentioned it, and he’d watched the cartoon and found it amusing.
That had Elizabeth’s attention.
“Wait. I can get a dog for the castle?” she asked. “Is that allowed?”
Again, they were sad she had to ask permission. It was, after all, her castle. Well, half hers by proxy of her husbands. They technically owned her half.
“Uh, yeah,” Michael said. “You can get twenty. Graham has to take care of them, though, so love him a little.”
The man snorted.
“I mean, get me a herding dog. We can get sheep next,” he joked. “I may need a house lamb. You know, one that sleeps by the fire and in our bed.”
Michael stared at him in horror.
“If you weren’t as good as you are in bed, this would be an absolute NO. Since I happen to like your ass, I should probably reward you for that.”
Elizabeth snorted.
“Whore,” she said, making both men and Gabby laugh.
Why?
Both men were.
Michael kept his voice down as he changed the subject, so they didn’t become proud sheep herders.
Then, he told Gabby all about Elizabeth, the sleepwalking, and what went down with the lake and the picture. The whole time, her eyes were huge.
She considered it, and as their food was brought out, Elizabeth cracked into the Haggis like she’d not eaten for a month.
And Graham appreciated it.
Sometimes, people yucked it, but Haggis was good here.
As she ate it, she chewed.
“What do you think, Mom?” Graham asked, curiously.
Elizabeth didn’t hold back.
“I like this. It’s kinda good. I am scared of that,” she said, pointing at the blood sausages. “I can smell it, and I know that smell. That’s copper pennies all day long.”
Oh, well, Graham knew what she meant.
You either loved or hated blood sausages.
“Try it, and if you don’t like it, I’ll take it. I love the stuff,” he admitted.
She did, and she chewed.
Being in a foreign country with a whole different culture meant a few things. She was an ambassador of sorts, so she wasn’t going to shit-talk any of their regional food.
She also knew she’d make her kids try something before saying they didn’t like it.
So, when in Rome…
“Uh, it’s not bad, but it kinda makes me feel like I’m chewing a crime scene, so I’m going to share it with you,” she said, respectfully.
He took it and gave her his potatoes.
That was a fair trade for her, and it was wild that she came to Scotland, and she got more food dumped on her plate.
She must look hella bad.
As they talked, Elizabeth dumped ketchup on the potatoes and munched away.
Gabby took that as her sign.
“So, we’re digging in, and we’re going to figure this out. What do we need to start with? Because it sounds like everything was just waiting for the right moment, and Elizabeth is that moment. Her face set it off.”
Before Elizabeth could say anything, Michael stopped her.
“First, she needs some shopping, and we were trying to talk her into going red.”
Gabby lifted a brow.
“Jesus. I’d do you if your hair was red.”
That made Elizabeth laugh.
“You like them old, huh?” she asked.
Gabby waved that off.
“Girl, you’re gorgeous. You’ll be fighting off the men and women.”
And Michael put a stop to that.
“NO, WE’LL be fighting them off,” he said, pointing at himself and Graham. “Because that’s my mom, and she’s not married once, twice, or thrice. She’s married…,” he started counting on his fingers to be funny. “What’s after thrice?” he asked, busting ass.
As soon as he said it, they heard him.
“I think it’s just four times,” Finn said. “And, Jaysus, what is being plotted out here?” Finn asked, heading their way. “My wife is smiling a little too big for my own good,” he admitted.
When they glanced over, Finn was in a blazer and was carrying his badge.
Someone was on duty.
At hearing and seeing him, Gabby gasped.
“BABE!” she said, jumping up and kissing him. As soon as she did, he cuddled her.
How could he not?
“How’s my lass, and why is she trying to distract me?” he asked, amused. “Because when you hang out with these rapscallions, trouble is all around you. I know my best friend.”
Elizabeth just laughed.
Where the hell had he pulled that word out of the dictionary? She wasn’t sure, but she kind of liked it. She might just take that home when she went.
Elizabeth shrugged.
“I’m not lying to the Scottish police. So, someone else take this. I’m off duty.”
Immediately, Finn set Gabby free, and leaned in to hug Elizabeth.
“Lassie, welcome to Scotland. It’s good seeing you, Honey,” he said.
While he’d only met her in the US when he’d helped Gabby pack up her condo, he knew that his wife loved Elizabeth like she was a sister.
So that meant it was one more woman in his brood of siblings.
“How was your stay so far? And thank you for not finding any bodies.”
Both Graham and Michael began laughing.
A little too much.
That should have told Finn everything.
Uh-oh.
“Why is my bestie and his beau amused by that. What have you done?” he asked his wife as she sat down, and he pulled up a chair to join them.
The waitress brought him a coffee, and he thanked her.
Gabby just grinned.
“You’re just in time, Inspector McKnight,” she said. “Apparently, the castle is a-rocking, and I’m going a-knocking.”
He stared at her.
“Oh, lads, say it isn’t true. We put this to bed. Please tell me it’s not awake.”
Michael shook his head.
“Well, the lake and painting got one look at her, and it all went wonky,” he stated.
His coffee cup paused halfway to his mouth.
“Did that actually make sense? I’m confused.”
They told him about the lake and the painting. Then, they told him about what happened last night.
Now, they were all caught up.
“Oh, Jaysus. Not again.”
Elizabeth laughed.
“I mean, it’s my first time with a haunted castle, so…yay!” she said, eating her eggs and toast.
He sighed.
“I knew my wife would find some mischief involving that castle. I could feel it in my balls.”
She opened her mouth, and he stared at her.
“Lass, don’t make me spank you.”
Gabby just giggled and fanned herself with her napkin, as she winked at her friend. This Elizabeth wasn’t the one she knew. She looked battered, broken, and in pieces.
All she could hope was that she’d be able to find herself again. Gene had called her yesterday and told her that she was in a bad spot.
Now, she wanted to be there for her like she’d been there for her after the miscarriage.
“So, we have to find a heart,” Graham stated.
Finn lifted a brow.
“And here we go right back down that rabbit hole. What could possibly go wrong?”
Only, his wife wasn’t having it, and she pointed out one thing.
“Oh, you get to find body parts all day, and it’s perfectly fine, but I get to play ‘find the heart’, and you’re twitchy. That doesn’t sound fair.”
He stared at her like she was insane. There was no way she was comparing those two things together.
“Gabs! I’m an investigator. I investigate homicides! You’re my wife. Your business and my business shouldn’t cross paths. How many times do I have to say that?” he asked. “In fact, my business and their business shouldn’t cross paths either!”
She grinned.
There was nothing she loved more than a flustered Fineas.
NOTHING.
“Well, it should make you feel better. Elizabeth is here, and she investigates homicides that make yours look tame. I vote we put her in charge.”
Finn sputtered.
And this was exactly what he meant by ‘here we go again’.
This.
Right.
Here.
To keep their friend from losing his mind, Michael got Elizabeth in on it. Gabby was doing a good job of distracting Elizabeth. She was laughing and didn’t look so upset.
Food and friendship could do that for a person.
“Tell them what she said to you, and what you told us this morning.”
She could do that.
After all, she wasn’t expecting to actually enjoy this, but this was her crazy, and this was her circus. Having Gabby be so entertaining was definitely lightening the mood.
Now, she was only sad.
Not a sinking boat in the abyss.
So, she told them exactly what she’d said earlier.
“She wanted me to find her heart. We talked about why I was here, and we both were looking for ourselves. She told me she lost her love, and she told me Duncan never loved her.”
Gabby ate her breakfast as she listened, and as she did, she peppered the conversation with information to get Elizabeth caught up. She was the newbie on this one, for a change.
“Well, that was true. He didn’t. He was all about his man,” she said. “In not one letter from him did we see that he was madly in love with her, or if he cared about her at all. What else?”
That’s what she thought.
Now, Elizabeth was thinking about what Ceit had said, and she told her not to trust the words.
Were the words the letters? Were they fabricated to offer some protection for the two gay men?
It was at the back of her mind for now.
At her urging, Elizabeth continued.
“We discussed the curse a little, and how she’s the only one who can break it. Trust and believe I asked how to end it so we can all have peace, and she said the only way for me to break it was to find her heart.”
Because she could, Gabby fed her husband some of her breakfast to share, and they all considered what the first step would be to do that.
No one needed a haunted castle for the holidays.
No.
One.
“Did we miss something in her grave?” Finn asked. “Because I can’t believe we didn’t solve this already. We thought we put it to bed.”
Yeah, they did, but clearly, Elizabeth showing up there set it all off again, and that was no one’s fault.
Graham was honest.
“You were there. Did you see anything?” he asked.
He shook his head.