Chapter Eleven #5
Well, then, it wasn’t rats or a faulty wire. It was definitely something paranormal.
Because the pasta was done, Ethan tossed it with the sauce. He knew his wife was moments from a breakdown. He could hear it in her voice. It was best to distract her.
With food.
“Then I guess we need to work on that,” Ethan said. “It looks like we need to ignore EVERYTHING you guys found, and instead, dig into what seems to be stirring this up. Ceit.”
It appeared so.
From where he sat, Finn laughed.
“I’m out. I have work tomorrow, but I’ll make sure I leave Gabby here to help you guys dig around. Velma and Daphne are driving the bus, clearly.”
Elizabeth snorted.
“Not sure who I am, but sign me up,” she stated. “Despite the woo-woo, I do love a mystery—where I’m not in danger. I love even more that this appeared to be one thing, and was completely different. That’s kind of my specialty.”
And it was.
The words were out of her mouth, and no sooner, they all heard crying coming from the hallway.
“Where I don’t think I’m in danger,” she reiterated. “Yeah, I’m not a fan of weeping ghosts.”
Ethan reassured her.
“We’ll be okay. They just want their truth to come out. We need to figure out where her ‘heart is’, and why Duncan wanted her gone in the first place. Like you said, this seems to be all about her.”
That it did.
Elizabeth and Ethan moved around, dished out food, and then each took a seat at the big island.
Why mess up the dining room?
Besides, the crying was coming from that direction, and Elizabeth was nobody’s fool.
PASS.
Raising his hand, Graham had a question.
“Are we ignoring the big pink elephant in the room?” he asked.
Elizabeth was curious.
“Which one is that?” she asked.
He didn’t mince words.
“Oh, maybe the one where YOU LOOK EXACTLY LIKE DUNCAN’S DEAD WIFE? No one is going to bring that up? That Elizabeth and Ceit could be twins?”
She snorted.
“Oh, that big pink elephant,” she said, amused.
Ethan paused while chewing.
“Wait. What?” he asked.
Michael clued him in.
“Apparently, they found a painting with Callum on it, and underneath the chipped paint was another painting. It was Ceit. Elizabeth and Ceit are doppelg?ngers and that was when the whole thing started up.”
He stared at his wife.
“So, the painting in the foyer, of Elizabeth standing in front of Ravensmire, isn’t Elizabeth. It’s Ceit?” he asked. “I thought Callen had it commissioned to make her love this place.”
They all laughed.
“Well, unless Callen is a reincarnation of Duncan, circa sixteen hundreds, nope. That’s the portrait Duncan had done to hang here.
His is in the dining room over the fireplace.
I didn’t notice until now, but there are no paintings with Duncan AND Ceit in them together,” Graham said.
“That was something we missed, too. Add in that they painted Callum as a young lad over it…”
Well, holy shit.
They all nodded.
Michael was in his food glory, but he shared with Ethan what else had happened surrounding the painting.
“When we put it up, everything calmed down. Now, not so much. We think that Elizabeth showing up is calling to Ceit, and now she wants her mystery really solved. We put her bones back, but we didn’t finish this.”
Well, shit.
Ethan didn’t like that either, and for a plethora of reasons. It made him nervous.
Like HOW was that possible?
“Even her eyes?” he asked. “Elizabeth has very distinct eyes. That icy blue isn’t common.”
Oh, they were aware.
“You saw the painting, didn’t you?” Michael asked. “Imagine our surprise."
Oh, boy.
“And Duncan didn’t like her?” he asked. “For whatever reason?”
Gabby nodded as she ate.
“Apparently, because like we missed, and like Elizabeth stated, something went south, and he wanted her gone. He allowed Ciarán to have her buried outside of the castle for some reason. We thought it was because two was company, but three was a crowd.”
She laughed.
“Uh, in my bed, five is company, and any less is boring as fuck,” she admitted.
Gabby opened her mouth, and Finn wasn’t having it.
“Lass, don’t. I know that look, and it’s going to be followed with a bunch of nosey questions that we do NOT need a picture painted of,” he admitted.
She found him outrageously funny.
How could she not?
“Fineas, you’re no fun.”
Yeah, well, tell him about it. Only, they’ve all read Jackson James’ books. They could fill in their own details.
Since she backed down, he let out a sigh of relief.
“Well, at least he isn’t going to try to steal my wife away,” he joked. “I don’t want to find she’s fallen in love with some dead dude and running away with him.”
She snorted.
“I mean, how big is his dick?” she asked, getting a fist bump from Gabby.
“Gabriella!” her husband said. “Really?”
She giggled.
It was nice not being the only woman here dealing with this. She loved the men here, but Elizabeth…
She made it spicy.
“Don’t worry, Ethan,” she said. “Duncan isn’t into women. He might hurt her. That’s about all.”
Saying nothing, Ethan chugged his wine.
Yeah, he didn’t like that.
Not.
One.
Bit.
Maybe this castle wasn’t exactly a non-stop funfest.
Not one bit.