Chapter Five
Sophie…
What the feck did I just see?
I’m racing to Cormac’s office and beginning to question my sanity. What am I going to say? “Hey, Chieftain, I just saw Krampus strolling around the boxwood maze, just thought ya ought to know?”
Stop it. Ya saw something. Or someone. Someone who shouldn’t be here.
My steps slow and I try to rationalize what I’d seen. “Maybe one of his brothers is messing about?”
I murmur. “This is definitely the family who’d do it, aye? It dinna matter. It’s my responsibility to report anythin’ out of the ordinary.”
I dinna want to look at Cormac and tell him I just saw Krampus.
“Dinna yae be a feardie, get to it,”
I whisper. I can hear him talking to someone inside, their voices a low rumble.
My hand is raised to knock when Michael opens the door. His brow wrinkles. “Are ya all right, lass?”
“I… feel dafty but I saw…”
I brush my hair back, trying to look anywhere but at him. “I saw somethin’ outside. A person. I think. Not a guard.”
“Come in.”
His big, warm hand slides around my upper arm.
Cormac is sitting behind his huge, imposing desk. I know Michael and Duncan call it his “feck ya desk”
because anyone who sits behind a piece of furniture the size of the Titanic has clearly clawed their way to the top o’ the food chain.
“Sophie?”
He’s frowning. Oh, god. Did I interrupt something important? Like who they’re gonna murder when the holidays are over and it wouldn’t seem so terrible once it’s not Christmas?
“I’m sorry to interrupt. I…”
I’m wringing my hands together like an agitated Victorian maiden. All I need is a linen handkerchief to twist between my anxious wee fingers. “I saw something. Outside. I was settin’ the table in the dining room and I saw movement outside near the terrace. I know the guards don’t patrol there so I went outside to look.”
They’re both leaning forward, giving me their complete attention.
“This- I know it sounds daft but I saw a man. Something like a man. Very tall and wide and…”
I canna do this.
“Take a breath.”
Michael’s rubbing his hands up and down my arms and it is not at all soothing. It’s arousin’ and it dinna help my concentration. “Just tell us what ya saw, aye?”
“Krampus!”
I burst out. “I saw Krampus. He paused and looked at me full-on before disappearing into the maze.”
They just stare for a moment before Michael steps in to save me from looking like a nutter. “One of the uncles prankin’ us?”
“Lachlan’s insane enough to try it.”
Cormac rubs his forehead.
Lachlan is known as the “loose cannon”
of the MacTavish men, though they say he has calmed down in recent years thanks to his and Aria’s five bairns. He’s too exhausted to be unhinged anymore.
“The security drones are down thanks to the damn blizzard. Send out one of the team to take a look in the maze. Sophie, other than, ah, lookin’ like Krampus, anything ya can add?”
It’s possible they still think I’m imagining this, but at least they’re asking questions.
“Krampus- uh, Lachlan or whoever… whatever… it was tall, dark clothing, like tactical wear? And bulky.”
Cormac’s gaze darts to Michael, who nods as if they’d just had a conversation. “I’ll find the guards and run a search grid. Maybe there’s footprints in the snow, if the wind didn’t blow them away already.”
He’s already putting on a headset, the kind the guards on the estate use to stay in touch with each other.
“Good. Keep your comms open in case ya need to call me,”
Cormac says, getting up to pat Michael on the shoulder. “Also, if it is your Uncle Lachlan, punch him in the dick for me.”
I stifle a snicker in my fist. I dinna think I’m allowed to laugh at dick-punching a MacTavish.
Michael fiddles with his headset. “Security, who’s on point tonight?”
Silence.
Cormac switches on the bank of monitors on the far wall. Every camera shows nothing but an aggressive snowfall. “Try the other frequency.”
Nothing, but there’s a wail above us.
“That’s Maisie!”
I race out of the study and take the steps two at a time. “Maisie girl, hey now. What’s wrong?”
She’s sitting on the floor under the big windows in her bedroom, arms curled around her legs. “I’ve been good this year! I have!”
Fat tears are rolling down her face and splashing onto the fancy dress she’d put on for the party.
“What do ya mean, sweetheart?”
She points upward to the window. “I saw him! I’vebeengoodIswear!”
Kneeling in front of her, I wipe the tears from her face as Cormac races into the room, gun drawn.
“Krampus!”
Maisie sobs, “I’ve been good, Da! But he’s out there on the lawn, lookin’ up at me, he’s-”
I join Cormac at the window. “There’s no way it’s the same Krampus,”
I murmur, “it’s been less than ten minutes and he canna have made his way from the maze to the front of the house in that time.”
Swiftly holstering his gun, Cormac taps his headset. “Michael, have ya found the guards?”
There’s nothing but static.
“Um, I have my phone,”
I offer it to him. “Try calling?”
“It’s not ringing through.”
When he hands it back, he’s become Chieftain of the Clan, his eyes cold and jaw tight. “Take Maisie downstairs, collect the bairns and-”
And then, the power goes out.