Chapter Fifteen #2
As Michael, Ethan, and Graham began digging, they were lucky that they’d just put him in the ground not that long ago. It wasn’t frozen solid, yet.
As they dug, Elizabeth stood there, scanning the area as if something was going to jump out of the woods to get her.
Old habits die hard.
Her sixth sense—her gut instinct—was on high alert.
“I think we’re safe,” Gabby said, tucking her arm through Elizabeth’s. “No one’s getting you.”
Oh, she wasn’t afraid of that.
Her gut was going haywire, and she wanted to figure out why. She didn’t like being watched.
Ever.
“I know, I’m just trying to figure all of this out,” she said. “Do you know how deep they buried him?” she asked.
Gabby did know.
“A little more than four feet. Since he was just bones, the men didn’t think he needed to go deeper. There was nothing going to dig him up.”
Except it looked as if someone, or something, had done just that.
Someone had some explaining to do.
Because she looked stressed, Gabby tried to distract her friend. This whole thing was definitely not up her alley. Solving, yes, but the woo-woo…nope.
“So, how long are you staying? Asking for a girl who loves the company. Finn has sisters, but it’s a big gap from American friends and Scottish ones. We seem a little crazy to them.”
She snorted.
Well, that might be because they were. Never let it be said that the Scottish hadn’t nailed that one. Look at the bullshit they were doing at that very moment.
Elizabeth considered her answer as she kept watching the men.
“I’m thinking I’ll head home after the wedding with the family. By then, I should be ready to make up my mind regarding what I’m going to do with my job.”
She went there.
“Still not sure?”
Elizabeth shook her head.
“I’m closer to going back than I was yesterday, and I’m hoping the next few weeks here, taking some needed time off will solve that issue for me.”
Gabby hoped her friend found peace. If there was a good place to do it, this was it.
“Well, I hope you are feeling better. You look better than you did yesterday.”
Honestly, Elizabeth actually did feel a great deal better. It was amazing what time, food, and sex could do to a person’s peace of mind. This place had helped her, and she’d never forget that.
“Yes, I am. I’ll admit something, and if you ever repeat it, I’m punching you, but I like it here. I see why you moved here to be with Finn. It’s a good place. I could live out my time here. There’s something in the air that makes it…cathartic. Maybe it’s Graham’s and Finn’s accents.”
Maybe.
Truthfully, Gabby happened to agree.
“When I came here, my heart healed. I hope yours does too. I’m sorry that your parents were dug up. That’s horrible, and while you pretend it didn’t hurt, I know it had to. There’s no way knowing you the way I do, that it didn’t hit that soft spot. If anything, Elizabeth, you have one.”
Oh, she did, and since Gabby nailed it, she didn’t lie.
“It wasn’t pleasant, but I suspected it from the start. The killer wasn’t that smart. He just had time to plan. Anyone can stay ahead of a chase if they have a head start.”
That was the truth.
As someone who also worked for the FBI, she had to agree with that.
“About the money,” Gabby began.
Elizabeth stopped her.
“Nope. I offered that money up to anyone who could help me find him. You did. That is not up for discussion. We have a better chance of talking about my sex life than me taking that money back.”
Gabby still felt bad.
“It’s kinda my job.”
Elizabeth wasn’t having it.
“You earned it. Buy a bigger house. Or if the money is the issue, and I say that, knowing how difficult it was to have money given to you, I can take it back and buy you a house with it instead. Either way, you’re getting something for the work you did.
You found him for me, and that saved my children’s lives, along with the men’s and mine.
Hey! I know. Do you like a castle?” she asked.
Gabby laughed.
“Uh, no. I’m good. On second thought, that would make Finn absolutely insane,” she joked.
Yeah, well, Elizabeth figured as much. God knew it made her batty when she first found out. Now, both she and Ethan had fallen in love with the place.
Callen and Chris had nailed this one. Elizabeth owed them an apology.
Period.
“I know how you think, Elizabeth. You’ve got something on your mind. Is it about this mystery?”
She nodded.
“Yes, actually, it is,” she said, as the men kept digging. “Here’s what I think. She was pregnant when she came here,” she said. “I’m willing to bet that Cathal was her lover, her betrothed, or whatever they called it back then. He gave her the heart necklace as a way to remember him.”
Gabby listened.
“So, when she showed up, she was with child, and her father didn’t know about it—or he did, and he didn’t care. He thought he could pass it off as Duncan’s. He likely didn’t know the man was gay at the time—and that might have been revealed later.”
The air was cool around them, and it felt…wet.
That’s when they heard it.
Crying.
Everyone stopped.
Except Elizabeth. She was using that as her gauge to see if she had nailed this.
“I’m betting Duncan told her to leave when he was coming back, but not because he hated her. I’m going to say that he wanted to keep Callum, knowing he wouldn’t have an offspring. He was a gay man, and…”
She got it.
And listened.
So far, it all fit, if they stopped believing the letters, and instead, listened to investigator logic.
“So, he set her free, or he just saw no purpose to her. Maybe Ceit ran her mouth, and too many people knew how their marriage was a sham. We know Oison knew, because that letter to Ceit could be real.”
Again, it all fit.
“So, she is told she can’t keep her child, and she’s sent back, or she was gladly willing to go. Not all mothers want to be mothers,” she stated.
That was true.
“Only, Oison didn’t like the idea that his daughter was coming back, and the shame it would bring. So, he heads there, kills her, and takes the ONE thing she loves.”
She listened.
“That necklace from Cathal. That was all she had left of the man she loved. Now, maybe I’m being a hopeless romantic, but it fits.
Oison shows up, and he hurts her, then shoves her out the window.
That took care of the problem. Ceit was gone.
He wouldn’t dare touch the child. If Duncan was going to keep Callum as his offspring, he would have rained down Hell on the man for touching his ‘son’. ”
There was crying all around them.
“Uh, can we not piss off the ghosts?” Michael asked. “They get spicy, and that felt heavy.”
Oh, she knew why.
Only, she was just trying to find the truth so Ceit could chill out and get some peace.
Everyone deserved that in life—the woman included.
“Just breaking it down. I can’t help if it’s not what everyone thought. I suggest buckling up and holding on.”
Oh, they would.
Because she wasn’t sure they’d heard it all, once more, she reiterated what she just said, and something around them gave the same exact response to it.
“It might be,” Ethan said. “Then, Catherine steps in because she’s trying to escape her father, and his domineering ways.
I know I’d rather go live with a complete stranger than stay with someone like Oison.
If she also knew he was gay, she might feel safe.
That was a win-win back then for women. She wouldn’t have to go be with someone her daddy picked. ”
Elizabeth reminded them.
“Or she was jealous, and someone told Oison the truth that Ceit wasn’t carrying Duncan’s child.
That might have made him freak out, thinking Duncan would be pissed, when he was more than happy to have an heir.
Granted, Duncan would recall fucking a woman or not—so he would already know.
I’m going to say that everyone in this was opportunistic and needed to cover their asses regarding something. ”
And that was the truth.
“Duncan needed to protect Ciarán, and Ceit needed to protect Cathal’s child, because she would also know it wasn’t Duncans if they never had sex. Then, add in Oison, who wanted money, and Catherine who wanted out. They were all playing a game of survival.”
Gabby gasped.
“Oh, my God! That means that Duncan killed Catherine’s child so there could be no one else to claim his money or lands, even though he knew the child wasn’t his. He might have cared about Callum!”
Elizabeth nodded.
“PLUS, he took his own life to go be with Ciarán, instead of staying to see him continue the ‘bloodline’, so to speak. I’m sure that all those years ago, no one thought anyone would be any the wiser. That’s why she didn’t kill her child by jumping, like that fatal pact between lovers.”
She pointed at Romeo and Juliet, the horses, named after the fated lovers.
“On top of that, she cursed the bloodline, knowing it wasn’t tied to her, but Duncan made Callum his. He raised him, and he left him everything. Sometimes, family isn’t born to you, but you find them along the way. Look at my son Michael. He’s mine, even if I didn’t have him.”
The man smiled.
“Yeah, Mom. Exactly like that.”
Graham sighed.
“And here Ian was so proud of those letters. We thought we solved this. He’s going to be crushed that we were WAY off.”
Elizabeth shrugged.
The psychic had proved she’d been right, and those letters were all lies.
“I love Ian, but he’s not an investigator. There were too many little flags that said they couldn’t be real. First and foremost, the fact that they were ripped from a journal. Who sends a journal to the battlefield, and not just a letter?”
There was that.
“And the fact that Duncan had been with Ciarán for years. There was no way he was dipping his Lord stick in the girl from Ireland when he was all about the guy. How many ladies did you sleep with, Graham?”
He actually looked grossed out that she even brought that up.
“Uh, none. I’m not bisexual. I’m full-on gay.”
That was her point.
“It’s crazy how we missed that,” Michael said. “You know, since Gryphen, Ian, and Graham have never been with women—only men.”
Elizabeth reassured them.