Ashes on the Waves (24 page)

Experience has shown, and Philosophy will always show, tShat a vast portion, perhaps the larger portion of truth, arises from the apparently irrelevant.

—Edgar Allan Poe,
from “Doings of Gotham [Letter VI],” 1844

T
he villagers were too swept up in their murderous frenzy to notice me observing from the deck. Almost giddy with purpose, they piled lumber against the aging whitewashed brick of the lighthouse.

Once the lumber had been lit, I’d only have two options: try to burst out the door through the flames, which would be nearly impossible considering the amount of lumber stacked against it and the inevitable heat of the door, or remain and be slow roasted. Neither prospect appealed. Somehow, the noose Mac Reilly had thrown over a large limb in a tree just west of the lighthouse seemed preferable—inviting, almost.

No. I would not go without a fight and I would see Anna first. I wanted to leave this world with her name as my last utterance, her face my last sight, and her sweet voice filling my ears.

“He didn’t do it, I tell you!” Francine yelled as she emerged into the lighthouse clearing from the trail, Ron Reilly close behind.

“She climbed out a window,” he shouted, catching up and grabbing her upper arm. “I tried to keep her put.”

“Polly! Go get Anna Leighton!” Francine pleaded, trying to shake free of Ron. “Go quick.”

Polly looked up at her husband, Edmond, and he nodded. Without hesitation, she lifted her skirt and ran toward the trail to Taibhreamh.

At this point, I suspected most every resident of Dòchas was present and pitching in to add lumber to the pile, except my pa. He was nowhere to be seen.

I shuddered at the grisly sight at the edge of the cliff. Katie McAlister’s body lay twisted in an unnatural position in the grass, my long blue boar’s hair detail brush protruding from her rib cage. No wonder they wanted me dead.

They must have combed the island for every fallen limb and piece of driftwood available because there was more stacked around the base of the lighthouse than in the Bealtaine bonfires. Because of the short stature of the structure and the height of the piles of wood, the flames would lick the bottom of the deck and set it on fire.

“It’s time!” Connor MacFarley shouted, pulling a lighter from his pocket. “Time to rid our island of evil forever.”

“What! Are you going to light yourself on fire, then?” I shouted.

There was a cumulative gasp and then a sea of faces turned to me.

“Because I haven’t shoved my wife off a cliff or tried to rape a little girl. In fact, I’ve never committed any crime.”

“Time!” he yelled again.

“Light that fire, and I’ll kill you on the spot.” My pa pushed through the crowd, knife in hand. “We’ll not be killing him until we hear his side.”

“What side is there?” someone in the crowd shouted. “His paintbrush is in her heart. He killed her.”

Pa looked up at me as if seeking an answer.

“My paintbrushes all burned in the fire,” I said. “Whoever burned down my shed must have taken the brush first. Nothing was left and I had no brushes with me at the time it burned.”

“Prove it!” someone shouted.

Anna, Miss Ronan, Deirdre, and Polly entered the clearing. Anna ran to the base of the lighthouse.

“I can’t possibly prove it. I can only tell you that I had no brushes left after the fire.”

“But that’s your brush?” MacFarley asked.

“Yes, but—”

“But nothin’!” he replied. “She was found in the water off the pier where you work with your paintbrush stabbed into her.”

The look of horror on Anna’s face made me feel as though a brush had been stabbed into my own heart.

“He wasn’t there,” Francine said. “He hasn’t worked for me in days. He was home asleep.”

“Were you with him?” MacFarley asked.

“Well, no, but—”

“Was anyone with him?”

“No. I was alone,” I answered.

MacFarley struck the lighter and moved toward the wood by the door.

“I’ll kill you dead right here and now, Connor,” Pa threatened. “You’ll not be burning him.”

MacFarley released the thumb switch on the lighter and the flame died.

“I need to talk to Anna,” I said. “I need to see her alone.”

A grumble spread through the crowd.

Anna shook her head and my world collapsed. She didn’t want to talk to me. She thought me capable of horrors. I had to get to her.

“Anna, please.”

Her eyes full of tears, she again shook her head. “Stay where you are.”

No. It would not end this way. I needed to touch her. To hold her one last time before leaving this world. The Cailleach might have won, but I would die on my terms.

I descended the ladder and unlocked the door. It wouldn’t open because of the wood against it. With my shoulder I shoved and it gave an inch or so.

“He’s coming out!” someone shouted.

“Get ready,” another said.

I shoved again and gained a couple more inches. I could hear them moving the lumber that was blocking my way. In just moments, I would break free and be able to hold Anna one last time. If she let me.

Finally, the door burst open and I squinted against the brilliant sunlight. The villagers crouched in various states of readiness to snatch me. Slowly and deliberately, I took a step toward Anna. “I’m only going to speak with her. Let me talk to her and I’ll peacefully succumb to whatever you wish.” I took another slow step and none of them pounced.

“Back off!” Anna said to the villagers, then ran to me.

She wrapped her arms around my waist and her scent filled my nose. I breathed deep and sighed. I was complete.

“I said, back off!”

The villagers backed up, leaving a closed ring around us.

“I didn’t do it,” I said.

She buried her face in my shirt. “I know.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do. You could never kill anyone.”

“Why did you tell me to stay up there?”

She took my face in her hands. “Because you were safe up there, stupid.”

The ring of people tightened closer. I wasn’t getting out of this alive. “I love you,” I whispered in her hair. “I’ll wait for you, wherever I am. I want you forever.”

“You have me forever,” she whispered back. “But these people aren’t going to be the ones to test out that theory.” She stiffened and pulled away. “Where I come from, people are put on trial and evidence is presented to either convict or exonerate them. Where I come from, you can’t just set people on fire or hang them without a fair trial.”

“Well, this ain’t where you come from,” MacFarley said, grabbing me by the upper arm. Ron grabbed my other, and they jerked me back from Anna.

“No!” she shouted as they dragged me toward the tree. “No!”

I fought, but it was futile. Ron had my dead arm and MacFarley was far too powerful.

“You can’t do this!” Francine shouted. “James Callan, do something.”

“You’ll have me to answer to, MacFarley,” Pa shouted. “You kill that boy and you’ll pay. All of you will.”

MacFarley laughed. “You’d better stay away from cliffs, Callan.” He shoved Anna away with one hand and put the noose over my head with the other. Mac and several other men held the end hanging down on the other side of the tree limb. “Somebody help James control himself,” MacFarley ordered.

Two men pushed Pa to his knees and one held him in a grip around his neck. Francine, likewise, was restrained.

After another hard shove from MacFarley that sent Anna to the ground, Ronan pulled her back. “Stay out of it or they will kill you as well. It should never have come to this. They are out of control.”

“No!” Anna screamed.

This is not how I’d intended events to unfold. I’d expected to hold her, soothe her, and then leave the world peacefully—well, as peacefully as a hanging death could be managed. Hangings on Dòchas weren’t like those I’d read about. They were more sporting than a typical lynching. The victim wasn’t bound or restrained in any way. Nor was it a quick, neck-snapping death. The object of a hanging on Dòchas was simply raised from the ground and left to struggle until his strength waned. Sometimes it was a lengthy event. For me, it wouldn’t last long. With only one arm, I had half the power of the usual man to keep my windpipe from being cut off.

“Any last words, MacGregor?” MacFarley asked.

I looked straight at Anna, the rough fibers of the rope irritating the skin on my neck. “All words of any worth have been said.”

When she slumped to her knees, I closed my eyes. I imagined her face in the candlelight as she hovered over me in the secret passage. Her beautiful laugh.

The rope tightened and my feet left the ground. Again, this was not what I’d expected. I thought I could simply remain limp and allow gravity to shorten my suffering, but something in me resisted passivity. I kicked in the hopes of contacting a solid surface and reached above my head with my only good arm to relieve the unbearable pressure on my neck. A loud whistling sound filled my head, but I refused to open my eyes. White stars bounced around on the inside of my eyelids, and over the shouting of the crowd, one piercing scream brokg screame through.

“Stop! NO! He did not kill my mommy!”

It felt as though the ground came up to slam into me rather than my falling down to it.

“He didn’t! He didn’t!” Megan continued to scream.

I rolled to my side and loosened the rope around my neck, too weak to remove it over my head.

“Let me go,” Anna said.

Anna. My Anna. I opened my eyes to find her on her knees beside me. She pulled the noose from around my neck and ran her hands through my hair.

“What happened, Megan?” Mrs. Byrne asked.

I sat up and MacFarley moved just behind me. “It is not over yet. You stay put.”

“Mommy went to put a candle on the water for Daddy’s birthday and she started talking to somebody. I couldn’t hear who she was talking to, but I think it was Daddy. She walked down the steps to the water to go swim with him, but she must have forgotten how to swim because she splashed around and then stopped moving.” Her eyes darted to her mother’s corpse and she burst into sobs.

“How dare you subject her to this,” Francine said. “All of you should be ashamed.”

Polly Byrne crouched down to eye level with Megan. “How did the paintbrush get there?”

Megan shook her head violently. “I don’t know, Aunt Polly. I thought she was waking up because she moved once, but I don’t know. It was just there when they pulled her out.”

“Did you ever see Liam last night?” Anna asked.

Megan shook her head. “No. The demon was not there. He didn’t do it.”

MacFarley threw the noose back over my neck. “Everything she says is irrelevant. She’s nothing but a child. We all know what happened.”

“No!” Francine shouted. “We do
not
know what happened, but we do know it had nothing to do with this boy.” She helped me to my feet and then pulled Megan close. “We know this child saw her mother die and we’ll not subject her to another death.” She put her hands on her hips. “Show’s over. Everyone go to work.”

We loved with a love that was more than love.

—Edgar Allan Poe,
from “Annabel Lee,” 1849

y
ou left a witness!” the leader said. “You are never to leave a witness.”

“We had no choice. We are forbidden to lure children and you told us the woman had to die no matter what.”

Muireann closed her eyes and leaned against the cave entrance, ignoring the burning need to take a breath. She would not miss anything this time.

“They are stronger than I thought. Certainly not typical humans. There is one thing they cannot resist, though—something that makes even the strongest human male weak.”

Muireann’s lungs ached and she grew dizzy, but she knew she couldn’t surface and let her Liam down again. She had to stay and discover their plan.

“No human can resist a Selkie.”

* * *

Francine poured tea into three cups and delivered them to the table. I had a throbbing headache and my neck still burned, but other than that, I felt nothing but bliss. I’d been given more precious time with Anna.

“I don’t want you alone anymore,” Anna said. “It makes it easier for them. Please move into Taibhreamh.”

Francine joined us at the table. “That’s a wise proposal, lad. Taibhreamh is better fortified and you will have a full-time alibi if you are with Anna.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Impose! What part of this do you not get?” She stood and paced from the sink to the door and back again. “The crazy villagers want to kill you, which we would like to avoid, and I want to be with you. This takes care of everyone’s business, right?”

“Right,” Francine said, holding up her teacup in salute.

I almost couldn’t bring myself to point out the real problem with the plan. Any time I had with her was a blessing, but I was becoming selfish. “What happens when you leave?”

She stopped pacing. “You’ll come with me.”

I shook my head.

“Why not?” She took my face in her hands. “I can go to cooking school and open a restaurant and you can paint.”

“Your parents already hate me. You heard Miss Ronan.”

She sat in her chair next to me. “Yeah, but they don’t know you yet. Once they meet you, they’ll love you, just like I do.”

Again, I shook my head. I understood how deep discrimination could go. I’d experienced it all my life.

“Look, Liam. My trust fund from my grandparents vested a few days ago on my eighteenth birthday. I don’t have to rely on my parents. We can buy our own place if that makes you feel better.” She ran her finger over the burn mark on my neck. “Nobody will try to hurt you. No one will treat you badly ever again. You can leave this all behind and we can be together. Forever.”

Forever.
Surely I would be struck down on the spot if I even dared to entertain a dream so fine.

“Say yes.” She leaned toward me. “I need you to say yes, Liam.” Her lips met mine, and I was undone.

“Yes,” I whispered, unwilling to resist her—un
able
to resist her.

Francine cleared her throat, bringing me back to earth. “Did you ever find out anything about Anna’s uncle or your mother?”

“Yes,” I said. “Not much, though. The books and bathtub she left came from the mansion.”

“And there are hidden tunnels everywhere,” Anna added.

“We found this.” I pulled the folded portrait of the dark-haired woman out of my pocket. “Do you know who this is?”

Francine took the portrait from me. She stared at it a long time, brow furrowed. “Where did you get this?”

“It fell out of a book in the Taibhreamh library. Do you know her?”

She nodded. “I do. It’s your mother.”

My mother. The torment in her huge brown eyes spoke directly to my soul.

“I need to know everything about her. You’ve nev You’ver told me a thing,” I said.

Francine took a sip of tea. “You’ve never asked.”

“I’m asking now.”

She set her cup down and stared into it as if the answer were within it. “She just appeared out of nowhere one day. She was found on the beach by Brigid Ronan. Brigid took her in and she worked at Taibhreamh.”

Anna took the portrait from Francine. “How long was she there?”

“Not long. Brigid brought her to me several months later saying she could no longer stay at Taibhreamh because the Leighton family wanted her removed. The poor girl was with child and had no place to go, so I let her move into the shed. That’s all I know.”

Anna stared at the portrait. “What did the girl tell you?”

Francine shook her head. “She never spoke a word. It was as if she had no ability to speak.”

I took my cup to the sink. “How did the bathtub get to the shed?”

“Ah, that was an unusual bit of business. Frank Richards hired a group of men from the village to deliver and install it for her. She filled it with ocean water and spent a great deal of time in it. I visited her daily to check on her, and she was either reading or bathing. Very strange, but then, she was a strange girl.”

“What did Ronan say about her?” Anna asked.

Francine refilled her teacup from the kettle on the stove and topped Anna’s off. “Not a word. Other than telling me the girl could no longer stay at Taibhreamh and spreading the awful lies about Liam being the spawn of a demon, she’s never talked about her.”

Before Francine sat, the phone rang in the other room. “Excuse me,” she said, hustling out the door.

Anna kissed me and a soothing calm radiated out from where our lips met to my outermost extremities. “You’ll love New York,” she said, and every bit of calm fled as quickly as it had come.

“Anna, darlin’, your mother is on the phone.”

Her eyes flew open wide. “Wow. Perfect timing. I was just about to call her.” She winked and ran to the phone.

Francine gestured for me to join her at the door. I felt awkward listening in on Anna’s conversation. “Lovers have no secrets,” Francine whispered. “You need to know what’s going on.”

“Today?” Anna said, twirling the phone cord on her finger. “That’s soon.”

She shifted her weight foot to foot as the person on the other end spoke.

“I want to bring someone with me,” she said, shooting a look over her shoulder at me. “Yes. Liam MacGregor . . .”

Her rocking continued as she listened.

“Why not? . . . That’s a terrible reason. I don’t care what Nicky or his parents think.”

She stopped rocking and her shoulders slumped. “Okay, fine. That reason makes sense. But I want to come back here the minute the wedding is over . . . Yeah, I love you too. I’m excited to see you as well. . . .”

She kept her back to us for a while after placing the handset back into the cradle. When she turned, her eyes were full of tears.

“They only have the two-person helicopter available because they’re se theyusing the other one to bring in people from everywhere for Charlie’s wedding.”

I wrapped my arm around her. “But they want you there for the wedding. That’s fantastic. Maybe this’ll be the time to mend your relationship with your family.”

“I wanted you to come,” she said into my shirt.

“I think my presence would impair your ability to make it right between you and your parents, which is much more important.”

She looked right into my eyes. “Nothing is more important than you.”

And with those words, whatever minuscule remaining cautious part of me had been reserved fell the rest of the way in love with Annabel Leighton.

“I only have a little while before the helicopter arrives. The pilot left already. Will you come with me to get ready?”

I didn’t want to yield a second of my remaining time with her. “Of course.”

“I really want you to stay at Taibhreamh while I’m gone. You’ll be safer, and you might find out something about my uncle or your mother. Besides, I need you to keep an eye out for Deirdre until I can find a way to get her off this island. I’m going to talk to some people about it while I’m home.”

My first inclination was to say no, primarily because of Brigid Ronan, but on consideration, it was an excellent plan. The bedroom doors had locks, which the new house didn’t, and Anna was right, it would give me the opportunity to look around. Miss Ronan, though troubling, didn’t present any real danger that I could tell. She backed down easily when I confronted her. It appeared she derived some of her power from the fear of others. I would no longer give her any power.

Francine pulled out a package from behind the counter. “Here’s the other set of clothes, and don’t bother coming in to work. I’ll be fine.”

“No. I’ll stay at Taibhreamh, but I want to come to work.”

Francine nodded. “Suit yourself. I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

We didn’t see a living soul on the way to Taibhreamh. It was as if all the angry people we had encountered hours earlier had dissolved into the rugged landscape of Dòchas. Even the mansion itself seemed devoid of life.

“I moved Deirdre into the green room this morning when we woke up,” Anna said, pulling a long tube with caps on both ends and a duffel bag out of her closet. “I want you to stay in my room while I’m gone. Is that okay?”

I eyed the secret panel. “Yes. Any idea how long you’ll be gone?” I shoved a dresser in front of it. If anyone wanted to sneak up on me, they would have to climb over the furniture to do so.

She put some folded clothes into the bag. “Only a couple of days. The wedding is the day after tomorrow and Mom said I could come right back after the rece
ption.” She zipped the bag. “I really want you to come with me,” she said again.

“This is for the best. The transition would be difficult enough for me, but being thrown into a high-society wedding wouldn’t be the best introduction to your world.”

She crossed to me. “You are so smart.”

I smiled and leaned back against the dresser. The light streaming in through the stained glass flitted across her skin like a rainbow. “I have my moments.”

She ran her fingers over the rope burn on my neck.n on my “This would’ve been hard to explain as well.”

I laughed as she kissed my neck.

“I love you, Liam MacGregor. You know that, right?”

“And that makes me the luckiest person alive.”

She looked at her wristwatch. “Mmm. Still some time. What on earth should we do to pass it?”

“I leave the pre-departure itinerary in your lovely, more-than-capable hands.”