Shivers Box Set: Darkening Around Me\Legacy of Darkness\The Devil's Eye\Black Rose (37 page)

“What time is it?” Reece’s sleep-thickened voice interrupted her thoughts.

Brynn stood—her sore knee twinged from kneeling on the floor for so long—and walked to the side of the bed.

Reece looked so different while he slept. His features relaxed, softened, and her fingers had itched to trace his broad cheekbones, the sharp angle of his jaw. Awake, his face was granite once more.

“Early.” She nodded to the gap in the drapes. “The sky’s just starting to lighten.”

He nodded and pushed up on his elbows, and the covers slipped dangerously low at his waist. Last night, everything had been so frantic she hadn’t the chance look at him, to admire the broad shoulders, narrow hips and lean hard muscle. She wanted to touch him, explore planes and ridges on his chest and belly, press her mouth to his flesh and taste his salty skin.

He groaned. “God, don’t look at me like that. I only had the one bloody condom.”

“Sorry.” Her face heated, but she couldn’t fight the grin pulling at her mouth. “Guess you should keep yourself better stocked.”

He chuckled, shoved back the blankets and stood. “Believe me, were you staying on, I would.”

She nipped her lip and turned away, pretending making the bed required all her attention.

“You are leaving today, yeah?” he asked, dragging on his jeans and T-shirt.

She shrugged. “Probably.”

“Probably?” His tone cooled considerably.

Did he think she was staying because of last night, that she had developed romantic delusions about what had happened between them? A strange mix of hurt and annoyance churned inside her. “There are things I need to do before I go.”

She turned and his icy stare pinned her where she stood.

“You’re not safe here, Brynn. When are you going to take that seriously?”

“Eleri took me to The Devil’s Eye so that I would remember what happened when I was a child. She didn’t try to kill me then and she didn’t try to kill me yesterday.”

“You were three,” Reece ground out. “You can’t possibly know for certain Eleri wasn’t the one.”

She bristled. “Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot. I
know
what those hands felt like. I
know
Eleri wasn’t there.”

“I’m sorry.” His shoulders sagged. “I just…I’m worried. Even if Eleri didn’t try to drown you, there are still four murdered men.”

“One murdered, three missing. Eleri was in Manchester when Matthew Langley was killed.” Her own words lacked conviction—probably because she wasn’t certain she believed them herself. She needed to sift lie from fact, and it started with her mother.

If Eleri had lied to her about Meris, all bets were off. She needed to see Dylis.

“Let’s say you’re right.” Reece dropped onto the sofa. “And Eleri had nothing to do with you or Matthew Langley. What about Griffin Paskin, Daniel Forbes and Billy Lewis?”

She wished she had an answer for him. “I can’t leave, not until I know what happened, or I’ve at least exhausted every possible avenue. If I go now, I’ll always wonder. Besides, it could have been me.”

His straight brows drew together. “What do you mean?”

“What if I’d stayed—all the stories and rumors could have been about me.”

He shook his head. “No one would say that about you.”

“At the pub, I met a man who told me if I stayed the rotten ground here would turn me like Eleri. How long would I have to be here before people blamed
me
for men disappearing?”

“Who said that?”

“He used to be the groundskeeper here before they sent me away.”

Reece folded his arms over his chest and cocked his head to one side. “Thomas Grady is a drunk and half out of his mind most of the time. You can’t take what he says seriously.”

She shrugged and stared.

He sighed. “Have you many avenues left to exhaust, then?”

“I want to speak to Dylis again, and Thomas mentioned the housekeeper who worked here when my mother was alive. Hopefully, they could at least confirm some of the things I’ve heard since I’ve come back.”

“I said the man’s out of his bloody mind, yeah?”

She shot him a wry smirk. “I believe you mentioned something along those lines.”

He stood and closed the space between them. “I don’t mean to be a shit, but I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“You’re thinking of that ghost’s warning?”

His gaze held hers. “I am.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m going to pub to see Dylis then try to track down that housekeeper. I won’t even be at Stonecliff today.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“What about your job?”

“I’m not going to risk anything happening to you.”

Her chest warmed, but she squashed the sensation immediately. They liked each other, had good sex, but she couldn’t afford to confuse that with actual emotion.

“You can’t lose this job. What about Harding?”

“I don’t give a shit about any of that.” He cupped her face, ran his thumb along her cheek. “Not when it comes to you.”

“If you lose your job, I’m alone here.”

Brynn had put him in a hell of spot.

Reece crept down the back stairs as quietly as he could manage. He’d stayed too long in her room caught in an argument that got him absolutely nowhere. He wanted her away from Stonecliff, safe. Yet the self-serving part of him was thrilled that she’d be there another night.

Between Harding’s games, the boy’s warning, shadow ghosts he’d never heard of and everything else happening on the estate, he shouldn’t be so damned pleased.

He was drawn to her, liked her more than any one woman he could remember. Maybe it was the novelty of being with someone who knew everything about him and still wanted him. Or maybe one night of bloody fantastic sex had barely scraped the surface of what he wanted to do with her, to her.

Reece left the stairwell and hurried toward the kitchen, hoping to slip out the back door before anyone caught sight of him.

“Mr. Conway,” Warlow called out. The kitchen door was just a few feet away.

Reece tensed and turned slowly.

The butler sauntered closer, bright gaze studying Reece’s every detail. “You’re about early. What are you doing in the house?”

Reece hoped the man didn’t notice he was still dressed in yesterday’s clothes. He slid his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “I was sorting the light switch in Brynn’s room.”

If experience had taught him anything, the best lies always held a kernel of truth. He’d have to find Brynn and tell her what he’d said.

Warlow’s mouth twitched. “Just the switch?”

Dawning slammed into him like a kick to the chest, thrusting the air from his lungs. Warlow had done it, tampered with Brynn’s lights. Whatever the hell haunted Stonecliff, Warlow had set it on Brynn.

“A piece of plastic was wedged in it.” God, he hoped he didn’t sound as stunned as he felt.

“All sorted, then?”

He nodded, dumbly.

“Tell me, did Ms. James happen to mention when she would be departing?”

Was that what he’d been after, frightening her off? Dull fury burned through Reece’s initial shock. The urge to swing, smash his fist into the butler’s face, rose up fast. His hands bunched inside his pockets.

“She didn’t say.”

Warlow nodded. “You have that retaining wall to see to, isn’t that right Mr. Conway?”

“Right.” One day he was going to knock that pompous ass flat.

Reece left the house. Cool, wet wind slapped at his bare skin, but the fresh air was a welcome relief. He inhaled deeply, released his breath and turned back to gray stone looming over him.

What was in that house? What had Brynn seen and how was it clever enough to avoid him?

Whatever it was, the butler knew enough to use it.

* * *

Brynn knocked on the pub door and waited. A moment later the rough wood opened a few inches and Dylis’s puffy face peered out from a narrow gap. “We’re closed.”

Brynn blinked, the woman’s clipped tone catching her off guard. Dylis had been so kind to her when she’d been here last. Of course, Brynn had gone on to get falling-down drunk, Reece having to practically carry her out.

“I realize that.” Empty parking lot and locked door had been dead giveaways, after all. “I wanted to apologize for the other night. I hadn’t eaten and those drinks hit me harder than I was expecting.”

“No harm done.”

Dylis started to close the door, but Brynn pressed her forearm to the wood, forcing it open. “Wait, please. I’ve heard things about my mother, and you’re the only person who might be able to tell me what’s true or not.”

Dylis tensed, eyes narrowing. “What have you heard?”

“Did Meris lock Eleri in a cellar when she was small?”

On a heavy sigh, Dylis opened the door the rest of the way. “You better come in.”

Brynn’s stomach sank like an icy stone. It was true.

She followed Dylis into the dark pub. During the day, without the lights or the glow from the fire, the charm and warmth had gone leaving the room cold and damp and smelling of stale booze.

Dylis grabbed a pack of cigarettes off the bar and nodded to one of the tables. “Sit down.”

Brynn sat opposite Dylis, while the older woman shook a cigarette from the package and slipped it between her lips. “You need to understand, there’s always been something wrong with that girl. Your mother lived in terror of her. Even when Eleri was small, she was wild, possessed. She bit and clawed. Meris always had marks on her. She was afraid Eleri would eventually kill you all in your beds. Locking the girl away was the only peace your mother ever knew with that horrid creature living under her roof.”

How could her mother have done that to a child? Even if her sister was as violent as Dylis claimed, there was no good excuse for what Meris had done. “If Eleri was that disturbed, why didn’t anyone take her to a doctor?”

“There’s no cure for evil.” Dylis stubbed out her cigarette in a plastic ashtray. “Don’t think you can save her. You’ll wind up like the others. My boy’s gone because he believed that bitch’s lies over his own parents.”

“I’m sorry about your son.” Brynn gripped the woman’s hand and gave it a squeeze. When she tried to pull back, Dylis held tight.

“You’re in danger.” Dylis’s tight whisper sent a wave of goose bumps prickling over her skin. “You managed to get away from Cragera Bay once. If you stay much longer, you won’t be so lucky.”

“If you mean Eleri—”

Dylis shook her head. “You’re a nice girl. You don’t belong here, mixed up in all of this.”

A loud bang disrupted the silence. Brynn started, heart leaping into her throat. She swung around in her chair to see Stephen Paskin standing behind the bar. When his pale eyes met hers, his expression lit with a warm smile.

“Miss James, back again. We’re closed, unfortunately.”

“She knows that.” Dylis pushed back from the table, chair legs squeaking on the wood floor. “She came to say goodbye.”

Stephen’s brows lifted as he turned his attention to his wife. “Did she?”

Tension thickened in the room like a gathering storm. The hair at the back of Brynn’s neck bristled.

“You found those glasses, then?” Dylis nodded at a cardboard box on the bar, maybe trying to change the subject. “That didn’t take you long.”

“Didn’t expect me back so soon?”

“I also came to apologize,” Brynn cut in, drawing the man’s wry gaze back to her, “to your wife and to you for my behavior the other night. Those drinks hit me harder than I expected.”

Stephen studied her for a long moment, then chuckled. “No harm done, love. In this business, it’s not the first time I’ve seen someone after one too many, and I doubt it’ll be the last. Can I get you something now? Something less potent, maybe?”

Dylis jerked her head sideways to look at her husband, but remained silent. Mouth pressed into a tight line.

Brynn’s unease amped up another notch. There was a distinct vibe between the couple and it wasn’t good. “You’re closed.”

“On the house,” Stephen said, with a wink.

“I really should go. I have another stop after this.”

“Of course, safe journey.”

She smiled stiffly, said her goodbyes, then rushed outside. She let out the breath she’d been holding and hurried to her car. As she slid behind the wheel, she glanced back at the pub. The windows were dark and empty, and a shiver crept over her skin.

* * *

Hazelwood had likely started life as a Georgian manor before being converted to a long-term care facility. The closest nursing home to Cragera Bay, Brynn figured it was the most likely candidate to house Hildy Banks.

She steered down the narrow drive, winding through thin patches of bare trees. Late afternoon sun seeped through gaps in the low slate clouds, dappling the velvet-green lawn. In a few weeks the gardens here would be starting to bloom, and unlike Stonecliff’s overgrown greenery, Hazelwood would no doubt be tidy and pretty.

She parked in the small lot in front of the building. There were only a few other cars in the spaces. As she popped open her door and stepped out, a strange melancholy gripped her. No matter how cheerful and pretty places like this tried to be, there was always a sense of forgotten life.

She crossed the parking lot and followed the concrete walk to the front door. The rush of waves against the shore filled her ears. Sunshine glittered off the roiling waves. She steeled herself against the nerves shimmying up and down her spine, pushed open the door and stepped into a wide lobby. The space had been modernized and painted in muted peach and cream. A long wooden counter, plush armchairs set up opposite, suggested hotel lobby instead of long-term care, but the steel security door at the far end and stringent hospital smell gave it away.

Brynn walked up to the counter and a middle-aged woman greeted her with a sympathetic smile. The name
Judith
was printed on her name tag.

“Good afternoon,” the woman said, softly. “Can I help you?”

“I hope so,” Brynn replied, automatically softening her voice to match Judith’s. “I would like to visit a woman called Hildy Banks. Is she a resident here?”

Judith’s thin brows pulled together in a frown, but, remarkably, her mouth held that sympathetic smile. “Are you family?”

A lie danced on the tip of her tongue, but she’d already given herself away. After all, if she were related, she’d know whether or not Hildy Banks was a resident.

“I’m not. Mrs. Banks worked for my family when I was a child. I’m visiting and hoped to see her. She was like a second mother to me.” She laid it on thick, hoping the woman would feel sorry for her.

Judith tilted her head, smile stretching wider. “This is a long-term care facility for seniors. Most of our residents suffer from Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia. I’m afraid we can’t just let in anyone. You understand, I’m sure.”

“Of course.”
Crap, now what?

“What I can do for you, however, is take down your name and information, contact Mrs. Banks’s power of attorney and ask you be added to the visitor’s list.”

“Thank you. My name is Brynn James.” The woman wrote out the information. “I’m staying at my father’s house now. It’s called Stonecliff, if Mrs. Banks’s power of attorney needs to verify—”

The woman’s gaze shot up from the paper, that compassionate smile gone, leaving her expression uneasy. She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Are you here about Ruth?”

Ruth? Who was… Her father’s nurse. She hadn’t exchanged more than a few words with the woman since she’d arrived. Ruth rarely left her father’s room.

Judith glanced uneasily around the room. “Has anything happened?”

Like what? Alarm bells clanged inside her head. “She’s my father’s nurse. He has emphysema. Should I be worried about something happening?”

“Of course not.” Judith’s smile was back, but it looked stiff and unnatural.

“How do you know Ruth? Did she work here?”

The woman nodded, leaned closer and whispered. “There are some benches by the trees around back. I’ll meet you there.”

Brynn left the building and hurried to the benches Judith had indicated. After a few minutes, the woman slipped out through a rear door and started toward her. Judith pulled her thick sweater tight around her middle to ward off the cutting wind sweeping in off the water. Her straight, mousy hair whipped wildly around her head.

“I’m glad you waited,” Judith said when she reached Brynn. “I’d heard that someone from Stonecliff had called for a reference and I never felt right that the administrator had given her one.”

Cold prickled Brynn’s skin. “Why? What did Ruth do?”

Judith stared for a long moment, so long Brynn didn’t think she’d answer. “No one will ever admit to any of this. Investigations and lawsuits would shut down Hazelwood, and despite what I’m about to tell you, this is a good facility. Believe me, I’ve seen ones that aren’t.”

“Was Ruth fired?” Nerves skittered down Brynn’s spine.

Judith shook her head. “She was a model employee. Helpful, eager, almost too eager. If there was an awful task to be done—and there’s plenty in this place—Ruth was the first to volunteer. But there was always something off about her, vacant.”

Brynn knew what Judith meant. Ruth had stared at her with that bemused sort of smile, looking through her rather than at her. “Did something happen?”

She chuckled, the sound tinny and false. “You could say that. She hadn’t been here very long when residents started to die whenever she worked the night shift.”

Brynn’s stomach bottomed out. “She was killing residents?”

“There’s no proof. In this line of work, there’s a high mortality rate anyway, but while Ruth worked here, when a patient died it was almost always during her shift.”

“Didn’t anyone report her to the police?”

“Like I said, there was no proof. People died here every other week. A police investigation would have merely resulted in bad press for the facility.”

And so a killer was left to go free? Left to take over the care of her father? Brynn had no warm fuzzy feelings where Arthur was concerned, but she didn’t want his crazy nurse to murder him either.

“Bad press? You suspected she was killing people.”

“Suspicion without proof. What if we’d been wrong? We could have ruined her life.”

“You’re telling me now. Aren’t you still worried about ruining her life?”

Judith shrugged and stood. “Like I said, I never felt right about Hazelwood giving her a reference. My break’s over, I have to get back.”