Shivers Box Set: Darkening Around Me\Legacy of Darkness\The Devil's Eye\Black Rose (40 page)

Brynn’s mouth twitched. “Who’s Carly?”

“No one.” His face heated. “Not like he’s saying. We should go.”

Kendrick laughed, the sound setting his teeth on edge. “Ah, lad. It was always too bloody easy to take the piss.”

“I wish you hadn’t seen that.”

Brynn turned away from the passenger window to Reece slouched in his seat, one hand draped over the steering wheel, the other loosely gripping the shift, gaze fixed on the road ahead.

She tried to imagine him as boy living in that oppressive house, being taken there after losing his mother. The image turned her stomach.

“Where did you go after you left Kendrick’s?”

“Holy Head. I wanted to live by the sea. I didn’t know anyone there, so I snuck into a boatyard and started living in some of the wrecked boats stored in the back of the yard. It was relatively clean and dry, and I figured I could make it work until I found a job and saved enough money for a place. But the owner caught me almost right away.”

“What did he do?”

“Offered me a room and a job, on the condition I finished school. The first eight months I stayed there I was certain he’d want something from me. I kept waiting for him to make a pass. He never did, of course. He’d just lost his wife, didn’t have any children. He was just lonely and kind. He taught me to build boats, help with the business. These days, Lloyd’s semi-retired and I was running the shop. When I get out from under Harding’s thumb, I’ll go back.”

She would have liked to see him in that world, so far from Kendrick, from Stonecliff. “So who’s Carly? Old girlfriend?”

His mouth twitched. “Not quite. Just someone Kendrick does work for from time to time. Studies all manner of ghosts and spirits and things that go bump in the night.”

“Sounds like she’s interested in studying you.”

“Experimenting on me, more like.”

She grinned. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

He chuckled. “What did you think of Kendrick’s theories?”

“The one about the shadows being generated by evil caught my attention—especially taking Stonecliff’s history into consideration. Do you think the shadows could somehow be responsible for Olivia Dodd and Langley and the missing men?”

He shrugged. “Unlikely. I’ve never known a spirit to murder anyone.”

“Something tried to shove me down the stairs.” A shiver crept up her spine.

“And someone flesh and blood tried to stab you last night.”

Had it really just been yesterday that someone had come at her with a knife? A strange vertigo gripped her, as if the world itself were spinning too quickly. “Everything feels so unreal, almost like I’m watching it happen to someone else.”

Reece reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “We’ll be all right.”

She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t shake the unease creeping over her. “Who is our most likely suspect, then? Warlow? Ruth?”

“Even if what you heard about her is true, her victims were elderly, sick. Your father would be in danger. Not someone young and fit like Olivia Dodd or Langley.”

“Dylis Paskin told me Langley was involved in some kind of scam with Cragera Bay’s elderly residents. You don’t think there’s a link there? Maybe he saw something he shouldn’t have.”

“What about the other three men? Ruth Bigsby’s only been at Stonecliff for a few months.”

“Maybe Langley and Olivia Dodd aren’t connected to those other men at all. They vanished, without a trace. Whoever killed Langley and Olivia wanted them found.”

Reece shook his head, but didn’t look away from the road. “Why would Ruth kill Olivia or try to kill you for that matter? Warlow could have easily been involved with the men who disappeared, in what happened to you as a child.”

“Why would he suddenly change from making men disappear to leaving them to be found?”

Reece shrugged. “Maybe he wants Eleri blamed.”

“Then he wouldn’t have killed Olivia. He knew Eleri had been arrested.” Brynn frowned, the scenario turning in her head. “What do you know about Stephen Paskin?”

Reece glanced away from the road, brows lifting doubtfully. “You think Stephen Paskin did it?”

A twinge of guilt twisted low in her belly. The Paskins had been nothing but kind to her. Still, something about her last encounter with them niggled at the back of her brain. “He blames Eleri for his son’s death.”

“So he murdered two innocent people to see she was sent down for it?”

He was right. It was too big a stretch. “We need to know more about Ruth and Warlow.”

“What do you suggest?”

She’d have had to be deaf to miss his wry tone.

“We start by searching their rooms.”

He turned between the gateposts. Brynn shifted so her back was to him and to the sea when they emerged from the trees.

“You still can’t look at the water?” he asked, and pressed a little harder on the accelerator.

She shook her head. “No.”

“It hasn’t gotten any easier being so close to the sea these past days?”

“I doubt it ever will.”

“You should be leaving Stonecliff,” Reece ground out. “Not searching for clues like a second-rate investigator.”

Irritation prickled the back of her neck. “If you could go without having to face those charges, would you leave me to deal with this on my own?”

“Of course not,” he snapped.

“Then why would you think that I would do that to you, or Eleri, for that matter?”

She risked a glance at him, but Reece’s attention was back on the drive, his features inscrutable.

Reece didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled into the courtyard and cut the engine. Dark clouds hung low in the sky, tiny pellets of sleet pelted the windshield. Stonecliff loomed over them, gloomy and forbidding.

“Are you ready?” Reece asked.

She blew out a sigh. “As I’ll ever be.”

* * *

“Well, this shouldn’t take long, at least.” Brynn stood just inside Ruth’s small room. A twin bed pushed against one wall, a dresser next to the door, and an overstuffed chair and floor lamp by the window all that filled the small space.

Reece leaned against the door frame and glanced down the hall. “I’ll keep watch.”

Brynn nodded. Not that she was worried about Ruth finding them. The woman kept to a strict schedule and would be with Arthur until after dinner. Searching Hugh Warlow’s room would be another story entirely. The man moved around Stonecliff like a ghost.

She crossed to the dresser and pulled open the top drawer filled with Ruth’s underclothes. She really didn’t want to root through the woman’s underwear, but what choice did she have?

“What are you looking for?” Reece asked.

“I don’t know, exactly.” Brynn wrinkled her nose and flicked through the nylon unmentionables. “Something that would give us a hint about who the woman is. Why she’s at Stonecliff.”

Satisfied there was nothing in the drawer besides clothing, she felt the underside of the drawer in case anything had been hidden there. Nothing. She went on to the next drawer, and the next, but found only more clothes.

With a long sigh, she moved to the nightstand and pulled open the drawer—empty except for a pair of reading glasses and a paperback romance novel.

Maybe Reece had been right all along. She’d let Judith’s unsubstantiated stories fuel her imagination.

Brynn knelt beside the bed and tugged out a battered red suitcase. She flipped open the metal latches and lifted the lid. Inside was a thick wire ring notebook with the word
Scrapbook
embossed on the cover.

“Huh, this is interesting.” She flipped through the pages and Reece left his post by the door to take a look.

“What is it?”

“Newspaper articles about the disappearances.” Most she’d already seen when she searched her sister’s name online. One included a row of pictures along the bottom—seven men who had never been seen since their time at Stonecliff, according to the article. “Did all these men work here? I thought Eleri was only investigated for three besides Langley.”

Reece shrugged. “Harding never mentioned anyone else to me.”

Why would Ruth have a collection of articles detailing the disappearances? Was she some kind of vigilante? A fan?

“What are you two doing in here?”

At the sound of a woman’s voice, Brynn’s heart lodged in her throat. Reece stiffened beside her.

Eleri stood in the doorway, a frown tightening her features.

“You scared the hell out of me,” Brynn said, pressing her hand to her chest. “Harding let you go?”

“He didn’t have much choice with Olivia Dodd turning up dead. What are you doing in Ruth’s room?”

Brynn told her sister about her trip to Hazelwood and what the nurse had said about Ruth.

“We found this.” Brynn held out the scrapbook.

Eleri scowled. “This bastard again. Jameson Peirs. He’s a tabloid reporter who somehow stumbled on the disappearances at Stonecliff. He must have thought he’d found some great crime story. He’s actually the one who coined the name ‘The Witch of Stonecliff.’”

Brynn pointed to the row of pictures. “Why are there so many?”

“Peirs tried attributing any man who disappeared anywhere near Cragera Bay, anywhere near the island, to me.”

One of the pictures had been circled heavily in black ink, as if someone had dragged a pen around it again and again. “Do you know who that is?”

Eleri nodded. “Daniel Forbes.”

Brynn flipped through the pages. More articles, any mention of Daniel Forbes highlighted in bright yellow. Articles tapered off to pictures of a bland suburban house, a school, a photocopy of Daniel’s yearbook photo.

“Is that a screen capture of Daniel’s Facebook profile?” Brynn asked.

Reece nodded. “I think so.”

Was she stalking him? Did she know him? None of the items in the scrapbook indicated any personal connection, yet he obviously meant something to Ruth.

She turned to Reece. “You have to take this to Harding.”

* * *

After leaving Ruth’s room, they went to the study where they decided Reece should take Ruth’s file to Harding. Brynn watched his taillights vanish from the window. Unease coiled around her insides like a snake, squeezing tight. What if Harding didn’t believe them? He had to. Ruth’s connection to Daniel, her history at Hazelwood all cast suspicion on the woman. Slate clouds hung low in the sky. Small snowflakes mingled with icy sleet pelted the glass.

She turned from the window and started. Eleri leaned back against the edge of the desk watching her. Brynn pressed her hand to feel the rapid beat in her chest. “You scared me. I didn’t know you were there.”

Eleri’s stony expression remained, dark eyes measuring her. “He’s working for Harding, isn’t he? That’s why you’re so certain the detective will listen to him.”

There was no point lying to Eleri at this stage. They were all in this mess together now. “He’s feeding the detective information.”
Baiting you into killing him
. But she kept that to herself.

“How long have you known?”

Brynn sighed. “A few days.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Though, it was more statement than question. “Did you keep his secret because you still believed I was guilty?”

Guilt twisted in her chest and she shook her head. “There was so much happening, I forgot about it at first. Then I didn’t want him to be fired. He’s not here by choice, and Harding could make his life difficult if he doesn’t do what the detective wants.”

Eleri chuckled, the sound hollow. “Well, we wouldn’t want Mr. Conway to have a
difficult
life.”

“He’s on our side.”

“No, he’s on
your
side.” Eleri pushed away from the desk, anger flashing in her dark eyes. “He still thinks I’m guilty.”

“He wouldn’t be going to Harding with Ruth’s book if he did.”

“He might think I didn’t kill Langley or Olivia Dodd, but he doesn’t believe I’m innocent of the rest, I can promise you that. Do you believe it?”

Did she? She knew her sister hadn’t tried to kill her—either time. And Eleri wasn’t responsible for what happened to Langley or Olivia Dodd. Surely, there was a good chance that she was innocent of all of it. “I don’t think you did it, any of it. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Reece sooner.”

Eleri held her gaze for a long moment, her expression as unreadable as always. “I suppose that’s something, then. Right, I have things to do.”

Eleri turned and left the room without a backward glance, obviously still angry. Brynn sighed and sank into the chair behind the desk. She turned to the computer, opened the web browser and searched Ruth’s name. Maybe the woman had been linked to other crimes, other hospitals or nursing homes, but she didn’t find anything unusual.

“Excuse me.” A woman’s voice jerked Brynn’s attention from the screen. She had no idea how much time had passed, but the sky outside had started to darken.

Ruth stood inside the doorway, and Brynn’s pulse fluttered in her throat. She’d only spoken to the woman once since she’d arrived, yet here she was on the same day they’d searched her room. An unlikely coincidence.

“I’m looking for Eleri. Have you seen her?”

Brynn shrugged. “She said she had things to do.”

“Probably still searching for a tenant for Morehead, but who would want to let a property from a killer?” Ruth asked, bemused smile stretching across her bony features. She took a step closer. “Your father’s condition has worsened. He should be hospitalized.”

Brynn’s heart rate kicked up. “I’m afraid I have little say in the matter. You should speak to Hugh.”

“He’s in Beaumaris seeing to Mr. James’s investments, and Mrs. Voyle has gone into the village for his prescriptions.”

Leaving Eleri and Brynn alone with Ruth. Her stomach sank, cold washing over her. Where had Eleri gone?

Ruth tilted her head, the odd smile of hers stretching wider. “Perhaps if you spoke to your father, he’d be receptive to the idea.”

“I have no influence with my father.”

“I feel terrible for the poor man.” Ruth took another quick step toward her. “He has no one looking out for his interests.”

Slowly, Brynn stood and eased away from the desk, but Ruth was blocking the door. She glanced at the French doors that would take her outside. She liked her odds of getting to those better than past Ruth. She stepped back toward them. “If he’s as sick as you say, call an ambulance.”

“I suppose, though, I’m more sensitive to his plight than others,” Ruth continued as though Brynn hadn’t spoken at all. “I will, after all, find myself in a similar situation when my time comes. Did you know I had a son?”