The Presence (32 page)

She backed away instinctively. Too late, she realized that Thayer had been right. Indeed, he'd been barely walking, but he'd dragged himself after her because…he had known that Tavish would be in the forest.

He took another step toward her.

Toni screamed, as loudly as she could. She screamed again and then turned to run, praying that Tavish was in worse shape than he appeared.

Fingers tangled into her hair, jerking her back. She went crashing down into the water. She tried to rise, but he had her by the throat. She desperately grasped his hands, nails clawing. He was extremely powerful. She saw the world going a darker green all around her.

Green…black…

She heard gasping, choking…no air.

She slammed a knee against his groin with all her strength.

 

Bruce burst out on the little copse that sheltered the stream. And he saw her. Toni. Facedown in the water. Blond hair trailing behind her, floating…

“Toni!” He roared out her name in anguish, heedless of anything else around him as he raced over rocks, embankment, and into the water, falling to his knees, dragging her into his arms. She was still, so still, cold, silent…

He pressed his mouth to hers, parting her lips, breathing in. He staggered up with her in his grasp, anxious to get her to the slick embankment to per form CPR. Yet even as he held her, she gasped, choked, coughed up a wealth of water. Then she opened her eyes.

“Bruce!”

It was little more than a croak, but it registered as a warning. He set her down, spun and caught the blow of Jonathan's billy club right against his temple. He staggered back, falling on his haunches, his vision fading.

“What…the hell are you doing, Jonathan?”

“Taking care of a bloody murderer!” Jonathan told him.

The pain in his head was staggering, the darkness,
welcoming. But he fought it, fought to get back to his feet. “I didn't murder anyone, and you know it!”

“Eh? Like as not how the law will see it, Laird Bruce! There's a fresh one in your old crypt.”

“Aye,” Bruce said, warily meeting his eyes. “You know I did not put it there.”

“Actually, I do. Y'know, Bruce, I'm a handsome fellow. But the girls never came to me quite as they come to you. And there was that castle, rotting on the hill! You never had appreciation, Bruce. Y'don't deserve such a place. Now, if I don't kill you, and your last victim, y'may wind up ruling some prison and gettin' out again. So y'll die here with the lass. I believe y've said yourself upon occasion, ye can buy a title these days. And a castle, on a hill.”

“You've murdered people—to spite me?” Bruce said incredulously.

Jonathan reflected on that for a minute. “Nae, the killing came first. Or maybe not. Maybe y'were the cause of it all, Bruce, because of Maggie.”

“Maggie!” Bruce said incredulously. “Maggie has been gone a very long time, Jonathan.”

“Aye, a long time.”

“She was my fiancée, Jonathan,” Bruce said.

“But I loved her first. And there was a time when I was certain she loved me, too. But you came into the picture, Bruce, and it was as always—the spoils of life to the great laird of the castle! And then there was pity in her eyes when she looked at me. I just hungered from afar, but then…well, she died, and that an act of God. Still, she taught me about women.”

Jonathan started to pace, getting caught up in the frenzy of his words. “You know, Bruce, I've always
been a smarter man than y've ever given me credit for! I'm the clever one, always have been. You, the great Mac Niall, know how to look up your stock reports! But I can do anything with a computer.” He paused a moment, then continued on. “It wasn't after the first girl that I thought of what I could do. It was after the second. There were a few times when I thought I might have erred, so there had to be a scapegoat. Actually, it was quite easy. I set these people up to come. Ah, Bruce, the Internet! What an invention. I knew everything about you there was to know, and you can sell anything at all over the Web, that you can. I thought y'd really show yer temper. Who knew? You might ha' thrown 'em out right on their arses. Then again, they might ha' been around when the last body was found. The lovely Miss Fraser might ha' been spared, but now…well, there will be a bit of a mess to clean up here!”

Bruce locked his jaw, thinking of the dizziness, the darkness that still gripped him. His so-called friend meant to kill them, there, in the forest.

Jonathan drew a knife from his pocket, smiling. “A law officer, attacked. I did what I had to do!”

Jonathan hadn't just resented him, Bruce realized, he had hated him with a pathological conviction for years. The man hadn't acted in any mad, sudden rage. He had plotted and planned, dreamed of this.

Bruce flew at him in a desperate tackle, bringing him down hard in the water. But Jonathan had some strength in him. He forced a roll, bringing Bruce beneath him.

With a cry, Toni threw herself at the man. But he was powerful, and he heard her. Turning, he sent a fist jack knifing out. Toni went flying, falling hard back into the water.

Bruce saw the knife raised high above him, ready to plunge, and forced his shoulder to twist, throwing the man off. But Jonathan instantly started crawling through the water again, intent on getting the knife into Bruce's chest. Bruce managed to lash out with a foot, catching him in the ribs.

He fell back, but was soon up again. Then…absurdly, he stood in the middle of the stream and stared at Bruce, then away, then at Bruce.

“Hold still, y'bloody bastard!” he roared.

Incredulous, Bruce stared back.

Toni was on her rump, edging her way out of the water. “Which one, Jonathan? Which one do you need to kill?” she demanded.

Bruce glanced quickly and sharply at her. They were both seeing…
someone.

“This one, Jonathan! This one! He's leaping at you!” Toni cried.

And to Bruce's amazement, Jonathan went charging forward, determined to wrestle thin air. He found no hold, barely balanced, and turned again, ready to reach for Toni then, the knife silvery in the green darkness, his intent fierce and brutal.

It was Bruce's chance, perhaps his only chance. He gut-tackled the man again, bringing him down hard into the stream. He heard a terrible cracking sound and winced inwardly. They'd struck a rock.

Beneath him, Jonathan Tavish didn't move. He knew it had been self-defense, but he had killed the man. There was a terrible emptiness inside.

He rolled, letting the water of the brook, icy cool and fresh, wash over him. A second later, Toni was by his side, taking his hand. Her eyes, sapphire and glittering
with tears of relief, touched his. The death of any man was a tragedy. They both knew it. Yet, they had survived. For her life, he knew, he would have given his own. And for their future, he couldn't rue the fact that they had both lived.

Not without help.

“He was here, right?” he whispered to her hoarsely. “The great MacNiall. He appeared in the forest. Jonathan saw him, too, and didn't know which of us to kill?”

She nodded.

Bruce closed his eyes. “Thank him for me.”

“I
t's still beyond my comprehension,” Bruce said, sitting across from Robert Chamberlain at the coffee shop. “Why? Why would anyone spend a lifetime wanting nothing more than…well, revenge, I guess, for not being born the laird to a castle?”

“In a way, I can almost feel pity for Jonathan. Whatever his hatreds, real or imagined, they festered in his heart. Along with the sickness that tore into him. Who is to say just what caused what?” Robert asked. “It might have begun with Maggie, and it might have started before she fell in love with you.”

“She never rejected Jonathan for me. There was never anything between them,” Bruce said, shaking his head.

Robert sighed. “But he believed she would have loved him if it hadn't been for you. I'm no psychologist, but when he finally started killing, he might have been looking for women who somewhat resembled Maggie—in the dark, at least. Getting even with her. He chose prostitutes because they can disappear far more easily than your average office worker, wife, mother or schoolgirl. In the main cities, they would just see him for a fairly decent-looking bloke, nothing scraggly or
ugly about the man. They wouldn't hesitate to go with him. Disposing of the bodies in the forest was a way to get to you. Imagine how delighted he must have been, ready to wait and watch, when he snared in that group of Americans—and Thayer. It was nothing for him to slip the money for the payment on their lease into Thayer's account, and make it look as if Thayer had been the one committing the fraud. He was good with computers. Brilliant. It's a pity he couldn't have put it to good use. The fellow is all right, by the way?”

“Ah, yes, fine. Absolutely fine. Toni was nearly hysterical to reach him, once Jonathan was dead. Then the others arrived, and he was helped out of the woods. And, well, you know the rest.” He grimaced. “Here I am, forty-eight hours later, still barred from my own castle while the forensic teams finish with all their work.”

“Bruce—”

“Hey, I was a cop, remember? Take all the time you need to see that everything is processed.” He exhaled with a grimace. “There I was, thinking that Jonathan was incompetent when he was really a master criminal. And I was certain there was something really evil lurking in Thayer Fraser. I'm sure Toni and her friends were just about in terror of poor Eban. I even began to wonder at times if we weren't looking at another husband-and-wife team of killers. And all along I had inspired this terrible hatred myself.”

“Whatever you do, don't blame yourself,” Robert cautioned him. “You didn't do anything to Jonathan. No one knows what really causes that kind of short circuit in the mind and soul. Maybe he was born with a capacity for evil. Or maybe he let it grow inside. Any way, here comes your crew. And I have work to do.”

Toni and the others had arrived, having taken a bit longer to get ready. They were staying at the Thistle and Crown, just down the street, and though it reeked with charm and hospitality, it lacked a great deal in water pressure.

They all greeted Robert affectionately, but he demurred and told them that he had business when they implored him to stay.

As he was leaving, Matt and Darcy Stone arrived, and he went through a series of goodbyes once again.

About to actually depart, Robert stopped suddenly. “Oh!” he said, offering them all a grin.

“Oh?” Bruce said.

“Now I can't believe I forgot to mention this! The bar maid, the young barmaid from Stirling we thought to be missing—do you remember?”

“Oh, aye,” Bruce said.

“Indeed,” Thayer muttered. “Katie.”

“Well, she's not going to be found in the forest,” Robert said. “Seems she turned up in London. She had a date with a young man who convinced her that she was worth more than being a lackey to a mean man. She's working in a clothing shop and going to school. She was horrified when the London bobbies stopped her. She'd had no idea she'd been reported as a missing person.”

“Thank God!” Thayer said.

“Well, now, there's a truism, all right. Good news, for once. Ta, now, folks, for real.”

They were all gathered at the table and the waitress came to take their orders. For several minutes, there was a certain amount of chaos, what with decisions on what to eat and drink being made. Then there was a silence.

So far, all they had done was apologize to one an
other for their suspicions, worry about one another and talk about what had happened. But as of that night, the forest and the castle had been the domain of the police. Evidence was being gathered, and both forest and abode were crime scenes, off-limits. Even Shaunessy and Wallace had been moved to the stables in town. And Eban, loath to leave his little cottage, was now in wonder at the friendly service he received at the little hotel.

So now there was the future. It would be tinged by the past, but as always, the future would be what they made of it.

They were all staring at him.

“Here's how I see it should be done,” Bruce said. “The tours will be stopped—for a few weeks. The police still have possession of the castle. And there will be articles in all the papers, so a little time should definitely pass out of respect. But then, knowing how people really do seem to love the gruesome, you'll probably be so busy, you'll be turning people away.”

Gina made a funny sound in her throat. “You're…going to let us continue?”

He shrugged. “For about half a year.”

“And then?” she whispered.

He didn't get a chance to answer, because Thayer suddenly burst out with, “Who'd ha' figured! Him, Jonathan…a
constable.
A man y'd know all yer life, Bruce!”

The past…yes, it would remain with them awhile. Even when they thought they had talked it out, it came back. Like a ghost from a not so distant time.

Toni looked at Darcy Stone. “Darcy, could Jonathan have been…Grayson Davis, living out another life?”

Darcy smiled and shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe, maybe not.”

Matt added, “There aren't always answers, you know, from the living, or the dead.”

Bruce spoke up. “Maybe he was just a man who resented me all his life—and had a penchant for power and murder, as well. There's nothing that will excuse his actions, but I can almost understand his hatred for me. I had everything he wanted—the castle, the title. De spite the fact that I was seldom here after Maggie died, I was the laird, and that meant something to the people in the village. Then there was Maggie…my fiancée. I'd never known that Jonathan had been in love with her. She always thought they were friends. Apparently, he thought that he'd been rejected. Maybe there's a whole slew of psychological explanations. And then again, maybe he was Grayson Davis, living a new life, without really having learned from the old.”

Gina shivered suddenly and stared at David and Kevin. “And you! You little rats! As soon as you read about that case Bruce had solved in Edinburgh, you were staring at Ryan and I as if we were capable of such horrors.”

“Oh, now, that's not true!” David protested.

“As if Gina would allow another woman next to me, much less find one for me,” Ryan said.

Gina stared at him in reproach.

“You are jealous,” he told her.

“My foot!” she said.

Bruce laughed. “Hey, come on now, Ryan. I've seen you hug Toni.”

“Toni…” He waved a hand in the air. “Toni's my friend.”

“Chopped liver!” Toni said, amazed that she could smile and laugh.

“I hug Toni, just like I hug David and Kevin.”

“Ooh! Sexy!” Kevin teased.

Ryan groaned. “Ignore him, please,” Ryan said to Bruce. “So…you'll let us stay and work for six months. And then what? Are you going to keep working with us, as well?”

“Aye, after the first month.”

“After? Why after? What's happening before then?” David asked.

Bruce turned to Toni, a smile halfway curling his lip. “I thought I'd get away for a bit. And though I know Toni has a true love of Scotland, she might need to get away, too. Somewhere brand-new, very commercial, with a beach and lots of sun. Cancun, the Florida Keys, Aruba…Disney, maybe, though we'd definitely avoid the Haunted Mansion.” He arched a brow to her.

“Toni can't go!” Ryan said. “Then all we'd have is Gina, and she can't do all the female roles. Ow!” he complained at the end as his wife elbowed him.

“There's Lizzie and Trish,” Thayer said. “They'd love to be part of this, though I'm thinking of opting out myself.”

“What?” The question came from around the table.

Thayer grimaced. “You know what all this has taught me? I want to be on the right side of the law. I want to clean up my act, get in some training, learn to be a cop…and apply to be constable here.” He looked at Bruce. “All right, you're thinking I've been something of a scumbag, not worth a hoot—”

“Actually, I was thinking you might be perfect for the job,” Bruce told him.

Thayer sat up straighter, stunned and very pleased. “Aye, I'd be good, I swear it.” He was quiet for a minute, staring at Bruce. “And you…you should go back to police work, you know. Robert told me that you were an asset he sorely misses.”

“Truly, Bruce, it is something you should consider,” Darcy said.

“There are many different ways in which you could put all your learned and…natural talents to good use,” Matt told him.

“Sometime in the future, maybe,” Bruce said. “Just not immediately.”

“Okay, great. You're going off, Thayer wants to be constable and we get to keep doing the tours, minus half the staff!” Ryan said.

“You've got yourself, David and Kevin, Gina…Lizzie and Trish. And we will be back,” Bruce promised. He looked at Toni again. “That is, if you're coming with me?”

“Try to leave without me,” she told him.

“Still, what happens after the six months?” Gina demanded, diverting his attention.

“I think I know,” Darcy said lightly, grinning. “And it doesn't take a psychic to see the future here!”

Bruce's eyes never left Toni. “Well, the way I'm hoping it will go, there will be this magnificent wedding here. The bride will be incredible in white, the groom, traditional in his colors. And the bridal party…well, you all figure it out.” He glared at David and Kevin. “No yellow!” He turned back to Toni, taking her hands. “I was born a privileged man. I ignored that, and my heredity, a long, long time. This castle should be a home. I want to make it so, with a wife, with children. Think
about it, lass!” he said softly, his words earnest. “That poor fellow, the great MacNiall, spent all those years walking this place, watching out for his descendants. I owe him that, don't you think? A bride as fierce, as passionate, as loyal as his own…and great-great-grandchildren?”

It was somehow incredibly special to Toni that he had dared to say this, before them all.

“You said you didn't really know me the other night,” she reminded him.

“I was wrong. I know now—as I knew then—everything about you that I will ever need to know.” He paused, now a little unsure of himself. “I'm sorry, I'm rushing you.”

She shook her head. “No, you're not. I think it's the most wonderful story I've ever heard—and I didn't even make it up myself.”

“Oh, my God!” David exclaimed. “Does that mean you two are engaged?”

“Aye, precisely,” Bruce said.

“Ach, then! It's time for champagne,” Thayer said.

And so there was a toast. And they spent most of the day together, a group that would forever be linked by the strange events they had shared.

Then night came again, and Bruce and Toni were alone at last. Cozy in their little room, he gathered her into his arms, taking her chin, raising it, meeting her eyes. “This is what I haven't said yet. I love you. It's not that I was a monk after Maggie died, nor was I a roving lecher of any kind. I was just existing. And then there was you.”

“My dear, dear, Laird MacNiall!” she returned. “You do have a way with words.”

“You still know very little about me,” he warned her.

She shook her head, delighted just to look into his eyes. “We'll have a month in Aruba for you to tell me everything.”

“And?” he said softly.

“And…I think I fell in love with you the moment you came riding into the hall, the great MacNiall! As you said earlier, I know everything I really need to know about you. And I love you, for everything I know, for you being you.”

He smiled and kissed her. And when the kiss would have become extremely ardent, with clothing being shed, he paused suddenly, staring into her eyes again.

“The great MacNiall?” he queried.

“I don't believe he checked into the hotel,” she teased innocently.

“Toni…is he still around?”

“He's gone,” she said simply.

“You're certain? For good?”

She nodded. “He did what he needed to do. He's at peace.”

“Ah. Well, peace isn't exactly what I intend to give you, you know. I have a feeling there will be plenty of tempest ahead.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way,” she assured him.

Then he kissed her again. And the tempest began.