Page 20

TWENTY

I took off at a run toward the scream with Kieran close on my heels. I had to find my sister.

“Who was that?” he asked. “Do you know?”

“It’s Lizzie.”

“Be careful,” he said. “Do you even know where we are?”

I shone my flashlight around. “Near the kitchen,” I said. “We have to find her.” I ran toward the kitchen, barely avoiding colliding with the huge built-in cabinet outside the door leading into it.

“Stop,” he said. “Let me get my walkie-talkie from the incident room so I can call the team for help. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

He left, but I kept moving forward.

“Lizzie? Where are you?”

I was met by an eerie silence. My stomach rumbled with nerves and adrenaline soared through my veins. Mr. Poe barked ferociously. She was in trouble.

The mudroom door to the outside was open, and rain pelted through onto the stone floor. I grabbed one of the jackets by the door and pulled the hood up over my head. Then I slipped my feet into some wellies that were a good size too big. I didn’t care.

The wind was crazy, and I could barely walk against it. The rain pelted down so hard that it hurt through the jacket and my jeans. This wasn’t the normally soft rain we’d grown used to in Shamrock Cove.

When I reached the pond, a black blur became visible. Mr. Poe ran toward me, barking his head off. He seldom barked unless something was wrong.

“Where is she?”

He was running with his leash attached but my sister was very much missing. I picked up the muddy leash and he pulled me forward.

For several minutes we fought the weather, and I was beginning to wonder if our dog had any idea where he was going.

“We need to find Lizzie,” I said, in case he’d misunderstood our mission.

He barked and continued to pull me forward. What had she been doing out here and why had she screamed?

I didn’t want to think the worst, but the truth was inevitable. Someone had her.

Dread curdled my stomach. We had to find her.

He pulled me toward a glass building that looked like a nursery. At the entrance, Mr. Poe barked again. It took all my strength to open the glass door against the wind, but I did it. The place was pitch-black, though.

At least the rain wasn’t slicing through my skin.

“Lizzie, are you in here?”

Nothing, except for the rain pounding on the glass and the howl of the wind.

But Mr. Poe kept pulling on the leash. There was a rake by the door, and I grabbed it. I had no idea what was going on, but I might need a weapon.

Our dog slunk forward, growling menacingly. If I let go of the leash, I had a feeling he would attack whoever was in the darkness. I was not about to let him get hurt.

We’d gone about halfway through the building when he stopped, and his growl became a worried bark.

“If you take one more step, I’ll kill her,” a deep, gravelly voice said in the darkness. I couldn’t see anyone. I reached for my phone, but it must have fallen out of my pocket as I ran.

“I’m not moving,” I said.

Mr. Poe barked, and I shushed him.

“Mercy, don’t let him hurt you or Mr. Poe,” my sister begged. “Just do what he wants.”

“Please, don’t hurt her,” I said. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

“If you hadn’t been snooping, none of this would be necessary,” the man growled. It took me a minute, but I recognized his voice. It was Jim, the gardener. He’d seemed like such a kind and knowledgeable man.

I cleared my throat. “The police already know it was the accountant who murdered the priest and the nun. I’m not sure why you’ve taken my sister,” I lied. “We’re good at keeping secrets. If you want the treasure for yourself, you can just let her go, and we won’t say a word.”

“I’m not stupid,” he said.

“Of course you aren’t.” Why hadn’t I listened to Kieran and stayed put? I could have really used his help.

“Okay. Are you saying you killed them? Did they do something terrible? You seem like a nice man. I’m sure you have your reasons for doing what you did.”

“Why would I tell you anything?”

“You make a good point, but there just might be a possibility that I can help you find a way out of this, and you don’t have to hurt my sister or me. I just need to know why. Were you working with Maximillian and the others and they tried to cheat you?”

“You have it all wrong.”

I sighed. At least, as long as I kept him talking, he wasn’t hurting us. I didn’t care so much about myself, but I had to save Lizzie.

“Okay. So not Maximillian. But the priest and the nun.”

“Blasphemous, those two pretending to be what they weren’t. Saw my picture in an article about the castle, didn’t they? Then they threatened to expose me to the O’Sullivans if I didn’t work with them. And they wanted to steal from them. The O’Sullivans have been kind and given me a chance to change my life for the better. I wasn’t about to let those two ruin my life again.”

“So, you worked with them before?” I tried to see if I could find another weapon, but there was very little light. I was on my own against a man who outweighed me by a good fifty pounds and was several inches taller than me too.

I had Krav Maga training, but I was worried my sister might be injured if I went on the attack. I needed a plan.

“Years ago. I had a different name, and I was a different person. I tried to change my life. I was going straight, and then they came and ruined everything.”

“I can see how you might have been frustrated. What did they want you to do?”

“Carl read some story about a treasure being hidden in the castle. He wanted to find it. I tried to explain none of it was true. It would have been found long ago. But he wouldn’t let up. Came up with a scheme, didn’t he?

“Then she showed up.” I assumed he was talking about the would-be nun. “Carl wasn’t happy with her being here as she was supposed to come later when he’d tracked down the treasure. They threatened me, said if I didn’t help them search for the storage room, they’d out me.

“It’s not my fault they are dead. The pair of them left me no choice. I had to protect the O’Sullivans. They have given me purpose and a new life. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.”

“But you did hurt them. You smashed a whiskey bottle on Gordon’s head.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt him. My nerves were in tatters and he surprised me in the distillery and I lashed out without thinking. Then I couldn’t summon help as I shouldn’t have been in there and didn’t want to draw any suspicion my way.”

“That makes sense,” I said softly. “You killed Carl and Sarah because they were ruining everything for you. But why then did you steal the diamond necklace from Sarah’s puzzle box in the incident room?”

“I knew she had kept that trinket in the box from the last job we did together. Enough time has passed now that I could sell it and make myself a little money at the same time. Something for all my trouble. I just want to be left alone to tend to my gardens.”

“I understand. But my sister and I had nothing to do with any of this. Please, let us go.”

“Can’t do that now, can I? You know the truth. Have to do you both in. I don’t want to. I take no pleasure in hurting women and you seem like good people. But I’m not giving up my life here for anyone. I need my gardens.”

“Then that’s two more murders added to your count, and why? I bet with the others, since they were criminals, you could plead self-defense. I write a lot of mysteries, and I’ve seen that happen before.”

I was grasping, but it wasn’t my life I was trying to save. I had to do whatever it took to protect Lizzie and Mr. Poe. I glanced down at him. He was still pulling on the leash, trying to get to Lizzie, but it was as if he understood the danger.

My heartbeat double-timed in my chest, and I could barely breathe because of the nerves.

The gardener didn’t say anything. Maybe, he was thinking about my crazy plan.

Then an arm snaked around my neck, and he pulled me tight against him. Had he been behind me the whole time? So much for my detective skills. And where was my sister?

“Run, Lizzie,” I screamed hoarsely as the arm tightened around my neck.

What is he, some kind of ninja ?

I hadn’t heard or seen him move in the dark.

He squeezed my neck so hard that there were black spots in my eyes. But I couldn’t give in. If he killed me, Lizzie would be next.

I let go of Mr. Poe’s leash, and he darted off.

My training kicked in. Using all of my strength, I twisted in his arms and shoved the fist that wasn’t holding the rake into his throat.

He grunted and stumbled back, and I followed, swinging the rake with all my might. It hit him hard and the tines scraped his face. As he reached up, I kicked at his knees, first one and then the other. He fell.

I roundhouse-kicked at his head, and then swung the rake again. Just as he hit the ground flat, a light blinded me.

“It’s me,” Kieran called out. “You’re under arrest,” he said to the lump on the ground.

As much as I wanted to fall to my knees, as I’d just used every bit of energy, I had to find my sister.

“Lizzie, where are you?” I cried out.

There was no answer.

I stumbled forward, trying to find her. Kieran’s flashlight lit the way to a limp form on the ground just in front of me.

“Please God, let her be okay,” I whispered as I ran toward her.

She was unconscious, but she had a pulse. Mr. Poe sat next to her like a statue. He was protecting her.

“Kieran, help.”

Several people entered the greenhouse at once.

“We’ve got her, miss,” one of Kieran’s men said.

“She’s unconscious but she has a pulse,” I said. “Please, help her.”

“We are,” one of them said kindly.

At the same time, two more men arrived to escort Jim out of the greenhouse. I was surprised he could walk. I had hoped I’d broken his knees.

Maybe it was mean, but I was happy to see he had a limp at least.

I heard something snap, and then my sister’s eyes blinked open. She started to fight the men.

“It’s okay,” I said. “They’re here to help.”

“Are you okay?” she asked. “I knew you’d find me.”

“That she did,” Kieran said from behind me. “And nearly killed the suspect. He’s lucky we showed up when we did. You’re going to have to show me some of those Krav Maga moves you used.”

He said the last part as a joke, and I was glad. I’d been on the verge of tears, more so because I was grateful my sister was okay.

Still, my knees nearly gave out, and Kieran was there, putting his arm around my shoulders. “You’ll be okay,” he said. “You’ve just had a bit of a shock.”

“Thanks for not yelling at me.”

He chuckled. “Oh, you’re not getting off that easy. I will be yelling later. But only after we get you warm and into some dry clothes. Come on, let’s get you both back to the house so we can assess your injuries.”

“I’m fine,” I said.

“We’ll see about that.” Kieran kept his arm around me as we trudged through the rain and mud to the house.

I was freezing by the time we made it back. He wrapped me in a warm blanket that Nora gave him. I shivered even though I was enveloped in warmth.

Shock was weird that way.

“Where is Lizzie?” Rob asked. Our crew were all in the kitchen.

“My team is bringing her in,” Kieran said. “She was injured.”

“So was Mercy,” Brenna said. “Look at her neck.”

I waved away their concern. “I’m really okay.”

“They’re right,” Kieran said. “You are injured. Why didn’t you say something?” He reached for me, and gently touched my neck. A new warmth spread through my body that had nothing to do with the blanket.

“Get some ice,” Lolly said. “You’re going to have some bruising, but maybe we can stop the swelling.”

They all fussed over me and my sister for several hours. We were so lucky to have such lovely friends. Rob and Scott gave Mr. Poe a bath in their room. After a hot shower, I almost felt back to normal.

I dressed in my warmest PJs. When I came out of the bathroom, our friends were all waiting for me in the bedroom. Kieran was in the corner with his notebook open.

“Tell us everything,” Scott said.

And so, I did.