Page 31 of The Valiant Knight (The Ravensmire Chronicles #2)

He was coming around the corner, and she slammed into him, falling.

Luckily, he caught her by the wrist before she hit the floor.

“Hey! Are you okay?” he asked, seeing her frazzled from something.

She didn’t answer.

“What happened?” he asked. “You were gone a little too long, and that freaked me out.”

Gabby composed herself.

Then, she told him about the craziest thing that had happened to her in the storage room.

“Ceit appeared. She made the note land at my feet, and I think Ciarán was the one who killed her. Why else would she give me the note from her to Duncan?”

That was a good question, and now, he had so many more to get answers to.

“She spoke to you?”

She shook her head.

“No, I asked questions, and she nodded or shook her head. We were right. She was killed. In this note, she feared Ciarán, and I think he did her in. We have to figure out who he was, and how he connects to Duncan. I think that he’s his man-at-arms, and lover.”

He listened to her.

“It makes sense. He was always with Duncan, and Duncan was responsible for her death. Ceit nodded when I asked that.”

Oh, boy.

This was getting wild.

“She’s upset because we disturbed her grave, but she doesn’t want to go back out there.”

He didn’t like this at all.

“I asked her how many ghosts were here, and she held up four fingers. I think we have Duncan, Ciarán, Ceit, and…”

And she didn’t know who the last one could be. In fact, she wasn’t sure if the fourth spirit was even tied to this. She hadn’t asked that.

Damn.

She needed to learn to ask better questions. Elizabeth would have known what to ask.

“We’re on the right track because another spirit showed up, and Ceit was clearly afraid of him. She slipped away to escape, and when he turned toward me…”

He stopped her.

“Something came over me in the tower, Gabby,” he said. “I don’t enjoy nearly hurting you, so whatever that was, it’s not a good spirit. It’s dangerous.”

Oh, she got that feeling too, but they couldn’t stop now. They’d opened this can of worms, and now, they had to find out as much as they could.

The last thing she wanted to do was drop this in Elizabeth’s lap to figure out.

“She is trapped. We have to figure this out so she can have peace. There’s more going on here that we don’t have all the answers to. When Gryphen and Ian found Ceit’s grave, it calmed down. We have to keep going.”

That didn’t sound good.

Not.

At.

All.

When they heard footsteps, they saw Tony coming their way. Finn was glad he was there because he didn’t know how to do this.

Solving crime was one thing, but chasing down ghosts? That was a whole other issue. He blacked out in that tower, and that scared him.

“It’s time for dinner,” he said.

Then, he noticed she looked rattled.

“What happened?” he asked.

Gabby was talking really quickly. She told him the whole story, like she’d just told Finn.

He looked skeptical, despite what they’d all felt near Ceit’s grave.

“Really? I want to see the ghost,” he said.

Above them, the one single, solitary hanging light flickered, and the air around them got cold. They could see their breaths again, and that seemed to happen RIGHT before a ghost appeared.

“Or maybe I don’t,” he added. “That gave me goosebumps.”

Oh, it gave them all goosebumps.

There were moments when the castle was creepy, and now was one of those moments.

Tony told them how the lights flickered whenever he said the word ‘malevolent’ .

And sure as shit, the second he said it, they did it again.

“See?” he asked.

Yeah, this was wild, and not in a good way.

Now, Tony was curious.

“What are you going to do next?” he asked. “Because we already moved Ceit, and all that’s left is to put her in the crypt and put the slab back on top. I’ll be finished scanning her later.”

She considered it.

Like with Gryphen and Ian, she knew this was going to come down to research.

Since they had a new name, Ciarán, she was going to start there. Maybe the town archives would have something she could use.

“I have to get to the church, and see what I can find out tomorrow. We need to figure out who Ciarán Begbie is. I think he killed Ceit. She wouldn’t have given me that letter. She is afraid of something.”

Tony pointed out one thing.

“Said a ghost,” he said. “Can we trust a ghost to give us answers?” he asked. “Because that’s a whole lot of gambling that could be problematic. What if we’re wrong, and that pisses off the dead?”

Not far away, a painting fell off the wall. It hit the ground so hard, they all jumped.

“What the hell?” Finn asked.

Apparently, the dead were stirred up, and the living were the cause of it.

They had to find a way to de-escalate it, and that was likely by getting the truth out.

They were staring at the painting.

“See?” Tony asked, his eyes huge. “I’m totally writing a paper on this. I don’t know how I’m doing it, but I am. This is wild.”

Yeah, Finn just wanted to get this handled so they could get the hell out of here.

He was worried about all of their safety, including Graham’s.

After all, he lived here. This place would test anyone’s sanity.

That was for sure.

“We’ll figure it out,” Finn said. “Tomorrow, we’re going into town, and we’ll see what we can find out. If there’s one thing this village is good at, it’s gossiping. We can take a visit to a pub and see if any of the old-timers know any of the gossip.”

That worked for her.

“For now, though, let’s eat so I can think about how I’m going to keep you safe, Gabby. If this is a vengeful, male spirit, like you think it is, you seem to be the focus. Back then, maybe it was Ceit, but now…it’s you.”

She was aware.

Together, they headed back toward the kitchen. When they got there, Graham was gone, but he left a note on the counter.

Honestly, he was the smartest one out of all of them. They were going to sleep in this chaos tonight.

Jaysus.

They needed to be institutionalized.

‘Gone out. I’ll be back tonight.

—G.’

At the island, the food was laid out, and they were all hungry.

Sitting on one side, they began serving food. Gabby put potatoes and turnips on Finn’s plate, and he gave her and Tony lamb.

Then, they began eating.

Gabby had the overwhelming need to talk to Tony, and get a solution for another pressing problem in her life. Only, this one had NOTHING to do with a ghost.

It was more about her ghosting Elizabeth’s team.

“So, Tony, I have a problem.”

At her words, he looked over, and wasn’t sure what the problem would be. They seemed to have a few while they were here.

All supernatural too.

“With what?” he asked.

She went there.

“I’m not returning home with you. I’ve decided to stay here and live in Scotland.”

That hung there.

Honestly, she expected Tony to try to talk her out of it. It was so off the cuff that she wouldn’t blame him.

Instead, he looked at Finn.

The man was saying nothing. That told him all he had to know. He knew exactly why Gabby was staying.

“My God, woman. Make him put on a kilt at least. He should have to work for it.”

Gabby was so relieved that her friend didn’t try to talk her out of it, that she laughed.

Finn wasn’t sure he was joking or not. He had a few kilts. Every Scotsman did. If keeping Gabby meant wearing one around, well, he’d do it.

“Is that a thing?” he asked. “I can put one on if that gets you to want to sit in my lap.”

She snorted.

“I mean, I like you naked,” she said. “Who needs a kilt? Make more of that happen, and you’ve got my full attention.”

Yeah, Tony got the picture crystal clear. He’d told the woman to have some fun, and apparently, she took his advice.

Good.

For.

Her.

“What are you going to tell Elizabeth?” he asked. “Because you’re her hacker, and you help her with cases,” he added.

Speaking of that, Finn was curious.

“How good of a hacker are you?” he asked. “Just out of curiosity. If I asked you to find something obscure and locked down, could you do it?”

Oh, well, if there was one thing that Elizabeth’s team liked, it was show-and-tell. Now, she was going to do just that.

She held out her hand, and Tony handed her his tablet without saying a word.

“What do you want to know?” she asked. “You said obscure information. Test me.”

He wasn’t sure she was serious.

“Really?” he asked.

Gabby nodded.

“I’m not offended. I get the whole ‘oh, I can search the internet too’ look all of the time. It’s more complex than that, so hit me with it.”

He considered it.

Then, he knew what he wanted to see her retrieve.

“My boss did my performance review. It’s on his home computer, and no one’s seen it yet. Can you make it appear?”

Tony laughed.

“That’s a cakewalk. She could have gotten you into the Pentagon, and then made it look like your government was trying to spy.”

Finn stared at them.

“Uh, I don’t want a war. I just want my performance review.”

Gabby winked at him.

Then, she began searching, and pulled a pair of earbuds out of her pocket and plugged them in. She liked to listen to music when she did her dirty work.

He watched as her fingers moved over the tablet, and she was working on extracting that information.

Like Tony said, it was easy, but if he wanted a show, she’d give him one.

Meanwhile, Tony was curious.

“What if it doesn’t work out between the two of you?” he asked, talking to Finn. “She’s risking her career for love.”

He was well aware, and he appreciated that. He’d forever take care of her. No matter what happened, he already knew she was the one.

The sex just confirmed it.

They were a matched set.

“It will work out. I’m not worried.”

Tony had to play Devil’s advocate for his friend. He owed her that.

“How do you know?”

Honestly, he just did, and he understood why Tony was asking. If Gabby had been his friend, he would ask the same questions.

So, he tried to explain.

“When you saw your wife that first time, what did you think?” Finn asked.

He considered it.

Then, he was blunt.

“That I couldn’t wait to tie her to my bed.”

He stared at him.

Wait.

What?

Did he just say…?

“Pardon?”