Deadly Gift (16 page)

A feeling. But it was almost palpable. Every hair on his nape stood up in warning.

He paused just inside the door, closing it behind him as silently as possible. Then, even though it made him feel like a fool, he drew the gun from his waistband, certain that something was amiss.

He moved through the kitchen carefully, then into the hallway, passing the formal dining room and Sean’s office, and entering the foyer.

There, the feeling seemed to be like something thundering in his heart. No, it
was
his heart. As keyed and attuned to danger as it had ever been.

Over there, a flurry of movement.

A creaking on the stairs.

“Stop! Right there, right now!” he shouted.

Suddenly the staircase and foyer were flooded with light. Looking up, he saw a figure at the top of the stairs, indistinguishable in the glare of the lights it had had apparently just turned on.

Simultaneously, someone gasped nearby, someone else shrieked near the bottom of the stairway, and an irritated woman shouted angrily from the doorway to the ground floor bedroom Sean O’Riley had taken over.

As his eyes adjusted, he saw that Kat, wielding a frying pan, was standing at the bottom of the steps. Caer, standing just outside her own door, was apparently the one who had gasped. Not surprisingly, the irritated woman was Amanda O’Riley.

And it was Bridey at the top of the stairway, standing there like an avenging angel with her hand still on the light switch.

He had the gun drawn and aimed. He quickly flicked the safety back on and shoved the gun back into his waistband.

“What the
hell
is going on?” he demanded.

It was a mistake.

They all started speaking at once, their voices rising in their efforts to be heard above one another.

“Oh, my God, it was you!” Kat lashed out at Amanda, looking as if she were ready to go to war with the frying pan.

“It’s my house, whether you like it or not!” Amanda shouted back.

“It’s just that it sounded as if someone was creeping stealthily down the stairs,” Caer tried to explain.

“I did not creep down the stairs, I walked, and I walked because
I
heard someone creeping—and that someone had to be you,” Amanda told Kat, her hands on her hips. Then she spun on Caer. “Or it was you, creeping around where you shouldn’t be. You were hired to be Sean’s nurse, not spend the night listening to Bridey’s ridiculous stories.”

“Listen!” Zach commanded, and—miraculously—they all shut up.

And then they all heard it, a sudden, hard slamming sound.

“It’s the back door,” Zach said. The slamming came again and again, as if the wind was trying to rip the door off its hinges.

He ignored the women and strode through the house, reaching into his waistband for the gun once again, automatically releasing the safety. He reached the rear door that led out to the back porch and the lawn that sloped to the cliff above the sea.

The door was wide open, swinging on its hinges.

He caught it and stepped out onto the porch, scanning the night. There was no sign of anyone anywhere. No sound of an intruder running away into the night. It looked as if the door had been left open, then caught by the wind.

Which was impossible.

They never left the door unlocked, much less open. The house had an alarm, but most of the time no one remembered to set it after Clara and Tom left for the cottage. He cursed himself beneath his breath; he should have thought of that and seen to it himself.

From where he was standing he could see that the cottage was dressed with holiday lights, and that the drapes in the downstairs had been left open, so he could see Tom and Clara’s Christmas tree blinking merrily away.

The wind rose again.

Branches brushed against the house.

The door was nearly ripped from his hands.

He walked back in, closing the door firmly, then locking it. And setting the alarm.

When he got back to the foyer, he saw that Sean O’Riley was up and out of bed in his pajamas. Kat was standing at a distance, tense as her namesake on the proverbial hot tin roof. Caer was in her blue nightgown, like a dark angel, and Bridey had come down the stairs to join everyone.

Amanda stood by Sean; his arm was draped around her, but Zach had the feeling that Amanda had been the one to take his arm and put it over her shoulders.

“Well?” Sean asked.

“I don’t know,” Zach told him flatly. “I didn’t see anyone. The back door was wide open, but it doesn’t look as if anything was disturbed. I’ll call the police.”

“You will not call the police, Zach.”

“Sean—” he began.

But Sean was adamant. “Every single body in this house was creeping around. Someone didn’t close the door properly, that’s all.”

“Clara,” Amanda said with a sigh. “Sean, I think she’s just getting too old.”

“Too old for what, Amanda?” Kat asked. “Dad, she isn’t any older than you are, is she?”

“It’s not the age, it’s the mileage, and Clara is showing her mileage,” Amanda said, holding her temper and not matching the sarcasm that had slipped into Kat’s voice.

“Clara is a member of the family,” Bridey said. “And that’s that,” she added firmly. “Besides, Clara didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Well, if someone didn’t break in, then someone
did
leave the door open,” Amanda said flatly. “And that someone had to have been Clara.”

“No,” Bridey said.

They all looked at her.

“There’s a banshee in the house,” she said, looking around at all of them, shaking her head slightly and smiling, as if they were children and wouldn’t understand. “Haven’t you felt it?” she whispered softly.

Cal silently set his boots by the back door, praying that he could hold the door against the wind, then close it silently. He let out a sigh of relief when he managed to do so.

What a nasty night, he thought. Maybe the weathermen had it wrong again and there was a storm coming in. They had said that it would be a windy night, but that the morning would dawn clear and cold. He locked the door, glad to hear the bolt slide quietly.

Then he tiptoed into the living room.

And went dead still.

There was someone in his house, standing right in front of him.

A scream rose in his throat and burst free just as a person in front of him let loose with an even louder scream.

He reached blindly for the light switch behind him and realized as the lights came on that he’d just been terrified half to death by his wife.

She was clearly as astonished as he was, staring at him wide-eyed, her mouth still open as if she were about to scream again.

Her boots were standing by the front door, and he realized that she, too, had just come in, and had been tiptoeing toward their bedroom in her stocking feet just as he had been.

“You scared me to death,” he told her.

“Me? I just about had a heart attack,” she told him.

They stared at one another for a long moment. Then he frowned and asked, “Where were you? When did you go out?
Why
did you go out?”

Her eyes opened wider, and then
she
frowned. “Wait a minute. Where were
you?
When did you go out, and why?”

“I heard a…noise,” he said. “A moaning. I thought someone was hurt in our backyard.”

She let out a sigh. “I heard it, too,” she told him. “I thought it was coming from the front yard, and quite honestly, I thought it was a wounded hyena, from the way it sounded.” She laughed then with relief. “Oh, Cal.” She hurried to him, nuzzling into his neck. “I thought you were sound asleep. I was scared, but I thought someone was hurt, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

He pulled her against him. “My brave girl. I thought
you
were sound asleep. Let’s check the locks and go to bed.”

She smiled. “I have a better idea. I’m freezing, and that wind is still blowing like a mother. Let’s make a couple of hot toddies and
then
go to bed.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “I can one up that. Let’s check the locks, make hot toddies, go to bed and fool around. And then sleep late. And screw the business.”

She frowned. “Cal, we can’t afford to screw the business, especially now, with Eddie missing, and Sean being sick and all.”

He nodded. “Okay, we screw each other and not the business.”

She laughed. “I doubt if we’ll have any charters tomorrow. But we do need to go in.”

“Of course.”

“Maybe we can go out by ourselves,” she suggested.

“Sure, if you’d like,” he told her.

She pulled away from him. “You check the doors, and I’ll make the toddies. And after that, well, we’ll need each other.” She wiggled her eyebrows playfully. He laughed and went to follow orders.

W
hen Zach entered the breakfast room the next morning, Clara bade him a cheerful good morning as she set a plate of fresh-baked scones on the table.

“Good morning, Clara. You are incredible,” he told her, reaching for one of the scones and eating it where he stood. He was ready to run out to the police station. He didn’t want to call; he wanted to be out of the house from now on when he spoke with Detective Morrissey.

Last night, after Bridey’s eerie announcement, he had soothed her and urged her up to bed. Then, with Sean firmly ordered back to bed by all of them, he had gone over the house top to bottom.

He had wanted to do so alone.

Instead, he had done so with Amanda, Kat and even Caer following him around.

He’d found absolutely nothing out of place.

And no one in the house.

It was a big house, but he had gone through all of it, looked into every closet, every little storage space, and every nook and cranny.

He had even looked under all the beds.

Sean had probably been right, and the back door had just been left open. But he wanted Morrissey to know about the incident anyway. He also needed to give Morrissey the substance he had found on the island. He didn’t know what it was going to prove, even if it
was
talc. But it would at least be circumstantial, and with the detective showing him so much courtesy, he wanted to make sure that he returned it.

“Let me get you some coffee,” Clara said.

“Thank you, Clara. How you do it, I’ll never know. You cook and clean. As huge as this place is, it’s clean as a whistle and runs like silk.”

“Except for the fact that you left the back door open last night,” Amanda announced, breezing into the room. “That can’t happen again,” she said firmly, taking the cup of coffee Clara had just poured for Zach right out of Clara’s hand.

Clara frowned, wiping her hands nervously on the apron she was wearing. “I didn’t leave the door open, Mrs. O’Riley. I certainly did not.”

“Yes, you did. Or Tom did.”

“Tom went to the cottage before me. He had the tree glowing when I came in last night.” Her frown deepened.

“You go out the back, right?” Amanda demanded.

Clara nodded. “But I turned the key and threw the bolt,” she insisted.

“Are you calling me a liar?” Amanda demanded.

“No, of course not.”

“Well, then, there is no other explanation.”

Clara stared at Zach, as if asking for help.

“Tell her, Zach,” Amanda insisted.

“The door was open, Clara,” he admitted unwillingly.

Amanda spun around suddenly to face him. “You were out,” she said. “I was so unnerved last night that I only just realized that. You went out.”

“I went to the charter office.”

“In the middle of the night?” Amanda said, shocked and suspicious.

“I couldn’t sleep. And I’m here to find Eddie,” he said.

Amanda sniffed. “Yeah? I think you’re here because that little bitch upstairs thinks I tried to kill her father.”

Clara wore a look of white-faced horror. Zach tipped his head discreetly in her direction, and she fled.

He turned to Amanda. “
Mrs. O’Riley
,” he said pointedly, “I’m trying hard myself to believe that you’re really in love with Sean. But if I were you, I wouldn’t go calling his daughter a bitch around here.”

She smiled and tossed back the wealth of her hair. “Look, I’m married to the man, which means I’m stuck dealing with the bratty kid—”

“Who’s almost your age,” he reminded her.

She ignored him. “Not to mention having to deal with that other bitch married to Cal, with his dying old crazy aunt and that senile woman in the kitchen. I really don’t know how long my good graces will last. And I wouldn’t want you to bet on the fact that Sean would now or will always choose this harem of nutty sluts over me. So maybe you ought to tell the little bitch to behave herself.”

She didn’t wait for an answer, because she didn’t want one.

She simply grabbed a scone and glided off.

Why the hell had Sean ever married that woman? he wondered.

But he was actually pretty sure he knew. In front of Sean, butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. In front of Sean, when Kat was…catty, Amanda replied with calm and patient courtesy. She pretended to be gentle and loving when it came to Bridey.

She didn’t keep the act up quite as well for Clara or Tom, because in her mind, they were just servants.

And he knew damned well that she disliked him, pure and simple.

And it was a wonder she hadn’t managed to get rid of Caer yet.

He went into the kitchen to assure Clara that they had no idea of who was really to blame, and then he headed out.

He opened the garage door, and then, before he got into the car, he walked out onto the lawn and looked around.

It was a cool, crisp morning, and the wind had died down.

In fact, it had stopped. There didn’t seem to be so much as a flutter in the air. It was amazing.

As he drove toward the police station, he found himself wondering about Caer again. Sean had said that she would be staying until after Christmas. He had the feeling Sean had told Amanda that she was staying, and that was that.

Strange.

Why?
he taunted himself. He had brought her with him when he should have gone out alone to the island, and he had told her what he wasn’t telling anyone else, other than Sean or the cops. He already missed the sight of her when he was away from her. He found himself searching her out when he could.

Hey, he warned himself, watch it, or you’ll be imagining a whole lot more about her. Those eyes. That hair. Those impossibly long legs. Wrapped around you.

He groaned aloud.

And drove.

First things first,
Caer thought. Sean was getting stronger by the day, but she still sat in the chair in his room while he showered and dressed.

He had an appointment with his cardiologist that morning, and Tom was going to drive them.

To her surprise, Amanda opted not to go.

Along the way, Sean pointed out some of the most famous mansions. “You need to go, young lady. They’re all decked out for Christmas.”

“I’m working,” she reminded him.

“Yes, you are. But I’m doing quite well, and no one works all the time.”

“I’ve barely been here, and I’ve already been out on one of your boats.”

Sean just smiled. He was charming, and quite handsome, especially when he smiled. Maybe it wasn’t so odd that he had attracted such a young wife.

Actually, it wasn’t odd that he would attract anyone; what was odd was that he had chosen Amanda.

Caer pushed that thought from her mind. They were nearing the doctor’s office, and anyway, Sean’s marriage was none of her business.

Tom opened the car doors, but when he would have helped Sean out, the older man said, “Tom, I appreciate the offer, but I can walk in on my own, and I need to do so.”

Tom looked at his boss with real affection and concern, then nodded and said that he would stay in the car.

A little while later, Caer accompanied Sean into the exam room, where a nurse took his blood pressure and listened to his heart, then took his temperature. The cardiologist, a Dr. Rankin, came in then and asked Caer about Sean’s medications. She just smiled and said that he should ask Sean, who rattled off the names of everything he was taking, how much and when.

Sean went for a scan of his veins, and Caer went out to the waiting room.

A woman there was reading the newspaper, and Caer saw that there was a picture of Eddie still on the front page, though it was smaller than it had been. The caption read Local Man Still Missing in Bizarre Mystery.

While Sean was still in the middle of his procedure, the doctor sat down with her in his office and asked her about everything that had gone on in Ireland. She was glad that she’d been in the emergency room as she described everything that had happened and everything they’d done.

Dr. Rankin shook his head. “And they suspected food poisoning?”

“Yes.”

“But they couldn’t find anything?”

“I assure you, the testing in Ireland is thorough,” she told him.

She must have sounded a little indignant. He tried to hide a smile. “I believe you. I’m just completely baffled.”

“They were baffled, too,” she admitted.

“And you have no idea?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“He’s doing well now, right?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ve checked his heart, his veins, and given him a low-level stress test. Mr. O’Riley’s in excellent health overall, thank God. But no one lives forever. We age. And the body reacts to the kind of stress he’s just been through. But he’s doing well. I understand you’ll be with him until New Year’s?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good. Keep a close eye on him.”

She hesitated. “Is he healthy enough to get back to, uh…normal relations with his wife?” she managed, looking away at the last. Hell. She was his nurse. This was all matter-of-fact stuff.

To her surprise, Dr. Rankin hesitated. “Medically?” he asked her.

“Of course,” she said.

He looked probingly at her. “She was with him when this happened, right?”

“Yes.”

“Sean told me he’s down on the first floor and she’s still upstairs. Let’s just keep things that way for a bit.”

“Mrs. O’Riley won’t be happy.”

“Mrs. O’Riley should want to play it safe,” Rankin said.

She smiled. “You’re the doctor.”

He nodded, then excused himself to see other patients. Sean reappeared, buttoning his top button and grinning. “I’m officially in good shape,” he told her.

“You’re not in the clear yet.”

“I can drive any day,” he said happily.

“But you shouldn’t,” she said.

“We’ll see.”

“You have Tom.”

“It’s a big house, big lawn. Tom is a busy man.”

“And Clara. She must be busy, too, keeping up with that place.”

“We have maids in a few days each week. No one human being could keep that place clean.”

She smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.” She paused, frowned and asked, “Sean, do any of those maids…”

“Do they have keys to the house?” he asked her.

“Do they?”

“No. Of course not. Clara lets them in, and Clara watches them like a mother hen. A very suspicious mother hen.”

She nodded. “It’s just that…well, that door
was
open last night.”

He grinned, then leaned down to whisper conspiratorially, “Did you hear?”

“What?” For some reason, she found herself whispering back.

“There’s a banshee in the house.” He smiled and winked.

She smiled weakly in return, and linked her arm through his as they made their way back out to Tom and the car.

But when they were settled in the backseat, she looked at him gravely.

“Sean.”

“Yes.”

She hesitated. “You know…Zach is convinced that your friend Eddie is dead,” she said quietly.

“I know.”

“And I’m afraid someone is trying to kill you, too,” she told him very quietly.

He didn’t look at her; he stared straight ahead.

“I know that, too,” he replied. “That’s part of the reason you’re here, right?”

She felt as if every muscle within her tensed. “Pardon?”

“To see that some sneaky S.O.B. doesn’t do me any medical harm, right?”

“Right,” she said weakly, trying to hide her shock.

“I’m going to be fine,” he assured her. “I still have things to do.”

“Don’t we all say that?” she asked softly.

“Of course. And I know that time waits for no man and all that. I just don’t think that it’s my time. Hey, I’ve been wrong before. But I have you and Zach to look out for me. And all any of us can do is our best, right?”

She nodded as he dismissed the subject and pointed down the road. “That’s the way to Green Animals. It’s an old mansion with an impressive topiary menagerie. Bridey loves the place, but you know Bridey. She loves everything magical. Like banshees,” he said, and grinned.

Detective Morrissey sat behind his desk, studying Zach gravely. “You should have called. We could have sent out officers to look around the neighborhood.”

“Sean refused. He insisted the door had just been left open accidentally, and he could be right. Nothing was stolen.”

“Do
you
think the door was left open?” Morrissey asked.

“I don’t know. Several people heard noises, but they could have been hearing each other tramping around. I’ll make sure the alarm is set from now on. What about the sample I brought you?”