The Ghosts of Cragera Bay (25 page)

After Sean Leonard’s arrest, the police had arrested two others—the pharmacist and a charter fisherman. Leonard had named both men in an attempt to lessen his sentence. Leonard had even tried to claim he had never killed anyone, that he’d only been brought in to help Warlow at The Devil’s Eye after Dr. Howard had died.

Whether he had actually been a part of the murders or not, he’d been prosecuted for them. He was the only one left alive, after all, and someone had to be brought to justice for all the carnage. The fisherman and pharmacist had not been prosecuted yet. The police had hadn’t found any physical evidence linking the men to the crimes.

This meant Declan had to be extra diligent about keeping away anyone who might want to start up Hugh Warlow’s madness again at The Devil’s Eye.

“There’re only two,” Reece said, moving away from Declan and closer to the fence.

Declan stayed where he was, while Reece tried to convince what remained of the murdered men to move on.

Carly continued her study of the property, keeping track of GMFs and recording the haunt activity on the grounds. The GMFs never dropped, the levels remained as high as ever, but the haunt activity had decreased to almost nothing. He and his sisters hadn’t seen a shadow person since just before the house burned down.

This seemed to suggest her theory that the energy had absorbed the evil from the murders committed here, and that the energy could be neutralized by stopping the killings’ credence. In its way, Stonecliff would have been the greatest investigation of her career, but she could never publish her findings. They could never risk anyone starting up what Warlow had done.

He and Carly had built a good life together; they were happy in their little cottage at the edge of the world. A part of him still could hardly wrap his head around the fact that, through all the terrible things that had happened here, he’d found her. He hadn’t known he could love anyone the way he did Carly. Who knew, maybe those rare good moments helped to dissipate the negative energy here, too.

Carly still taught at the university; her career had kept them afloat for the first six months that he had been cleaning up from the fire and doing what he had to protect themselves and the village from the bog. He and Jayne had ended their partnership on good terms, helping each other out when they needed it, and he’d started his business from scratch. Though, he’d really only had time to focus on it over the past few months, so he was still in the early stages, struggling to build a client list. But it would come.

Allen, Katie and Josh hadn’t been thrilled by the news that he had decided to stay on, and a part of him dreaded what would happen to Josh and Allen without him to intervene. But they seemed to be doing fine. Josh had even started to get his act together. He was working and had found his own place. Carly wondered if half of Josh’s issues stemmed from constantly being compared to Declan, and maybe she was right.

He and Carly had traveled to Seattle so she could meet his family last spring. They’d loved her, and Allen had taken him aside, telling him he understood now why Declan had stayed, assuring him that his mother would have been happy for him.

Declan wasn’t so sure about that. His mother had never wanted him to come back here, and would no doubt be saddened to know he was living on the estate. But hopefully she would understand why.

Reece and Brynn had stayed at Morehead while he and Carly had been in Seattle, to keep an eye on Stonecliff and The Devil’s Eye. When he had announced his plan to stay on after the fire, Eleri had been the first to speak. She didn’t feel it was fair for him to assume the burden and that it should be divided among the three of them—each living at Morehead for four months out of the year. But that wouldn’t have been feasible for his sisters and their husbands. They’d all built their lives away from Cragera Bay and couldn’t just drop out for a third of the year. No, he and Carly would stay, but asked that they house-sit for them once in a while if they went on vacation—which they had no problem with. Reece and Brynn had stayed last summer, and Kyle and Eleri would stay when he and Carly went on their honeymoon to Greece after they were married this April.

“I did what I could,” Reece said, with a shrug. “Hopefully, they’ll go.”

“I don’t know why they’d want to stay.”

“They’re some of the first ones to die and they’ve been here a long time. Sometimes better the devil you know.” Reece cast him a sidelong glance, and then rolled his eyes.

“Warlow? What’s he saying?”

Reece nodded. “His usual goodbye spiel. ‘The Devil’s Eye will be strong again.’ ‘You can’t stop the faithful.’”

Slick knots twisted his insides. Declan would never admit it, but sometimes he feared that Warlow was right, that one day it would start all over again. He gave himself a mental shake. Right now, he and Carly and his family had stopped the evil Warlow had created in its tracks and would keep fighting to see it never came back.

He looked out into the cold, silent woods and smiled hard. “I won.”

And for now, that was true.

By the time he and Reece returned to Morehead it had started snowing again. Big fluffy flakes swirling in the wind. Warm light spilled from the windows and the chill that had gripped him at The Devil’s Eye lessened.

Inside, the small cottage looked a like a Christmas decoration factory had exploded. Every bare surface in the house had been filled with lights, garlands and ornaments, or in some cases all three. Carly had been excited about his sisters and their husbands coming to spend the holiday with them. The warm air was filled with the savory smells of good food cooking, the sound of laughter drifting out from the kitchen.

Whatever anxiety his visit to The Devil’s Eye had inspired waned now that he was home.

“Her hair’s already starting to lighten. I think it will be your color, Brynn,” Eleri was saying, as he and Reece walked into the kitchen. She sat at the table, her six-week-old niece cradled in her arms. “God, could you imagine if she inherits her father’s eyes, too?”

“Let’s hope that’s all she inherits from me,” Reece said, and dropped a kiss on his daughter’s forehead, before strolling to his wife at the kitchen counter and slipping an arm around her waist.

Brynn’s cheek was smudged with flour, evidence she was responsible for the wonderful scent filling the house.

“It won’t matter what traits she inherits,” Eleri said, tickling little Anna’s chin. “Because she’ll be surrounded by people who love her.”

Kyle stood from his chair next to his wife’s and shook Declan’s hand. A part of Declan still marveled that these men had become his friends as well as his family given the strange history that linked them all together.

“How was the drive?” Declan asked.

“Not bad. We made good time,” Kyle said.

Declan looked over at Carly, standing next to the counter a few feet from Brynn and Reece. She was smiling at him and holding out a glass of red wine. Her hair was loose, falling past her shoulders in golden-brown waves. Her snug red sweater hugged her slender frame, black trousers clinging to her long legs. She could still take his breath away.

He accepted the wine and brushed his mouth against hers.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Good. No changes.”

He slid his arm around her waist and she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder while pleasant conversation flowed around them.

A happiness he couldn’t have imagined when he first arrived warmed his chest. He could never have found this life, this sense of peace without Carly. He’d found his place here, with the family he hadn’t known and the woman he loved. He’d come home.

About the Author

DAWN BROWN
’s first sojourn into storytelling began when she was nine. She would gather neighborhood kids into her garage and regale them with ghost stories, believing even then that atmosphere played an important role in a good story.

Dawn has a diploma in journalism, but found herself pursuing a career in computer leasing. After the birth of her son, she gave up the corporate world to be a mom and write full-time, trading in her dreary cubicle for a dreary room in the attic.

Now Dawn spends her days creating dark, romantic mysteries with edgy heroes, clever heroines and villains she hopes will keep her readers sleeping with the light on.

Dawn lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband and son.

To learn more about Dawn and her books, visit her website at
www.dawnbrown.ca
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Also by Dawn Brown

The Devil's Eye

The Witch of Stonecliff