Trove (The Katie Walsh Mysteries) (19 page)

Thomas nodded. “Your luggage will be in your rooms in a few minutes.” He looked at his watch. It was a bit after nine in the morning. “Would you care for some breakfast?”

Katie nodded. “I am hungry and I could definitely use some coffee.”

“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll arrange it for about a half hour from now?”

“Yes, please,” Katie answered. “In the meantime, I’ll show Alec where the bedrooms are.” She reached over and tugged on Alec’s arm. “Come on. Follow me,” she said as she headed up the stairs. “We’re on the left side.”

She stopped in front of a paneled, heavy oak door. “This is your room. I’m across the hall,” she said as she pointed over her shoulder.

He opened the door and stepped through. It was as if they’d stepped back in time. There were predominately blue tapestries on the interior walls. Opposite the door and taking up most of the real estate in the room was an enormous king-sized bed. There were four oak columns, one at each corner of the bed, with railings connecting them at the top. “My God,” he said as he walked to the bed and lifted the fabric, “are these actual bed curtains?”

Katie laughed. “The only reason I prefer the Yellow Room over this is the bright color. I have to confess that sometimes, when no one is here, I sneak across the hall and sleep in here with the curtains drawn. It’s just so… so medieval and somehow makes me feel like my knight will steal into my room and peek through the…” She stopped when she caught him grinning at her.

“Don’t stop on my account, milady.” He bowed slightly. “I’m always interested in women’s fantasies.”

She was surprised when she didn’t blush. Normally her face would be on fire. She was warm all right, but the heat wasn’t in her face. “If you’ll excuse me, I want to wash up before breakfast.” She turned to leave.

“Wait,” he said as he grabbed her arm. “Where’s the bathroom?”

She grinned and pointed at the far wall next to the bed. “If you look closely you’ll see a handle on the wall.”

He walked over and found it right where she’d indicated. “It blends in so perfectly, I never would’ve seen it.”

She headed to her room. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

****

She felt lighter here at Willowton, free from constraint and prying eyes. She zipped down the stairs and joined Alec who was perusing the art and statues strategically placed in the foyer. She tucked her arm into his. “This way.” She tugged gently. “I need my coffee.”

She led him into the dining room and helped herself to a scone, some fresh fruit and, hallelujah, coffee. She slid into the chair opposite Alec. “I need to ask you about the runes, and then you’re going to keep your promise and tell me what’s so hush-hush that it had to wait until we got here.”

He nodded. “Ask away.”

“Well, for starters, where are they? Or should I ask, where were they found?”

“Southern England, I think. Why?”

Katie shook her head. “No. They definitely don’t come from there. I’d place them farther north, most likely Scotland, the Highlands perhaps.”

Alec tilted his head and frowned. “What’s the difference?”

“Remember the other day, when I was explaining runes. I told you to think of variations in runes as something like accents.”

“Yeah, I remember, but what’s your point?”

“The same runes could have different meanings. In addition, the runes you gave me are incomplete.”

“What?” Alec asked.

“The reason the other translations don’t make sense is twofold. One reason is because the translators assumed the dossier was correct and that the runes were from southern England and the other reason is that there are missing runes.”

Alec shook his head. “How can that be? They’re etched in stone and the stones seem to be intact. I looked over those pictures and I don’t recall any missing or broken edges.”

Katie sipped her coffee. “Look, I’m no expert but I know for a fact that it’s fairly easy to manipulate photos with ‘off the shelf’ software.”

“Photoshop? You think the runes are
photoshopped
?” He cracked his knuckles. “Josh would never do something like that.”

Her head snapped back. “Josh? Your friend in the fishing photo?” She narrowed her eyes. “What’s he got to do with this?”

Alec’s shoulders slumped, his head along with it.

That niggling feeling came rushing back at warp speed. She knew it. She knew there was something more going on than just a damn translation.

Katie walked around the table and stood next to him. She reached down and lifted his chin with her hand. She looked into his sad puppy dog eyes as he swallowed hard. “Just what have you gotten me involved in, Alec?”

Alec pushed the heavy chair back with his powerful thighs. He rose and wrapped his hand around hers. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”

“We can go to the library. No one will bother us there.”

Katie tugged on his hand and led him down a long corridor decorated with huge portraits, rich tapestries, and several suits of armor strategically posed on the outside walls as if guarding the interior rooms. They passed a half dozen huge doors and, after walking the entire length of the corridor, stopped at a double paneled, twenty-foot-high doorway. She opened the right half of the huge entryway and slipped her hand back into his. She pulled him into the room and closed the door.

She went and sat on the sofa in front of the unlit fireplace. “Come on, Alec.” She held out her hand. “Tell me what’s really going on.”

Alec slumped beside her. He rubbed his hands up and down his face and then dropped them to his thighs. “Katie, I didn’t know it was you when I devised this plan. I swear to God I didn’t know it was you.” She raised her eyebrows. “When I did find out… well, it’s only made everything much more complicated.” He exhaled. “And now that someone’s aware of what you’re working on, I’m afraid I may have put you in the crosshairs.”

She moved slightly down the sofa, tucked her leg under her, and sat sideways facing him. She pulled his hand over and rested it on her thigh. “What the hell are you talking about?” She squeezed his hand. “You know I prefer people to be direct so just tell me.”

He pulled his hand back and then ran both hands through his hair. The tortured look he wore made her fear that he would pull each strand out one by one. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“About nine months ago, I received a voicemail from my friend. He was working on locating an archaeological site in the British Isles. He was supported by an investor who expected to be paid back once the site and any subsequent artifacts had been discovered. Up to that point he hadn’t been successful. Or that’s what he’d led everyone to believe. His personal notes indicate that he was very close to locating the site.”

Katie’s eyebrows knitted together. “Do you know where it is, where he is?”

Alec shook his head. “Remember that picture you picked up in my office the other day?”

She grimaced. “How could I forget? I broke the frame.”

“Well, the man holding the fish is, was, Josh Mason, my friend.”

Her stomach clenched. “Was?”

“He’s the archaeologist.” Alec inhaled and exhaled loudly. “He was murdered.”

“Murdered?” she repeated, absently dropping her eyes to a spot on the carpet as her stomach fluttered. “Are you sure?”

“His car went off a cliff and was submerged in the ocean a week before it was discovered. Once I listened to his voicemail, I tried returning his phone call over several days with no luck. I told Robert about it and he used a few contacts to access Josh’s cell phone records. We were able to locate the area where his last call, the one he made to me, was made.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I started making some calls to local law enforcement and with some prodding from Robert’s contacts, a search was conducted and they discovered the crash site. Once the car was recovered, they identified it as Josh’s based on the registration. To be blunt, there wasn’t a body to retrieve. The officials believe
that between the marine life and violent water, the body, what there was of it, was swept out to sea.”

“Oh, my God,” she said, raising her hand to her mouth, her eyes to his. “I am so sorry, Alec. I had no idea. How horrible.” She could feel tears forming as she envisioned the horrific death.

She saw the pain reflected in his eyes and the tight lines around his mouth. “Alec?”

“Yeah?” he answered hoarsely.

“What makes you say it was murder? I mean, horrific as it was, people do have accidents like that.”

“I know,” he said, his hands clasped as if in prayer. “And I probably would have left it at that, except the local coroner’s inquest discovered that the brake line had been partially cut. It was just a matter of time before the stress of using the brake would expand the cut, blow out the line. Robert had some specialist take a look and they were able to determine the initial cut had been deliberate, caused by a jagged knife.”

She leaned forward, her head down. “Jesus.”

The sweep of the second hand on the mantel clock was the only audible sound, the click of each movement echoing off the walls like a cannon shot. “Who do you think killed him? His partner?”

“That would be my guess. Josh never clearly says why in his notes, but I feel that he didn’t trust the doctor, didn’t even like him.”

“I’m confused. So the motive for the murder would be… what?”

“One hundred percent of the findings.”

“But you said that Josh hid the true extent of his findings from everyone. Would this doctor know that Josh was closer than he had told him? It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Alec rose and began to pace in front of the fireplace. “Let’s assume that this doctor was indeed aware of the imminent discovery, maybe a worker helping Josh told him or something like that. It would be prime motive for getting rid of Josh. The bulk of the work of identifying the site was done. It would just need to be excavated.”

“All right,” she said, tilting her head, running though possible scenarios in her head. “I’ll go along with your line of reasoning for now. But, if that’s the case, have you heard of any discoveries, major or minor, in the general area where you think Josh was working?”

“No. And that is the one big flaw in my theory.”

“So where does that leave you?”

“It leaves me with no option but to rip Josh’s project notes apart, deciphering them to understand exactly what he was looking for and where.”

“Deciphering them? Do you mean they’re encrypted with some secret code or software?”

“Not exactly.”

She rose and walked to stand in front of him, effectively halting his pacing. The unspoken meaning dawned on her as she studied his face. “The runes… the dossier you assigned me… those are Josh’s notes, aren’t they? That document, it’s like that letter intimated. This is not just another project, it’s… it’s what, a quest for vengeance, a treasure hunt?” She cringed inwardly, trying to suppress her disappointment. This was just as she suspected. He was just another treasure hunter and she was just a means to unlock the clues, and nothing more. “Alec, what the hell is going on?”

“I needed help. I commissioned the translations, only,” he said as swept his hand through his hair, “only they set me back months in my hunt for the murderer.” He sighed, looking down at her. “I went to Robert and told him what I needed, what I planned to do to out the killer. I told him I needed the runes translated. I told him of the two respected academics I hired and the useless drivel I got from them.” He turned his head away as she headed back to the sofa. He followed her and sat next to her, his knee touching hers.

“And then he told you about me. The person most likely to translate the runes and send you on your merry way,” she said calmly, too calmly. “But there was a problem, one Robert knew about. Employees aren’t allowed to consult on outside projects. And if they do, not only will we lose our jobs, we’d relinquish any rights to our work and any financial royalties and future payments.” She lifted her eyes to lock onto his. “And Robert, being a board member, he knew that I will be extremely wealthy in a few years. And bless his heart,” she snapped, “he found another way to get you and me together.” She was seething, her blood boiling. She clenched her fists. “He somehow managed to get you the director’s position.”

“Katie, I didn’t know it was you. I swear and he didn’t get me the position. I interviewed with Dr. Austin based on… on Lucy’s recommendation.”

She rose and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows and leaned against the frame, staring out but not really seeing anything. “Lucy Millar doesn’t just help people. There has to be a connection between you. What is it?” She turned and faced him, needing to ask the next question, but not sure she wanted to hear the answer. She swallowed. “Are you two involved?”

He shook his head. “We were, years ago. We did our post-graduate work at the same university. She, Josh, and I were inseparable. One thing led to another and she and I…”

“For how long?”

“Look, Katie, it was years ago, long before I met you.”

“For how long, Alec?”

Alec exhaled. “It lasted almost two years.”