She lowered her head. Adam Harrison. She knew the name. His unit had been involved in solving the death of Regina Hollowayit had been all over the media because she was a senators wife. And she knew, too, that Jake Mallory was part of that unit. She might not be a part of his world, but she hadnt been able to miss it when shed seen his name in the papers. She had broken off something that had been real with Jake, because he had terrified her because he was certain that he had spoken with her father, after he had died. And now.
Now Frazier was going to call Adam. Of course, it could come to nothing. She was panicking over a missing man because of an equally irrational dream.
She looked out on the beautiful expanse of their property. The river rolling by. The moon high over the clouds. The vaults in the cemetery silent and ghostly and opalescent in the pale glow of night.
Jake, Im so scared.
Something was wrong. It was the oddest thing; she felt that she really understood the expression I feel it in my bones. Something wasnt right about Charless disappearance, and she knew it.
It was almost as if the past had truly merged into this eerie and haunting reality, and the collision of time here was not going to go away.
Interlude
Hed known for a long time what hed had to do. The voice had been telling him for years.
At first, of course, he had ignored it. The vision hed seen of the past hadnt been real. But then hed known. Hed known who he was, and hed come to know that the voice wouldnt go away until hed done what needed to be done. And hed carefully planned it all out, though things had gone a bit strangely today. Didnt matter, though, who was playing Marshall Donegal. It didnt matter at all. Because, of course, an actor was just an actor.
It was Donegal Plantation itself that needed to repay the old debt. That old debt could only be repaid one way.
With blood.
God bless a crowd. There was nothing in the world like mayhem, nothing like hundreds of witnesses to pull off an escapade such as he had planned, and to do it perfectly.
There had been a horde surrounding them. One particular brunette was the right age, exceptionally pretty and with a Massachusetts accent. When she spoke, there was an r on the name Linda, and there was no r on the car she had pahked down the river road.
She had giggled when she spoke to Charles, so it was easy to whisper in the mans ear in his moment of greatest achievement and convince him that the girl was waiting to meet him.
And in the madness surrounding everyone engaged in the action then, it was easy enough to meld into the crowd himself, and to swiftly disappear, and hurry to the river road.
And there was Charles.
Hed approached Charles with a smile.
And, of course, Charles was smiling as well. At least he would go in a state of sheer happiness. It might even be a kindness. How many people got to die that happy?
Poor, dumb Charleshe never suspected a thing. After the initial whack, he never even felt the prick of the needle.
Hed thought it all out, exactly where hed send Charles, because it all had to be done in plain sight. In plain sight, people never really knew what they saw.
There were tourists heading to their cars. But theyd never notice two fellows in uniform chatting by a car. Not at an event like this. People liked to dress up.
Maybe everyone wanted to be someone else, someone they werent.
But to them, it would just appear that they were two cronies, faces covered by their broad-brimmed hats, leaning against one another as they chatted and laughed over a joke.
Then hide the body. Or if he had been seen, help an inebriated friend into a car.
He would need more time for the pièce de résistance. Initially, it had taken him less thantwenty minutes to stash Charles and rejoin all those rejoicing over the day.
He had never felt more victorious. The difficult part, of course, would be to hide his anticipation for all that was destined to follow.
It didnt seem that anything could go so impossibly well.
Ashley, damn her, though. Leave it to Ashley to be worried about Charles! Still and all, it did make the entire plan more exciting. Now, with the evening at a close, he was feeling elated.
The place had settled down; though everyone had been willing to look for Charles, only Ashley had been really concerned. He had played with the idea of actually disposing of poor old Charles immediately, but now he was satisfied that he had decided he should make it something more dramaticand allow time between the reenactment and the beginning of the end.
Oh, he had worked with the others. He had searched so hard. There might have been just a few minutes when he feared someone would actually search the cars, but Charles hadnt driven.
It had almost been as if hed been part of the plan.
Now he sat next to good old Charles.
This was necessary. The voice had said that it had to be done, and his ancestor made him know that nothing could be right until then.
Hed never realized that hed enjoy it all so much.
He patted him on the back. Charles didnt move. The drug was holding, but hed administer more. He didnt want the big lug waking up.
He needed him alive until the time was right.
Every time hed been at Donegal recently, hed felt as if he were being pushed harder and harder. The past was the pastso they all said. But it wasnt. The past created the present, and he knew now that he had to use the present to set the past right. It wasnt crazy; hed heard the voices in his head. A collective consciousness that seemed to scream through history.
Now, maybe, the voices would stop.
3
Car bombs didnt exactly do it for him, but Jake indulged in a few anyway.
Cheers! Jenna said, dropping her shot glass into her Guinness, and swallowing down the mixture.
Cheat! Will said to Whitney. You poured your shot inyou just drink the whole thing.
Hey, you drink it your way, and Ill drink it mine! Whitney protested.
Youre not doing it the Irish way, Will said, looking to Jenna for help.
Drink it however you like! Jenna said, smiling sweetly at Will.
There was a small room in the back of the bar, and Jake, Will Chan, Jenna Duffy and Whitney Tremont had it to themselves that night, so it was nice. Jackson Crow was back at the hotel with Angela Hawkins. Theyd all just met for the first time on the Holloway case, and Jackson, the skeptic, had quickly fallen in love with Angeladespite their different approaches to their work. Go figure. The entire team respected and admired them both, and they were glad that the two were indulging in some quality time together.
And for Jake, it felt good to be in the bar with his coworkers.
During the Holloway case, they had gotten to know one another. Will and Whitney were excellent with cameras and sound systems; Jenna was a registered nurse, something that could always come in handy when traipsing through strange landscapes and old buildings. His own expertise was computersand computer hacking. He could usually find any piece of information on any site, public, private or even heavily coded. Yet theyd all had certain unusual experiences in life that had led them to being excellent investigatorsand, together, able to discern deeper, darker undercurrents to the event they researched. Now, they also had badges. After the Holloway case, it had been deemed that they would continue to work together, and they would do so with all proper credentials as FBI agents.
Now, quit whining over the way a woman drinks her drink, Jenna said and turned, leaning an elbow on their table, to talk to Whitney. She had brilliant green eyes and red hair, and a smile that could melt ice. I want to know what else Ive missed. The World War II museum, the Civil War museum, plantations, the zoo
Shall we have another drink? Whitney asked.
But before Jenna could answer, they all heard their phones buzz.
Text from Jackson, Whitney murmured.
Meeting in the morning, Jenna said, the slight Irish lilt in her voice grave.
Hmm. Do you think that means that were not heading to Alexandria? Will asked.
It means something is up, Whitney said, looking at Jake.
Ill pay the bill, Jake told them.
They walked back to their hotel slowly and silently, each wondering what theyd discover in the morning. After they parted, Jake sat up a very long time.
It became morning at last. Ashley didnt feel as if shed slept at all. The dreams continued to plague her, only now she was Emma Donegal, leaving the house in the aftermath of the battle to find the bloody body of her husband. And when she woke herself from the dream, she could have sworn that deceased Confederate soldier was sitting in the wingback chair by the doors to the second-story wraparound porch. She was more tired from being in bed than she was from being awake.
A shower helped revive her a little. Dressed and ready for the day, she headed down to the kitchen. Once it had been a gentlemans den, and then it had been an office, and then, when it was no longer deemed necessary to have the main kitchen in an outbuilding, it had become a wonderful, bright kitchen. The walls were a pale yellow. There was a center granite worktable with stools around it, and suspended racks that held several dozen shining copper cooking utensils. A breakfast nook held a table that sat eight.
Beth was just pouring milk from a carton into serving pitchers. Coffee is on. None of the guests have made it in yet, she said cheerfully.
Whats for breakfast? Ashley asked.
Down-home comfort food this morning, Beth said. Corn bread, blueberry muffins, bacon and cheese omelets, and country cheese grits. Want to grab a plate and eat before it starts getting crazy?
Sure, Ashley said. She watched as her beautiful friend made art out of an omelet and shook her head as Beth handed her the plate full of light, fluffy eggs.
Grits are in the bowl, corn bread is sliced and in those baskets, Beth said.
Ashley helped herself. Im going to waddle across the lawn soon, Ashley told her.
Beth grinned. I doubt it. Youre too fond of those awful creatures out in the stables. You get plenty of exercise. She shivered.
I cant believe that youre afraid of horses. Ashley laughed.
I told youone of the bastards bit me when I was a child! Beth said.
Well, ours wont bite you. You should try riding Tigger. Shes a twenty-year-old sweetie. She moves like an old woman.
Then she may be crotchety as one, too, Beth said. No, honey, you stick to your horses, and Ill stick to cooking.
Ashley dutifully bit into her omelet, and it was delicious. As she was finishing, guests began to stream by her, heading in for breakfast or stopping to clear their tabs. Theyd be down to eight guests that night; the reenactment had taken place on a Sunday, and many of those who came for the reenactment managed to take off the Monday if they had a regular workweek. By Monday night, they were usually down to just a few guests.
She heard Frazier speaking with people on the other side of the stairway, his tone rich and filled with humor as he told old family tales and pointed out certain portraits on the walls.
Ashley took her place at the desk to fill out the registry and booksby hand; people actually signed her guest book, and she wrote personal thank-yousand then could have sworn that someone had approached her. She looked up, but she was alone. For a moment, her brows knit in consternation, but people milled throughout the lower level of the house now and any one of them might have stopped nearby. She gave her concentration back to the project at hand.
She heard a throat being cleared then, and looked upthis time, someone was there. Justin.
He sat in the one of the period wingback chairs that faced the desk.
She frowned. Are you checking out? I thought you were staying a few days.
I am staying another few days, Ashley. I just stopped to see how youre doing, he told her.
She liked Justin. At forty, he was a widower, though years before, he had brought his wife with him, and she had played at being a camp followerwith great relish. They had been married for years before he had lost her to cancer. But Justin still came.
Im fine, thanks. Nancys got the girls? His mother-in-law, Nancy, now came along to help Justin with his ten-year-old twin girls. Hard to be a fighting federal and keep an eye on twins.
Yes. Any word on Charles?
She set her pen down. No. But I havent tried calling anyone this morning. Everyone on that search party last night is weary of me torturing them, so If hes been found, Ill be called right away.
He reached across the desk and put his hand on hers, giving a comforting squeeze.
Ashley, you are part of the charm of this place. You really care. None of us thinks you were torturing us. I was thinking of taking the family for a horse ride later, and I know that Cliff does a lot of the riding tours, but I thought you and I could make another search of it, too.
She was surprised. Sure! And thank you.
Jeanine and Meg dont ride well. They dont get a chance to go riding often enough. You still have two horses calm as the Dead Sea, right?
Nellie is our sweetest. And Tigger is a good old girl if Ive ever known one. Nellie loves him, so theyre great on a ride together. Theyll be perfect for the twins.