“We will,” Mr. Wilson said, and between the two of them, she thought she might believe him.
She left the door open just the same, just on the off chance one of them started yelling or something, just in case she heard something and had to go break it up.
And she did hear something, though it was a something that was impossible to break up. Like the splitting of her heart, she heard another gunshot.
CHAPTER 84
No! It was her first thought; her second was she never thought Mr. Wilson capable of such cruelty.
Her heart dropped first, then leapt to her throat, then seemed to stop altogether as the pieces fell into place of what could have happened. There was only one possible man with a gun. There was only one possible victim, and at such a range as close as a chat, there was no way he could have missed.
Oh God, Kallias, her darling Kallias! They had not even been married a full day, and now, because ofher, because she trusted the wrong man, he could be—
She couldn’t even think it; she just raced, raced as fast as her legs would take her and prayed like she never had before.
She now hated those rocks that kept the view of their spot from her; she hated every second not knowing what had happened to her beloved.
It was only then, when she was nearly there, that she thought of the gun—of her own recently acquired gun. It sat on the kitchen table. Should she go back? But she had meant what she had said before to Mr. Wilson. She did not think she could take the life of another being, and especially not of one she had long considered her only friend.
How could he do this to her? How could he betray her so? Even if he thought he knew best and was protecting her, it made no sense. Unlike everyone else, he had never told her how to live. Did that suddenly become different now that he wanted her?
But it all became painfully obvious when the sea came into view. Mr. Wilson and Kallias were nowhere to be found. The water had ribbons of red, and Mr. Runington stood on the shore, eyes crazed as he scanned the water, a gun still lingering in his hand.
CHAPTER 85
She froze. This was not what she expected at all. What was he doing here? He wasn’t supposed to show for a week. Mr. Wilson’s fear had been right, for what good reason would he have had for coming here with a gun? Or was he the type of man who always carried guns? Neither was a good look in her mind.
She turned. She’d better get her own gun. Who knew where the other men were, and one was clearly shot. She needed to be able to protect them and herself, and she wasn’t sure if Mr. Wilson had even had a second gun on him.
But the movement must have caught Mr. Runington’s eyes, for he cried, “Miss Wains!”
She didn’t remember how to breathe for a second. What was one to do when a man called their name, smiling, with a gun? What if she still ran? Would he shoot her in the back?
She decided to go with appearing innocent. “Mr. Runington, what are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you until Tuesday.”
“No, I expect not,” he agreed. There was something off about his smile, something heavy and cold that wasn’t there before, but maybe it was her mind filling it in due to the gun.
“What was that sound? Was that you?”
“It was,” he said easily. “I saw that ghost again, Miss Wains.” His look seemed sure that she had too, smug, like he had caught her lying.
“You tried to shoot a ghost?” It came out as weak when she had wished for incredulous, but her hands were still shaking and her mind was screaming,‘Did you hit him?” She tried to rein it in. “Mr. Runington, I thought you cleverer than that.”
“Miss Wains, do you have guests?”
“Guests?” Her eyes darted to the extra lifeboat from Mr. Wilson, and given the blood, there was clearly no denying Mr. Runington had seen someone, likely both.
“So none?” he prompted.
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call him a guest. Mr. Wilson is here somewhere. My God! Don’t tell me you shot him!”
“I was aiming for the ghost,” he replied confidently, as if that sentence wasn’t crazy. “But that creature pulled him right in front of itself, then took his bleeding body off to no doubt finish him off. It’s no ghost, Miss Wains, but a creature. A demon! With fangs and eyes of blood. You’ve never seen it?”
That question felt like a test more than a question, as if he had been the one who had found Kallias on top of her and not Mr. Wilson.
“No?” he started again. “All this time here alone and it’s never approached you?”
“Mr. Runington, I’ve told you before, you can’t startle me off my—”
