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Colleen, Mark, and Red met Ragnar and Megan for breakfast in the B and B’s charming dining room the next morning.
Colleen made the announcement.
“Wow!” Megan said. “I—Congratulations! Is that allowed? I mean, does one of you have to quit or transfer or—”
“Not with the Krewe,” Ragnar told her.
“Oh, great! Have you told Mom and Dad or Patrick—you’d best tell Patrick. And Mom and Dad, of course—”
“I’ll call this afternoon,” Colleen said. She smiled. Her parents had wanted her to come to Orlando. She had tried to play down the danger she and Megan had faced, assuring her parents she and her partners had been in control all along.
Patrick had been harder to convince. But then, he was a criminal psychologist and was never surprised by the way a demented killer’s mind might work.
They didn’t need the truth. Patrick knew the truth but was convinced not to drop everything and rush down because the trauma was over. He might just show up anyway, Colleen thought, when the weekend arrived.
“So, when? Weddings take time to plan—”
“Quickie marriage,” Colleen said.
“We should have gone to Vegas,” Ragnar put in.
“Ah, too late!” Mark said. “But, hey, if you hang around until we get back, maybe you and Megan can be our witnesses.”
“Um, sure,” Megan said. She frowned. “I’ll hang around. If you’ll help me.”
“Help you—do what?” Colleen asked.
“Bring me back to the cemetery. I want to see Sergeant Parker again. And I want everything you have on him and the girl he was trying to save. And in your free time, you have to help me work on it!”
“We won’t mind doing that in the least,” Mark assured her.
Ragnar let out a long breath. “We’re going to have to try to get Ayers to talk too. Both men are going up on federal charges, and the attorneys want to go for the death penalty. Ayers said we didn’t know the half of it. The families of any other potential victims deserve to know.”
“I don’t think that’s what he meant,” Megan said.
“He screamed it twice,” Ragnar told her. “Oh, that’s right. You were passed out the first time.”
Megan gave him a condemning glare. “I may not be an agent!” she snapped. She shook her head. “But that’s not what he meant.”
“What do you think he meant?” Mark asked her.
Megan inhaled a deep breath and looked at each of them before speaking.
“Well, it seems as if Rory Ayers was something of a mentor to Jim Carver. He’s a brilliant technical guy—and I figure that’s how he and Carver were communicating without being discovered. He kidnapped me—thinking I was you, Colleen—in order to bring me to Carver, so he knew Carver had planned an escape. They both knew where to go.”
“That’s what we’ve all figured, yes,” Colleen said.
Megan shrugged. “I’m thinking Ayers might have had a mentor too. Or worse, they were schooling someone else.”
“And you do usually know what people mean,” Colleen said.
“I’m just afraid you’re going to find lots of old victims,” she said. She winced. “And maybe some fresh ones.”
“We’re on vacation,” Ragnar said. “And the Krewe is now a nice-sized agency. Others are working on finding cabins in the woods. The three McFadden brothers, who know the area, are on it along with others. I’m going to enjoy the view, the breeze, and time off.” He smiled pleasantly at Megan. “I’m going to enjoy it, no matter what clouds some might see!”
Megan shook her head. “I think I’m going to go back down and do another of the tours. They have a great ghost tour here tonight by the way.” She grinned. “I’ll see who I can meet!”
“Or see again,” Colleen reminded her.
“And who might that be?” Mark asked.
“Father Michael Costello. He was a priest here at St. Peter’s Catholic Church during the days of John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry. The poor man witnessed everything. And the church became a hospital and the city changed hands again and again. We met a pair of Civil War soldiers—one who had been with the Union and the other with the Confederacy—who became best friends. They were both killed in battle,” Colleen said.
“They’re wonderful!” Megan said. “Patrick talked with them endlessly. He was always trying to get into people’s minds! Anyway, they try to make sure we understand history now. Guides who mess up might be pinched! Private Rickie Naughton—CSA—and Sergeant Ryan Huntington—USA—try to make sure we understand the war proved what our Constitution says—that all men are created equal. Well, men and women,” she added sweetly, glaring at Ragnar.
“I’d love to meet them,” Ragnar said, ignoring the look she gave him. “Maybe I’ll go on this tour too, and see who we see. You guys in?”
“Maybe,” Mark said. He glanced at Colleen. “What does my fiancée have to say about that?”
“She really should have a ring, you know,” Megan told him.
“I really don’t need a ring. Being together is something we choose to be,” Colleen said. “A ring is jewelry. Even a wedding certificate is paper. Legal or not—we’re together.”
“That was beautiful. But we will get a ring!” Mark promised.
“But what about the ghost tour?” Ragnar asked, indicating Megan with a twitch of his head.
“We’ll go,” Colleen agreed.
But as it turned out, they didn’t have to wait for the ghost tour for her to run into an old friend.
Ragnar had told them he wouldn’t really be reading and relaxing; he’d be following Megan. That had pleased Colleen. Her sister’s words troubled her. Megan saw true meaning.
Even with her hearing, Colleen could only know what was said.
“You don’t know the half of it.”
But the Krewe was on it. And she felt they had earned their vacation time.
