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"Aye, I will. Cannae promise anything, though."
"Just give it a go. That's all I ask." She leans across the coffee table to touch my hand. "Remember, you are also a direct descendant of Kieran. Maybe that's why you were born with the sort of mind that can unravel riddles."
I have trouble believing that, but I can't say for sure it's not true.
For the next three days, we stay at Dùndubhan so Isaac and Ashley can get to know my extended family without needing to drive to their homes. Everyone stops by at some point. It's become a revolving door of MacTaggarts and Murdochs, with my ma in residence with us and Great Uncle Torcall stopping by twice.
I spend several hours a day studying Efrica's diary. Ashley offers to help me, but I want her to spend time with her father, and my mother too. I make sure I don't lock myself away in the sitting room all day and all night, like an obsessed man who would starve just to solve a mystery. I need food—and sex. Ashley is more than happy to remind me to do both. I eat breakfast with the family, then work through lunch. But in the mid afternoon, I need a break. Ashley and I go for walks in the woods to relax and discuss the mystery of Kieran MacTaggart.
Kieran was, according to Efrica, a practicing witch who only helped people and never hurt a soul. Despite that, someone managed to frame him for stealing from other members of the family. Kieran was banished from his own clan. He went to live with his three aunts in an abandoned castle. But when Kieran's father died, Simidh Gunn tried to seize control of the MacTaggart clan by marrying a MacTaggart woman. She did not consent to the marriage, but Gunn didn't care.
Later on, though nothing in the diary says precisely when, Kieran was accused of witchcraft, tried for the crime, convicted, and executed.
I haven't figured out yet what happened between Kieran's banishment and his witch trial. The diary leaves many pages empty, like a black hole swallowed up the information that had been written on them. Then, six months after Kieran's execution, Efrica writes in her diary that Kieran's daughter has been born, and that Kieran himself is not dead.
His grave is empty, we know that much. Kirsty and Luke asked my cousin Ian to help them determine what, if anything, lies inside that grave. Iain used ground-penetrating radar to prove that Kieran's supposed final resting place contains no human remains.
What happened to Kieran's remains? Who was the mother of his child? If he did indeed survive his execution, somehow, might he have moved far away to escape persecution? With his wife and child?
On our third night at Dùndubhan, Ashley and I sit in bed, side by side, so we can peruse the diary yet again. She leans her head against my shoulder. I absently stroke her thigh. The one section of the diary that confounds me and arouses my puzzle-solving senses is the empty pages near the end. The final ten pages contain a genealogy of the MacTaggart clan.
Those blank pages…
Ashley stares down at them, then glances up at me. "Empty pages fascinate you. Must be a reason why."
"There is. But it might sound barmy."
"You know your insanity is one of the many reasons I love you."
It takes me several seconds before I realize what she just said. "You love me?"
She laughs gently. "Yes, Errol, I love you."
"Well, I love you too."
The bonnie lass kisses me. "I'm glad you feel the way I do. But I'm dying to know what you think you see on those blank pages."
"It's not what I see, but what I don't see."
She studies me for a moment. Then a sly smile curves her sexy lips. "Invisible ink."
"How did you know what I was thinking? Maybe you're the one descended from witches."
"Doubtful. But I've gotten to know the way you think, and the faces you make when you're onto something."
"But how did you get from facial expressions to invisible ink?"
She taps my temple with one finger. "I know your brain. And I was there when you figured out the Ellsworth map had invisible ink on the backside."
"Hmm. Not sure how I feel about marrying a woman who can read my mind."
"Not sure how I feel about a man who needs to think about whether he wants to marry me."
"Let's talk about that later." I hold the diary closer to my face. "I think I see some faint lines on the paper. I wonder if the app on my phone could bring them out."
"How about we take a break for tonight?" She climbs onto my lap and removes her dressing gown. "Give your brain a rest. Let me stimulate the rest of you."
I set the diary on the nightstand and make love to Ashley.
