AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Aye. Just keep me goin’ in the right direction.”
Marcus kept one eye on the road and the other on Tait. Her increasing anxiety seemed to keep pace with the miles they traveled. He couldnae blame her. The world she knew had been ripped from her and her future was naught but a terrifying black void. He kenned what he wished for her, for them. But mere wishing wouldnae bring it about.
Now as she stared out the window into the darkness beyond, she gnawed on her thumbnail as if ’twas the key to unlocking the answers to all the puzzles she faced.
“I’m a good listener, Tait, if ye wish tae talk about what’s on yer mind.”
When she turned to him with her pretty brow furrowed, he ached to reach out, smooth those lines and assure her all would be okay. Though ’twas his most fervent wish, he knew ’twouldnae be the truth. He’d learned centuries ago, wishes—no matter how impassioned—were an impotent force on the outcome. Just as his desire to keep her safe seemed to be.
“I’ve gone over and over everything that’s happened,” she explained, shaking her head. “What I saw. What I did. What I’ll testify to in court. And I keep circling back to the same thing we’ve talked about. What do they think I know or have? It must be significant for them to be willing to kill for it. Everyone butme, that is.”
She raised a hand, palm up, before letting it fall back to her lap. “Whatever it is, they can have it, and good riddance.”
If only ’twas that simple.“Wouldnae that suggest’tisnaesomethin’ ye know and can testify tae?” Marcus reasoned. “Otherwise, as ye said earlier, a bullet would suffice. Nae lass,” he glanced at her. “It has tae be somethin’ ye dinnae ken ye know. Mayhap something Luca said that ye dinnae realize the importance of? Or somethin’ he gave ye that has some unknown value tae those chasin’ ye.”
“That’s just it,” Tait frowned. “I’ve racked my brain and can’t come up with anything. Luca was kind and treated me well enough, but everything about him seemed to just float on the surface. I think that’s why we couldn’t really connect. He never volunteered anything about himself and when I asked, he just blew me off. There just wasn’t anything in our conversations—or even our relationship—that held any real significance.”
Feeling guilty for the selfish pleasure that gave him, Marcus focused on other options. “What about gifts? He must have given ye somethin’ durin’ yer time together. A birthday gift? A surprise of some kind? Anythin’ even of wee significance?”
“No,” Tait frowned. “Nothing. He’d take me to dinner every week or so, and occasionally to a show, or something, but he wasn’t the ‘shower-a-woman-with-gifts’ type.” She put her hand on her locket. “Except for the generous gesture he made with my locket. I guess you could call that a gift, although he insisted it wasn’t anything.”
“What wasnae anything?” Marcus pressed. “Whatgesture?”
She lifted the locket and rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger, something Marcus had seen her do dozens of times. Especially when she was worried, or deep in thought.
“Luca knew the locket meant a lot to me because it was a gift from Hannah. It was just cheap tin, of course, with something painted on it to make it look like gold. Hannah could never have afforded anything else. So by the time I met Luca, I’d pretty much rubbed the gold away. He said he’d buy me a new locket, something nicer that I could put Hannah’s picture in. But I didn’t want a different one. I wanted to keep what Hannah gave me.Thisone.”
She shrugged. “But Luca just wouldn’t let it go. He said if I didn’t want a new one, he’d like to take this one and have it gold dipped. That I’d still have the locket that meant the world to me, but it would look like a nice piece of jewelry instead of an old cheap kid’s necklace. So, I let him do it—more to end his doggedness about it, than anything.”
Holding it away from her, she peered down at it. “And it did turn out pretty. So, I have Luca to thank for that.”
Suspicion cut into Marcus’ thoughts. “Are ye sure ’tis theverrasame locket?”
“Of course,” she said, turning the locket over. “There’s a little dent right here on the back that’s always been there. I suspect it was there when Hannah bought it,” she smiled, clearly thinking back. “I’m sure she bought it second hand, but that’s what makes it so special. She sacrificed to give it to me. And I don’t plan to ever stop wearing it.”
“But ye did,” Marcus replied, “just for a wee while, when Luca took it tae be gold-dipped, aye?”
“Yes,” she nodded.
“For how long?” he pressed. “How long did he have it?”
“Two days, and I was a wreck the entire time. But Luca was right, it was worth it.”
“And ye let him take Hannah’s picture along with it?”
“Yes,” Tait said slowly. “He said it would be a good idea to make a copy ahead of time, in case the original got damaged somehow. And he promised to guard it with his life. But the picture wasn’t hurt. And he put it on this pretty gold chain instead of the old tarnished one. So, it all turned out fine.” Tipping her head, she frowned at him. “What’s your point? What are you getting at?”
“Just wondering if the necklace could be a key to the puzzle, since that’s the onlythingye brought with ye.”
“I don’t know how,” Tait replied “I had it long before I met Luca. And he had it dipped months before he was killed. If there was a connection, there’d have been some kind of sign or something over that time. But there wasn’t. He really never mentioned it again.”
All the more reason to be suspicious,Marcus thought. But mayhap ’twas just his desperation to find some sense amidst the mayhem.
Tait still tensed at every car as they ate up the miles, and he still couldnae help keeping an eye out for a green Camaro, no matter how illogical. They couldnae afford to take anything for granted.
“I’m worried about what to do when we get to Salt Lake,” Tait said after a long silence. “I’m not sure who I’m supposed to report to. Evan was handling all of that. Beyond telling me not to trust anyone—especially his two partners—I don’t know whototrust, who to contact, or even where to go. Local Police? Federal officers?”
The strain in Tait’s voice was unmistakable. Marcus clenched the steering wheel, hating that he couldnae do anything to ease her worries. He kenned naught of the American judicial system. He dinnae even ken Scotland’s, for that matter. He was a three-hundred-year-old ghost of a warrior, in love with a woman whose problems were beyond his ability to tackle with brute force and a broadsword. And he knew naught else.
