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Maybe he’s staying away because he sees the evil in you.
That thought, so unexpected, caused me to jerk upright. That voice was not my own thought, so where did it come from?
My breath came short, though not from effort. From fear. How did a voice that was not my voice sound in my own mind?
If you’re not careful, the same thing that happened to Rutger will happen to Gallagher.
I rubbed my eyes with trembling hands. I had no idea what happened to Rutger and understood the source of these thoughts even less. Swallowing down my rising panic, I got up from the bench. I should find Margaret. Even if I couldn’t tell her everything, her solid common sense would be a comfort.
I went to the kitchen, where Della was peeling potatoes. “Do you know where Margaret went?”
“She’s winding the mechanism.” I would have asked after Rafe, but movement outside caught my eye. Black cloak swirling behind him, he strode up the lawn, headed for the trees. “What the hell is he doing out there?” I murmured.
I hadn’t realized I spoke aloud until Della answered me.
“I expect he’s going to reset his wards.”
“The wards,” I murmured. “Of course.”
She went back to her potatoes, leaving me alone with my thoughts. “I’m going to find Margaret.”
I put on my overcoat and bowler hat and headed out into the rain. Drops of water splashed off the brim, making me grateful they weren’t landing in my eyes.
But Margaret wasn’t in the tower. I went back to the house, where Della had moved on to mixing something in a larger crockery bowl. “Did Margaret come back in?”
“I haven’t seen her.”
“Odd.”
I would have seen her if she’d been on the beach, and I would have seen her if she’d followed Rafe. That sense of dread weighing me down grew heavier still.
Rather than trouble Della unnecessarily, I went back outside, making a more thorough survey of the beach. There were really no places to hide. I peered through the window into Rafe’s workshop. No one there, either.
That left the forest.
But Margaret would have no reason to go there That thought stopped me in my tracks. I needed help. I needed to alert Della. I needed to find Rafe.
If finding Rafe meant going into the forest, I would do it.
“Rafe?” I stopped at the opening to the path and called his name. The relative quiet made the distinctive snap of foot on branch ring all the more loudly. I waited, glancing around both for the cause and a place to hide. “Rafe?” Another rustle, one that could be footsteps. I fingered the coin I always kept in my overcoat pocket, ready to turn it into some kind of weapon if necessary.
“Who’s there?” I did my best to stamp out the quaver in my voice. “Rafe?”
He loomed up from behind a large evergreen. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Looking for you.”
“You were just going to wander around until you found me? You’re crazy. You have no idea what’s out here.” He carried his ebony cane, the one he’d used in Seattle.
I found it somehow more threatening. “I can’t find Margaret.”
Raindrops spattered his amber spectacles. “What do you mean?”
Cold. Rude. Could this possibly be the same man who’d kissed me breathless just last night?
I relaxed, letting my hands hang at my sides, as nonthreatening as possible. “Margaret is missing.”
Raindrops glistened in his soggy curls. He never wore a hat, something I hadn’t paid attention to until now. His rough edges only added to his appeal.
