Chapter Fifteen

Luke answered the phone without his name, just saying, “Stirling.”

A soft laugh was his reply. “Join me. I’m with a few friends. Turn to your left.”

Luke did so. He saw the man with the clean-shaven face and tousled blond hair, but it was the same man, the man in all the video images from around the internet café, the man Carly had seen at Graystone Castle.

“Only four chairs,” he said.

“I’ll draw one up,” the caller told him. He laughed softly again. “Though I did see you talking to that cute thing at the bar. Maybe you should chat her up for a minute or two.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind doing that, except I did come to meet you.”

“You’re an American.”

“I am.”

“Find out if she is—and find out where she’s staying. And if her friend is hanging around, too. Then come and join me. As if we’re old friends. Call me Harry. I go by Harry Green. And I’ll call you?”

“John Smith.”

“Seriously?” There was soft laughter at the other end.

“Won’t your friends know we’re not old friends?” Luke asked.

“Ah, you see, we’re new friends, too. These people are visitors to Stirling. Go have a chat with your girl at the bar, see what you can see. I mean, you look like you can manage yourself well enough these days.”

“Oh, yeah. I learned a lot along the way. Doesn’t mean...”

“That you don’t still wish you could put an ice pick through your old man’s eye?”

“Oh, you bet,” Luke said. “And...my first assignment seems to be an easy one!”

The call ended. Luke grinned and walked up to the bar, glad it was still early and the seat next to Carly remained vacant.

He tapped her on the shoulder and gave her a smile. He kept his voice low but just in case asked softly, “This seat still vacant? I may still join you.”

Carly returned the smile and made a sweep with her hands to invite him to take the chair.

Liz, at her side, leaned in. “We know that’s him!” she whispered. “Can’t we just—”

“Liz, we have nothing on the man other than the fact he was in a café, accessed a website and was in Graystone Castle. Liz, you know the law.”

“Well,” Liz said, “you don’t think you can get him to draw a gun on you so that you can shoot him?”

Luke gazed at her, grinning. He didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but Liz was playing a part well—the part of a second girl ready to get into the flirting game.

“Lizzie, not sure how to do that,” he told her. “And if he has people near here...”

“I know, I know,” Liz murmured. “We have to find out where he’s holding, torturing and killing innocents in this area.”

“And take him down for good,” Carly said, sipping her drink.

“I’m supposed to find out where you’re staying,” Luke said.

“Either Vicky Inn or the Glen Hotel,” Liz said. “That’s the best we’ve come up with in our research. Those...they’re old places that have been renovated in the last year. And they were on travel itineraries by some of those who haven’t been heard from since they headed to this area.”

“We can say that I’m trying to figure out where Liz should drop me before she leaves.”

“Perfect,” Luke said, laughing as if they joked about something sweetly amusing. “I can ask my new friend—Harry Green here, by the way—which place I suggest for you to stay. If you are staying in this area. Oh, and remember, I am now John Smith.”

He left his bar stool and stood again, setting a hand on Carly’s back. “You will have lunch with me, then, eh?” he asked her, letting his voice carry.

“As long as I can have another of these!” Carly said, letting her voice carry and lifting her Innis and Gunn.

Luke grinned and headed over to the table where the man who was calling himself Herman Mudgett on his passport—and Homeboy on the website—was sitting.

And, of course, here he was Harry Green.

There was an older woman, perhaps seventy or so, sitting at the table along with him, an attractive woman of about forty and a man who might have been her husband or partner, older than her by a decade or so.

“My friend!” The man calling himself Harry Green stood and welcomed him. “My friends, this is John Smith.”

The older woman arched an amused brow.

“Yeah, I know!” Luke said. “With a surname like Smith, my folks might have given me a more unusual first name, but my dad was John, his dad was John...” He let off with a grimace. “And you all are?”

“Kaye Bolden,” the old woman told him, offering a hand.

“And this lovely couple here are Terry and Jim Allen. We’ve been remarking on your friends at the bar. Old friends, new friends?”

“New friends. Carly and Liz. They’re up from Edinburgh, Liz hosting an American friend and just dropping Carly up here so she can see Stirling, but apparently she still hasn’t decided where she wants to stay.”

“Oh!” Harry Green said, gazing across the table at the couple. “I think we can help there.”

“We own Vicky Inn,” Jim Allen said. “It’s a bit out of the city proper, but still close enough that she can easily see the castle, Stirling Bridge, the kirks...and, of course, if I do say so myself, we’re a perfect place for a foreigner who truly wants the local feel!”

The local feel, yeah!

“I need a place to stay myself,” Luke said.

“I have already made a reservation for you,” Harry Green told him. “Why don’t you bring the young ladies over?”

“I will certainly give it my best shot!” Luke said.

He thought Green moved his head in to speak softly to the couple, who seemed to be concerned.

He couldn’t hear the words, and he wondered what he dared say with the older woman at the table—could she be in on it, or was she an intended victim, someone rich, alone, and ready to hand over her assets to those giving her a comfortable home and a decent life for her later years?

“Vicky Inn! Let me go make the suggestion,” Luke said.

He walked back over to the bar, touching Carly on the back again and smiling as he leaned against the bar.

“Vicky Inn! The lovely couple over there own the place and it sounds great!”

“Great. I’ll go on and head home—” Liz began.

“Don’t you want to have a bite of lunch with us first?” Luke asked her.

“No, I’m afraid I should get back to work,” Liz said. “But, Carly, enjoy! Stirling is wonderful, so much history, you’re going to love it!”

The women stood and Liz hugged Carly as if she was a great friend from across the pond.

“Let me walk you to your car,” Luke said. “And I’ll be right back!” he told Carly. “I can drive you since I’ve decided to stay there myself.”

He accompanied Liz to her car. “Get out of here. Fast,” he told her. “Don’t stop for anything until you’re back at work, right?”

“I have petrol, I’m fine, I won’t stop,” Liz promised. “Duncan has a burner phone that can’t be traced—I’ll get hold of you and let you know when I’m there.”

“Good plan. I don’t want any number assigned to any law enforcement agencies coming through on us. Drive!”

“You got it! You know we’re far smarter than that, right? Planned from the get-go!” She grinned, got behind the wheel and waved as she left the pub’s parking lot behind.

Luke walked back in. So far, so good. Or, so far, worrisome. But they were on course.

In the pub he saw Carly had wasted no time; she had introduced herself to Harry Green, the older woman and the “hospitable” couple who owned Vicky Inn.

He joined them.

“I was just telling your new friend we’re going to need to leave and won’t be able to have lunch with you, which I believe you were planning?” Harry asked Luke.

“John was kind enough to ask me,” Carly said. “And to tell me about Vicky Inn. I’m so glad. I’d looked up a dozen places and just couldn’t make up my mind! But getting to meet Jim and Terry Allen and Kaye...it’s wonderful.”

“I told her I was sure she’d truly love it!” Terry said.

She had a soft, faint brogue and Luke smiled and asked, “Terry, where are you from originally?”

“What? You knew I wasn’t a Scot?” she asked.

“No, I couldn’t tell—”

“But you nailed it. Terry has been here about ten years now, but she’s originally from Alberta, Canada,” Jim told them.

“Ah, nice. Two beautiful places!” Carly said.

“Well, we’ve got to get back. Now, you two enjoy your lunch. The lamb chops here are quite wonderful,” Terry said. “We’ll have nice rooms ready when you get there!”

“Vicky Inn,” Luke said, grinning at Carly. “Built during the Victorian era, and thus—Vicky!”

“Do you think she would have minded?” Jim asked.

“From what I’ve read about Queen Victoria? Not in the least,” Carly assured them.

“Well, I’ve a few things on the agenda, too,” Harry Green said. “You two, whatever you choose from the menu, it will be great. People come from all over to dine here!”

“Thank you!” Carly told him, wide-eyed and excited. “I mean, the local experience is so wonderful. Thank you!”

“Thank your friend there, Mr. Smith,” Harry Green said. Waving, he left the table.

“And we are out, too,” Terry Allen said. “Kaye, are you joining us?” she asked the older woman.

“I do think I should. But I’m delighted to hear that you’ll be joining the Vicky Inn family!” she told Carly and Luke.

“Harry Green” hurried out, followed by Terry and Jim Allen and Kaye Bolden; Terry solicitously held Kaye’s arm lest she trip.

Kaye seemed to walk along just fine.

Carly sank into a chair at the table and Luke took the chair across from her.

“Well?”

“We’re in,” she said.

“All right, different rooms now. As soon as you’re in—”

“Cameras, hoses, anywhere gas might enter a room... I know the drill, Luke, remember? And may I remind you—”

“Learn as quickly as possible what the architectural situation is, if anyone is belowground—alive.”

She nodded. “So, no lamb.”

“More salmon.”

“Think we’ll still like salmon once we’re home?”

“Sure. I’ll just take some pasta or a taco now and then as well.”

Carly laughed softly. “You do know that other places offer a variety of foods.”

He looked up at her, smiling. He’d actually been studying a menu that had been left on the table.

“You’ll never guess what they have,” he told Carly.

“That would be?”

“Tacos! All kinds of tacos, beef, chicken—and fish.”

She grinned. “Hmm. Tacos.”

“Which are great, I’m sure,” Luke said. “But I’m going with the shepherd’s pie.”

“Okay, we’ll both go with the shepherd’s pie,” Carly said agreeably.

“Now, just because I ordered shepherd’s pie—”

“Oooh! Thinking a little too highly of yourself,” she informed him, smiling. Except, suddenly, she wasn’t smiling.

“What’s the matter?” Luke asked her.

“I’m not sure. I just...” she murmured.

“What?”

“Should we be worried about Liz?”

Luke frowned. Liz had been the natural choice to bring Carly—a young woman dropping off her friend from America who wanted to see more of Scotland. And she’d left right away...

And was in a car alone with killers having just seen her.

“You know what I’m worried about!” Carly said.

He nodded.

“It’s a long shot,” Carly said. “But...we’re an investment to them. They’re not going to kill us right away. You need to make them believe that I have money. If they’re eager—”

“If they want a victim quickly, they’ll go after Liz. She came up, she left you. So she could have disappeared anywhere between here and her return to Edinburgh.

“All right,” he decided. “I’ll drop you at the Vicky Inn—and catch up with Liz, get our info through to Campbell and see that she gets an escort for the way home.”

“But then they’ll know—”

He smiled at her. “Not the way I plan to do it!”

“But—”

“Kaye Bolden, an older woman, but you never know. Probably an intended victim, but, hey, we’ve seen some surprising things. Terry and Jim Allen—couples have murdered before. Harry Green, our friend who comes with many names and faces.”

“Or hair colors,” Carly said with a shrug. “But Harry Green or one or two of the others might have headed back to the hotel—”

“And someone might have gone after Liz,” Luke said thoughtfully.

“Maybe I should go after Liz, and you—the new good friend—should head to the hotel,” Carly suggested.

“Let me warn Campbell.”

“Make sure you use the right phone!”

Luke grinned. “Gotcha!”

“It’s a good thing we didn’t get to order tacos, shepherd’s pie or anything else!” she said, rising.

He did the same.

He called Campbell and informed him that their meeting up with the suspects here had left them worried that someone just might go after Liz.

Campbell assured them that he’d get patrol out; Liz wouldn’t be alone.

“I will get men out, but if you can... Liz isn’t trained as an officer or agent. So, just watch out all the way around until we’ve officers everywhere and it’s all in force!” Campbell said.

“Still,” Luke began, “Liz is gone. Carly is here—”

“Luke! You’re worried about me, and I guess I’m thankful for that!” Carly said, smiling. “I’m a good agent. Top of my class. And...”

She paused, frowning.

There was a man staring at them from the bar. He was seated where a middle-aged woman had been a few minutes before. An empty glass was before him.

He was dressed very oddly. He wasn’t wearing a kilt, but he was wearing a strange gray tunic-like wrap. His hair was dark, curly and long, and he had a solid, thick beard of the same color. He watched them curiously and with concern.

Luke realized he was, of course, a dead man.

“I think there’s someone we need to talk to,” he murmured to Carly.

“No,” she said softly. “One of us needs to talk to him. And one of us needs to go after Liz!”

“All right.” He dug in his pocket for his keys. “Vicky Inn can’t be far from here. I’ll get there. Go after Liz.”

Carly nodded. Before she left, however, she turned to the ghost at the bar. She approached him quickly, pretending to have dropped her phone by the stool she had taken earlier.

Luke smiled as he listened to her.

“Dear sir, we see you. My friend and I see you and would so desperately appreciate any help that you could give us!”

Then she turned and hurried out the door.

Luke approached the bar—and the man who had apparently been dead for a very long time—ready to learn what he could from the “remnant” or “remaining spirit,” as many preferred over being called “ghosts.”

But the ghost wasn’t going to have it.

He rose before Luke could reach him, shaking his head. His accent was different: a Scottish burr, but one that was deep and guttural. English hadn’t been his first language, Luke thought.

“Kenneth, clan Menzies,” he said briefly. “I’ll be takin’ m’self to join the lass on her way—she knows not the danger!”

He was gone before Luke could attempt in any way to stop him.