Chapter Thirteen

Lily Connoly ranted and raved in the car to the station with such fury and ferocity that her husband begged her to stop.

He apologized to MacDuff, telling him the whole thing had been so upsetting to his wife that apparently she had gone off the rails.

MacDuff reminded her she could call for legal counsel.

Ewan, baffled by everything, said they'd just get there and solve the entire nasty pack of lies. Just because someone said something, didn't make it true. He was happy to confront any statement and dispute it irrevocably himself.

"Sir," MacDuff reminded him, "we do need to know what is going on. Perhaps, when Mrs. Connoly isn't so upset, she'll remember something that will help us."

"They are liars!" Lily Connoly exploded again.

She didn't stop when they reached the station. MacDuff asked Ewan to stay with his wife—he would act as her counsel for the moment.

Despite her screaming, they managed to get the two of them in one interrogation room and Jared Stone in another, with the observation room being between the two.

Brendan Campbell took up a position in the observation room.

"Luke," MacDuff said, "with your agreement, I will have you speak with our screaming virago, and I will have a nice chat with Jared Stone."

"Fine," Luke said.

Once he was seated across from Lily and Ewan, Luke let her go on and on until she was finally winded.

"When do I face my accusers?" she demanded.

He frowned. "You want to see this man, Jared Stone?" he asked. "You want to face him?"

"I want to call him a liar to his face, yes," she told him.

"You don't remember he might have been at your home in a work capacity, again, maybe as a repairman, maybe even as a deliveryman?"

"No!" Lily snapped. "He is a liar, and I have never seen him!"

Ewan Connoly looked as if he'd suddenly received a silent revelation.

"Wait!" he exclaimed. "If anyone let him in at any time, it had to be Flora MacDonald!" He turned to his wife. "Is it possible? Maybe she let him in."

Lily didn't answer, and Ewan looked at Luke.

"If she wants to face this man, we can perhaps discover the truth of this abhorrent situation of lie after lie!"

He was either an extremely talented liar himself, or he was earnestly trying to comprehend what was going on, Luke determined.

He nodded grimly to Ewan and rose.

"Let me confer and see if this is possible," he told them.

Rising, he headed out and into the observation room.

"What do you think?" he asked Campbell.

Campbell sighed. "Well, see for yourself. MacDuff is having an interesting time in there. Stone keeps insisting he is no liar, and Lily Connoly is a dangerous woman. He insists she is cunning and vicious—that when she paid him, she demanded everything she wanted. She promised him she could make life hell on earth for him if he ever breathed a word of what they were doing."

"I think I'll join MacDuff for a minute, see if there is anything that can prove this situation one way or another. We know he was in the house—Flora MacDonald was terrified and anxious to get to us and equally anxious for protection," Luke said.

"Be my guest. Go join MacDuff," Campbell told him.

Luke nodded, left the observation room, and headed in to join MacDuff and Stone.

Stone looked up at him. He'd been caught; he knew he was caught.

"Ah, the American has arrived! Mr. Kendrick, no... Special Agent Luke Kendrick. I remember a little ditty from some movie or show that was on years ago...streaming now, I believe. Had a great song!" He grinned and sang, "Secret agent man..."

"Mr. Stone. You seem to be in decent spirits," Luke said.

"Mr. Stone has spoken with his counsel. He is happy to speak with us now. He's been advised and has chosen to plead guilty to certain charges and hopes to cooperate with us in any way," MacDuff told Luke.

"This is true?" Luke asked Jared Stone.

"I've been cooperating—I will continue to do so," Stone said.

"Even if the charges include conspiracy to commit murder?" Luke asked.

"I did no killing," Stone assured him. "I don't have the stomach for it."

"Accessories to murder don't need to wield the knife," Luke reminded him.

"But my full cooperation will help at my sentencing. I'm a changed man," Stone assured him. "As you can see, I am here. I am willing to say everything I can that might help you in any way."

"And you are aware Lily Connoly is here, calling you a liar, swearing you were never in that house," Luke said.

Stone started to laugh. "I can describe the house down to a tee. I can describe the woman's bedroom. Oh, did you know? They keep separate bedrooms. She claims he snores like a yeti, or something like that, and she needs her personal space when it comes to sleeping." He shrugged. "She also told me she doesn't mind being his wife at all, and her sexcapades are simply because he isn't capable of getting it up, and he does nothing else to appease her needs. She also told me that surely I could tell she is an extremely sensual woman."

"And now she says you're a liar," MacDuff reminded him.

"Paper," Stone said. "I'll draw her bedroom for her—and write about unusual details of the house."

"That can be arranged," MacDuff said.

He left the room and quickly returned with paper.

"She is something!" Stone muttered as he drew.

When he was done, Luke could see the complete placement of furnishings in the room and more. He described everything in her bathroom—and in a top drawer.

"Lots of sex toys!" he told Luke.

Luke nodded. "I'll bring this and show it to the two of them and see their reaction."

MacDuff nodded and Luke left. He brought the paper to the room where Lily was now sobbing and clinging to her husband, who kept trying to soothe her and assure her the wretched criminal would be proved a liar, and they would be out of it once and for all.

However, once Luke entered the room and placed the drawing on the table for both Lily and Ewan to see, Ewan drew back.

"The man drew this?" he demanded. He pulled away from his wife. "Lily, how—"

"Ewan! Don't, don't, I... I don't know how—"

"Lily! He's seen the house, he's seen your room!" Ewan told her, baffled.

But Lily quickly responded, gasping and saying, "That girl! That horrid, horrid girl! She's the one! Arrest that little witch, that deceitful vixen! She did this—oh! She is in conspiracy with this man, creating nothing but trouble for us while we were nothing but kind to her. That's it, Ewan, that explains how this man was in our house. Oh! In my room, in my things! She must be arrested. It's her! She's been working with this horrible man to discredit my husband and me, and I can't even begin to fathom why!"

There was a tap on the one-way mirror.

Luke excused himself again. He entered the observation room. Campbell was waiting, shaking his head.

"Intriguing couple. They are among the...wealthier landed members of the gentry, or so it appears on paper. Mrs. Connoly has been from the beginning, as is my understanding, rather hysterical about everything. Either we're about to send the poor woman to a mental institution through no fault of her own, or...anyway. Jared Stone has insisted to MacDuff he can prove everything that he's saying. He wants to see you again."

"MacDuff is in there with him—"

"Changing places," Campbell told him.

As Campbell spoke, he saw MacDuff was walking into the interrogation room where Ewan and Lily were sitting.

Ewan had moved his chair; his body language seemed to be speaking loud and clear. He was doubtful of Lily now himself.

"All right, then," Luke murmured, heading in to speak with Jared Stone again.

He took the chair, looking at the man. "You know Lily is now claiming you were working with Flora MacDonald. You two are in a conspiracy together."

Stone burst out laughing. "That's just sad." He leaned forward. "You know, one might just think of Lily Connoly as a sad and lonely older woman, disappointed in life, seeking any diversion. But lovely young Flora MacDonald would never need to pay for...attention. I am quite sure you know that to be true. And our dear Lily made sure our...communications all occurred when dear Flora was out of the house. That—"

"Mr. Stone," Luke said. "You said you have some means of proof?"

"You want something on paper again?" Stone asked.

Several sheets remained on the table along with a pencil. For a brief moment, Luke feared their suspect might intend to do himself harm, such as stabbing himself with the pencil.

Such things had happened.

But there was nothing suicidal about Jared Stone. It seemed he believed his cooperation with them would heavily reduce his sentence.

At first, Luke wasn't sure what the man was drawing.

Then he realized it was the human body. A woman's body.

A woman's naked body.

He began shading areas and then writing next to each of the marks he made.

"Birth mark on the dear lady's upper thigh. Marks from a caesarean birth here...and a strange mole just above the groin, here. Surgery scar, maybe? Oh, and an old scar close to the...well, you know. Show her this—and tell her I am not a liar." He started to laugh. "Now, I do understand one might not want to own up to being a horrendous murderer, but she denies being quite the animal in bed! Ah, poor Ewan. So deceived. So tragically deceived!"

"Well, we shall see," Luke murmured. He started to rise again.

"Wait!" Stone said.

"What is it?"

Jared Stone leaned forward. "I heard her on the phone. And I noted she was listening to someone and becoming testy, saying that things needed to be on time. That was the very night I led Lila Strom from the bar to be met by the van driver who your friend killed."

"She might have been talking about anything," Luke said.

"But I was able to see her phone. I saw the number on it. It was the same number from which I received orders on what to do, what nights to do it...if a man or a woman was needed," Stone said. He shrugged. "Now, that I cannot prove. They changed phones frequently. And in fact..." He paused, frowning. "In fact, it was one of the burner phones through which I received a call regarding an older woman seeking companionship. Seriously," he said, grimacing. "Do I look like a bloke who would normally run in the same circles as the Connoly couple?"

"But you think Lily might be involved but not her husband?"

"Poor cuckold! Now, can't say I know the bloke. As you can imagine and have seen, I was never summoned to the house when Mr. Connoly was home."

"All right, thank you," Luke said.

Again, it was time to change rooms. He decided he'd confer with Brendan Campbell before heading back to Ewan and Lily.

He knew he could have taken it right away—but this was Scotland. And he wanted Campbell aware and approving of his actions.

"Crazy waters run deep, eh?" Campbell said, shaking his head. "So...is it more? Take it as you will. This is not a good day for Lily Connoly, one way or another. Either she is just a straying wife—most likely on the serious outs now with her husband—or it gets much, much worse."

"Anything odd yet on her financials?" Luke asked.

"Nothing we can pin. Seems like she had cash with which she paid Mr. Stone for his—services," Campbell said.

Luke nodded and left Campbell, this time joining MacDuff as he sat with Ewan and Lily Connoly.

"Well," he said. "We have another interesting aspect of what you say are lies being created by Mr. Stone," he told Lily, taking a seat.

"He is a liar, a murderer, a con artist—" Lily began.

"But he did draw this," Luke said, tossing the sketch of Lily's naked body on the table.

Ewan stared at the picture and then at his wife.

It was evident from Ewan's expression that Jared Stone had done an accurate depiction of Lily's body. With all its little imperfections.

It was equally evident that Lily was desperately considering her next words.

"I don't know... I mean, I have no idea... I can't explain..." Lily began, looking at her husband.

"Strangely, I do!" Ewan announced. He stood. "I must get out of this room!" he said.

"Ewan, no! I'm being set up! It's all... I don't know how or... Ewan!"

Her words had no effect. MacDuff opened the door for Ewan, who was quickly out of the room, before giving Luke a nod of silent encouragement to continue his interrogation and following after the aggrieved husband.

Lily stared stubbornly at Luke. Then she moved forward, as if she would leap across the table, and told him furiously, "We welcomed you into our home. We tried to help. And you...you are nothing but an American monster seeking any way to look good, ready to blame anyone so you don't appear to be so horribly, horribly incompetent! And what is this? What do you think you can hold me on? A lie? A liar saying he slept with me, that..."

She leaned back suddenly. "That girl."

"Flora MacDonald?"

"Aye—her!"

"You slept with Flora MacDonald?" he asked.

"No! No, but the only way they could concoct this ridiculous lie is if she saw me, if...as if she hid in a closet while I showered and changed. That's it. I know that's it. Why do you think she's now disappeared?"

"Fear. She'd be a perfect victim," Luke said.

"Victim, my arse!" she exclaimed furiously. "She...she planned this!"

"How did you meet Jared Stone? He believes you and he were in contact with the same number, and you were able to hire him through this number. A number belonging to someone who contacted you both—or someone you specifically contacted."

"What? Oh, that's a lie. I was never in contact with people who Jared Stone would know, who would... Oh, wait. Don't you think you're going to trap me. That is not how I was in contact with Jared Stone!"

"So how were you in contact with him?"

"What, wait, no! I was never in contact with him."

"What you're telling me is Flora MacDonald hid in a closet to see you naked so she could describe every nuance of your body to Jared Stone so that he could then set you up? And that, of course, you knew nothing about anything he was doing for others?"

"Yes! Don't let her fool you. The lass is not a good person. She had me fooled. But there is no way the man, that the horrible man, could describe me—"

"I'm afraid he also described your house and your room—and even what might be found in several of your drawers."

"But that's it—she prowled around. She was into everything. Of course she might know what was in my room—she cleaned it!"

Lily Connoly stood. "I am leaving. My husband was a nitwit to bring us in here from the get-go. You have nothing on me, and I believe I will sue for the anguish and strain you have put upon me and, therefore, on my husband. You bastard! Now Ewan will doubt me, and I have never been anything but a faithful and loving wife!"

She started to walk out of the room but Luke told her, "Sit down!"

"You can't hold me."

"I admit I'm not familiar with the subtle differences in our legal systems, but..."

MacDuff entered the room and sat. "We will be holding you for a few hours, Mrs. Connoly. Please, settle down."

"A few hours—"

"We're searching your home."

"You need a warrant!" Lily exclaimed.

"Well, actually, no, we don't," MacDuff told her. "Your husband has offered us his complete cooperation."

"No! He can't! I won't allow it. It's my home, too—" Lily argued.

"But on paper, the house and grounds belong to your husband, Mrs. Connoly," MacDuff said, and he rose. "Special Agent Kendrick...if you'll join me."

"You're just going to leave me here?" Lily raged. "No, I will not stand for it!"

"Then stay seated," Luke told her dryly.

And like MacDuff, he headed for the door, and it closed and locked behind them.

Even then, they could still hear Lily ranting.

"How much is true?" MacDuff murmured to Luke.

Campbell joined them in the hall. "I intend to be part of the search team heading to the Connoly home. MacDuff, I'll have you join me. Luke, I got a call from Daniel. He just got an emergency vehicle and medical personnel out to the road you've been taking out of Kevin's pub by the kirkyard. Jordan was walking with a young woman, and Carly and Daniel came upon his unconscious body. Head straight out of Kevin's and to the right, is what he told me. If you could join Daniel—"

"Daniel is with Carly," Luke said.

"She went in pursuit while he stayed. He is now in the progress of catching up with her. The young woman has disappeared. It appears that Jordan was ambushed."

"But—" Luke began, a sinking feeling in his heart.

"No, no, Jordan is alive. We don't know how badly he was hurt, but Daniel said he has a pulse, and it's strong. Jordan is a strong man. He will be fine, I'm confident. But—"

"I'll join Daniel immediately."

MacDuff called for a car to pick him up.

Once they arrived, Luke asked that the patrol car remain, watching every avenue of the street.

He quickly hurried to the point where Jordan was just being taken away on a stretcher.

The man's eyes opened and he saw Luke.

"Go, go, they have her... He was waiting. My fault, I should have been prepared. We thought she was luring me, but he was there...came out of the darkness and hit me and... Go!"

"Take care of yourself right now, buddy," Luke said. He looked at the EMT.

The man nodded at him. Jordan had been hurt, assuredly. Blood had dried on his temple.

But it was possible he had suffered a concussion and nothing worse.

"Thank you," Luke said.

"That way!" Jordan whispered. "Carly... Daniel... That way!"

Luke started out. He'd barely gotten a hundred yards down the dark street when he saw a shadow sweeping through the darkness toward him.

Then the shadow was before him in human form.

It was Keith MacDonald, anxious, breathless, if such a thing could be said of a spirit.

"Hurry, hurry! Carly is talking, talking away, but he has a woman...he has a knife at her throat. Carly is aiming at him but...the girl, she could die. He is ready to slit her throat!"

Luke took off running, Keith sweeping along at his side.

"Careful, careful... Here, we can go around," Keith said.

"Go around—through a wall? Keith, I can't—"

"No, it's deceptive! Follow me."

It was another of those strange places unique to the city where it appeared that a wall was one piece, but it really wasn't. A very narrow alleyway opened, allowing the passage of one person at a time through the opening and down a hundred feet or so.

Luke paused when he reached the end, looking around as Keith urged him onward.

Then he saw the tableau that had been described.

There was a man against a high stretch of stone wall. He had a pretty blonde girl with him, one arm around her, holding her prisoner.

With the other hand, he held a knife.

And that knife was pressed so tightly against her throat that a slim line of blood had already appeared.

Carly was across from him, and Daniel was a few feet back.

Both had their weapons ready, but Carly was talking.

And Luke knew why.

No matter how good a shot she was, she risked two things: the man being able to slice the woman's vein or artery as he went down, or...the man could move in a flash and Carly's bullet could hit the terrified young woman.

He assessed the situation as he listened.

"Please! Think about this. Yes, you can kill her. But if you kill her, you won't have fulfilled your orders. If you kill her, you know you will die. These people aren't worth dying for! So far, you've not done anything that can't be alleviated. Listen to me, please."

"If I don't die now..." the man said.

Luke studied him. Young. This person seemed to be from somewhere in the Middle East, dark hair, shaggy, a bit of an accent...

The killers seemed to be able to recruit their ground men from those who were either greedy or desperate.

They chose those they could threaten or bribe.

"They will kill me if you don't!"

The man's words had a sad finality about them. He was so terrified of those who had hired him or forced him to do what he was doing that he might well consider death to be something easier than having to face them again.

Luke waited, listening to Carly.

He could pull out his gun and try to fire, but the same scenario played out in his head again. He knew he would be taking the same risks Carly or Daniel might be forced to take, which might make the fellow twitch with the knife...

And watch the young woman bleed to death before them.

And if he missed...

Hit the young woman as the man jerked away or used her instantly as a shield.

And again...

Watch the young woman bleed to death before them.

There wasn't a good answer here.

"Warn Carly and Daniel I'm going to walk out," Luke said to the spirit of Keith MacDonald.

"Just—walk out?" the ghost replied, confused.

"Whistling," Luke said.

"Just walking out...whistling?" MacDonald asked.

"Different tactic," Luke told him.

As Luke had asked, Keith moved. In the night, he was like a whirl of shadow, sweeping first to Carly and then over to Daniel.

He apparently startled Carly; she gave a little shiver.

"You need to let me go. Let me just take her and go," the man said.

"We can't do that—you know we can't do that," Carly told him quietly with regret.

"Then we both die," the man said.

"No, no!" Carly protested. "They don't deserve your life. I don't know what they did, how they threatened you, but we are powerful, too. We can protect you—"

"And throw me back to Iran," he said. "You don't understand. I will be killed if I return to my own country. I was part of a protest—"

"And you're a good human being. I can promise you won't be thrown back," Carly told him. "Please, please, don't die for such horrible people. They have no ideals, no beliefs! They would kill this girl for money and nothing more. It's a business, not a belief. And innocents are dying—"

"Good lives are being saved."

"And they can be saved the right way. But we're not gods—we don't have that right. Some will die of disease, and sometimes that can be stopped, sometimes it can't. But life is our greatest gift! Life can't be stolen from others. You know how wrong it is. I believe you're a good man. You know what you're doing is terribly, terribly wrong—"

"I just needed to bring her to...the street. I didn't kill anyone, I was careful just to knock the fellow she was with out of his senses. But I was wrong, he is in on it."

"He's in on it?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Don't believe what he says! I was to watch for such a man and woman leaving Kevin's, then I would take the woman. And I should have thought...that man was guilty! He was guilty of getting her drunk and bringing her to me. But I didn't kill him. I'm not a killer. I just... He's a killer, he's one of them."

"You're confused. Jordan is no killer, my friend. He's with Police Scotland."

The man started to laugh.

"All the better for him! You don't think the coppers get into things? You talk to your man. He's guilty, guilty, guilty. I didn't kill anyone!"

"No, but you don't understand. You just deliver people where they're supposed to be. You do this for the killers. That makes you just as guilty. And you don't need to do this. We can help you."

"Yes, yes, they let you know...some people die easy! They never know...they go straight to heaven and live sweet lives in the clouds. Some...some die hard! They make them die hard. Because you can't threaten them, if you're a threat, you die and you die hard, so hard! But—"

Carly spoke again. "No. Stop right there. They aren't infallible. Their empire is crumbling. Don't die for these people! We can and will protect you."

The man was listening to her and hesitating, but he was growing nervous. The blonde was sobbing, and in doing so, she was shaking...

Bringing the knife closer against her own throat.

It could go either way, but the time had come to put himself into the action.

Luke began to whistle. Just as if he were nonchalantly about to head into the street.

He did so, moving out with his hands in his pockets.

He stopped suddenly, as if startled by the scene in the street.

"Hey...wow, buddy, what's going on here?"

He walked over to the man, staring at him.

"What's going on here?" he asked. "Are you guys filming some kind of a movie? Oh, wow, if so, I'm sorry if I messed up any kind of a shot!"

"Go away!" the man roared.

"Okay, not a movie," Luke said. "Ah, come on! She's bleeding!" Luke said pleasantly as if he had, perhaps, just broken up a domestic fight taking place out on the street, as if they were throwing barbs at one another rather than the man holding a knife to a woman's throat.

He hoped his assessments of the person and his strengths were correct.

But they had to act.

And they were in the best situation to do so.

He sprang forward, instantly grabbing the man's wrist, tearing it away from the woman's throat. She screamed and slumped forward.

Then the man instinctively tried to fight.

But Luke slammed the man's hand against the stone wall, crushing bones.

The knife fell. But the man wasn't to be undone easily. He roared with pain and frustration and swung at Luke with his other arm, crushing the captive blonde between them. Luke pulled the young woman to him, then ducked and missed the blow.

The man swung around, and Luke pushed him hard against the stone.

"Stop! Stop now—you don't need to fight and be hurt!"

And the man began to weep and cry.

"I am not a killer—I couldn't have killed her. I am afraid. I am so afraid. When they are angry... I saw the news. I saw what they did because that nurse asked questions. They tortured her, they tortured her and cut her head off slowly while she lived and screamed."

He turned around, looking at Luke, shaking his head in horror.

He seemed to crumple into Luke's arms. The pretty blonde was free and screaming. She raced across the short distance to throw herself into Carly's arms.

Daniel was already dialing it in. The patrol car would bring in their new "procurer."

Luke looked back at Carly, who was holding the blonde, trying to soothe her, and assuring them both that the necklace of red around the woman's neck was superficial.

Then Carly looked back at him.

And he knew she was thinking the same.

Another night. Another night in which they'd been successful. And yet he had to wonder...

They had saved a life. The blonde was going to live. EMTs would be here any minute. They would bring this fellow in, question him again.

But they wouldn't get the answers they needed, though they were gaining information all the time. Threats were being used severely on those who were vulnerable.

So...

They had saved a life. They had another captive.

They also had Lily Connoly in custody; and if Jared Stone hadn't been fabricating a greater story than the sad truth of the situation, she just might be part of the upper hierarchy in what was happening.

But why?

That remained to be seen.

The night was going to be long.

Very, very long.

And, looking at one another while sirens again blazed in the night, they both knew it.

But...

There was something worse. An accusation. An accusation against one of their own. A ridiculous accusation and yet...

Now it was there. And if he didn't tell MacDuff and Campbell about the incident...

Daniel would. And, of course, it didn't matter. They would quickly find Jordan innocent of any wrongdoing.

Wouldn't they?

Or was it just as possible that someone in law enforcement was involved, and that was why they knew they were looking for an island...

And perhaps knew that they were investigating Dorothy Norman...

And they were changing their operation to watch what was going on at Kevin's.

But Jordan?

Ridiculous!

And yet, he knew.

They could leave no stone unturned.

And they would not.