A Ghost of a Chance (25 page)

She grimaced as she squeezed the still bleeding fingertip. It should be attended to, but she didn’t feel at all like dealing with it. The house felt peculiarly empty tonight, although she didn’t mind living alone. After several years of a difficult marriage to Sebastian Morris living alone had been quite soothing. Tonight, however in contrast, rambling around the old family house felt strangely oppressive. But then he’d done this to her, disrupted everything.

She sipped her brandy, and allowed her mind to return to earlier in the day. She’d been foolish to think that perhaps time had softened his sharp edges. Now it was perfectly clear that they remained as razored as the metal that had cut her skin.

They had walked largely in silence through Audubon Park, a time which only served to feed her uneasiness. She wanted to get down to business, to separate themselves from the turmoil of the past.

“
So,” he began, “you have captured my attention. I’m wondering exactly what could have driven you to contact me. I’m more than sure I wasn’t you’re first choice. What about the others?”

Her throat seemed to tighten at his inquiry, although it was one that she more than expected. “Everyone has drifted apart. I’m sure you must be . . .”

“
Aware? No dearest, as it is I’ve been quite detached from your little group for some time. Or does your memory fail you?”

It jolted her how vitriolic he sounded. Of course she’d only hoped that time might have softened this. But clearly all the old wounds had only festered. She swallowed trying to desperately to carefully frame her questions. “After you left Iain, things were not the same. Slowly, I don’t know it took around a year, maybe less it all began to break down. Brae left for England, Quinn went up North, and Sebastian,” she hesitated.

His eyes never met hers; he simply continued to stare forward as their pace came to a standstill. “Sebastian?” It was a question although his tone was nearly devoid of emotion.

“
Well, let’s just say he’s kept his distance after the divorce.”

He turned away from her staring off at the cathedral directly across the street from them. “Did I ever tell you I seriously considered becoming a priest as a young man?”

It was an odd disclosure for him to make at the moment, considering the complete estrangement of their relationship. But it did summon the quick image of Iain Shaw as a young man, a fifteen year old boy; tall, thin with flashing eyes and that longish dark, brown hair. It made her smile, the idea of him as a priest seemed as ridiculous as she being a homemaker. “No,” she simply stated.

He glanced over at her for the first time in many moments with a bit of a quick smile, “Yes, I suppose it was preposterous. But I was determined to dedicate myself to something.” She glanced away from the intensity of his gaze. “So the old group drifted apart. Doesn’t seem all that tragic Corey, I suppose we all grow up at some point.”

“
Yes, but as you know our group went much deeper than ordinary friendships.”

She looked back into his face which had hardened a bit with the light of understanding. “What are you saying?”

Then softly she explained, “It’s been breached.”

His eyes widened, then the expected question, “All of them?”

She shook her head, “No, not all Iain. But the Triquetra is gone.”

He stared at her blankly for a moment but then his jaw hardened. “My car isn’t far from here. Let’s go sit down, and you can tell me everything.” He started walking quickly and deliberately as she struggled to keep pace. There was a familiar determination in his stride, one that simultaneously cheered and disturbed her.

It was more disquieting than she’d expected being this close to him again. “We could go to a coffee shop or a restaurant.” She stammered a bit, hating the uncertainty she heard in her own voice.

His face was set stonily, best poker face among all of us Brae had always said. But that was back when Brae was enamored of everything he did. “Then we could be heard. That wouldn’t do.”

She glanced outside the car. They were parked in his white sedan along a small residential side street near the park. It wasn’t particularly well-trafficked, and it did occur to her that she felt quite vulnerable here with Iain. There was a time, a brief time when she felt he had the capacity for great violence. And the truth was that she scarcely knew him anymore, there had been so many years. Her impetuousness in contacting him very well could have been reckless.

She glanced back to him. He was watching her quietly with an unreadable expression. Her eyes widened as another unwelcome thought intruded. He’d shown signs of it when he was young. It occurred to her now that he might have further developed the skill while he was abroad. He might be canvassing her thoughts at this very moment. Corey deliberately went inward erecting ancient barriers that she’d found unnecessary to use for many years. This was another disturbing thought, the possibility that she’d become quite soft.

Iain looked away from her outside the front window, “I thought they were to remain placed in a safe haven.”

She blinked, taking a moment to reconnect with what he’d said. “Yes, they were.”

He nodded, completing her thought. “Too powerful to be in anyone’s control.”

“
Yes.” She agreed. This was perhaps the one area in which they could be in complete accord.

“
Did you check on them Corey?”

She shook her head, staring forward, feeling quite uncomfortable in engaging his gaze directly. “No, I didn’t. I mean I never really tried. There seemed to be a finality to everything. I didn’t think this was possible.” She hated admitting that to him. It felt in a way it was like giving the enemy your battle plans.

He looked a bit surprised, “Really? Not ever tempted? “

She stared forward, “No, it never occurred to me.”

His hand brushed her arm, and it caused a further chill to steal through her flesh. “Then how can you know this, be so sure?”

She sighed, ceasing to debate how much to tell him. If she were to secure his assistance she must be candid. “I had a visitor, late one night. About a month ago.”

“
Who was it?”

She swallowed, her throat quite dry now. To most what she was to say would seem quite nonsensical, quite deluded, but then again given all they had experienced together. . . “It was my father.”

She heard him emit a sound, somewhere between a sigh and a breath. She knew what he was thinking, even without having his talent. After all her father had been dead for ten years, ten long quiet years.

She expected some sort of response, perhaps in some odd way she expected some compassion. But in retrospect, given what had occurred, his reaction should have been entirely predictable. “A month? Are you telling me you waited a month to act on this?”

It felt like a bit like a punch. In telling him about her father she had opened herself to him, her feelings, become vulnerable. And of course given him his opportunity. “No,” her voice sounded like ice to her own ears. “I didn’t wait.”

“
Ah,” it seemed accompanied by a soft laugh that was hollow in its emotion, but then again that might have been her imagination. “So whose help did you seek first? I’m assuming you didn’t travel outside of the original group.”

“
No, that would have been unwarranted,” she answered quietly.

He smiled, but it was an ugly smile, a cutting one. “Yes, who?” His tone continued to shake her. It almost felt like a command.

“
Brae, I spoke to Brae.”

“
Yes naturally, dear Brae how is she?”

She wrapped her hands around her arms. Moments ago the car had felt stuffy, but not now, now it was so cold. “She’s made a new life for herself. She’s afraid to get involved again.”

“
Yes, yes she was always the brave one wasn’t she?”

“
That’s not fair.”

“
And you, you would defend her to me. How interesting. Who else Corey, Quinn?”

Her breath felt sharp in her chest. It was like an inquisition. “Quinn, he’s been ill. He couldn’t help.” She managed to get out.

“
What’s wrong with him?” Amazingly, there was compassion in his voice. But then it was true he’d always had a soft spot where Quinn was concerned.

“
A resurgence of the leukemia, I couldn’t ask him to expend his energy on this.”

“
Of course not, I remember the last time.” His voice had softened ever so perceptively, reminding her of the man he used to be. And just as quickly that slight humanity was gone. “So who does that leave? Yes, of course our friend Sebastian. I’m quite sure he would have been more than happy to help.”

That cold feeling crept around her heart again. “No, I didn’t ask him.”

“
No?” he asked mockingly. “Why? He would be the obvious choice. “

Her voice was controlled, measured. “Because I don’t trust him.”

He leaned back against the headrest on the top of his seat. And soft laughter came from him, “Well I find that funny. Now, you don’t trust him. Well that’s too bad Corey, because I will tell you with no hesitation that hell will have to freeze over before I lift a finger to help you.” And she knew in that moment that he’d spent the last half an hour with her just so that he could refuse her.

Copyright © 2011 by Evelyn Klebert

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