Legend of the Sorcerer (27 page)

He kissed her hard on the mouth. “Just hurry.”

“We’ll find him, Cai. It will turn out okay.”

“I hope to hell you’re right.”

She smiled, though there was honest fear in her eyes. “Aren’t I always?”

He tried to smile too, but all he managed was another fast kiss. “Hurry, meet me on the docks.”

He was halfway down the path when she shouted from her bedroom window. “Cai! It’s a note, from Dilys.”

She held up her hand. “And the key.”

J
ordy’s fingers trembled as she read the note again.

She looked up when Cai entered the room. “Read this.”

She watched his face as he read it. Anger, betrayal, fear, confusion.

“You said she gave you a key?” he asked.

She nodded and showed him an elegant silver antique key. “It was in a velvet pouch next to the note.”

“Why should I have expected anything less?” He sighed, then frowned.

“What?”

“It just occurred to me that they could have chartered something private to fly them over. It would be just like Alfred.”

“Do they have private planes for overseas flights?”

“If they did, Alfred would find one.”

“Then they could already be gone.” She cupped his cheek when she saw he’d already come to that conclusion.

“Then we follow them,” he said. “You get to go to Wales after all.”

Her eyes widened at that, although she already figured that might be where this was headed. “We don’t know where they went.”

“Then we find whatever this key unlocks and take it with us. There has to be a clue somewhere in his notes.” Jordy was surprised he’d mentioned the notes. He hadn’t believed in them before. But much had changed with Alfred’s sudden disappearance. “What about where Alfred lived in Wales? You must know—”

“No, I don’t. Not specifically. North Wales is all I know. Somewhere in Anglesey, I think.”

It should have surprised her that Cai couldn’t tell her where his grandfather was from but knowing Alfred and everything else he’d kept from Cai, it wasn’t so odd. “Well, it’s a start.”

He searched Alfred’s room but found nothing that the key would fit. “Let’s check Dilys’ room.”

Jordy followed him to the door, then stopped short. “If they’re not in Miami and we have to go on to Wales … I don’t have my passport.” Her heart sank.

“Damn.” He turned to her. “Maybe you should go back to Warburg, let me go on over there if I have to.” His tone was sincere, but his eyes were filled with regret.

“Cai—”

He moved closer and pulled her into his arms. “Margaron
knows about you. You might not be safe. I have no idea what’s going on over there or where this all might lead.” He stroked her hair, then her lips. “It might be for the best.”

She shook her head. “Dilys said I had to have courage, that I couldn’t let you down, that I was part of this, too. I believe that, I feel that. In ways I can’t even explain. I don’t want to run home to Warburg and hide.” She held his gaze. “I want to be with you, I want to help you.”

“Truthfully, I don’t want you out of my sight. But with no passport …”

She swore under her breath and was surprised when he smiled. “I can’t imagine what you find so funny at a time like this.”

“You.” He held her tightly. “Me. We’re both too stubborn for our own good.” He looked down into her eyes. “Promise me you won’t leave my side the entire time.”

Her heart sped up, but hope died quickly. “How?”

“I’ve got an idea. You search Dilys’ room. I’ve got some phone calls to make.” He kissed her hard and deep and left her standing there, dazed and reeling.

Jordy slid into her leather seat on the Concorde and carefully stowed her canvas bag under the seat in front of her. “Be a good fish, Fred,” she whispered, careful that his ventilated Tupperware bowl was securely tucked in. Another great thing about having fish for pets, they were easy to smuggle. A little Ziploc baggie of water in a coat pocket, through the security check, then a quick transfer back to his covered bowl, and
voila
! Cai had had a fit halfway to Richmond yesterday when he’d finally realized what was in the bag. He wasn’t much happier about it now.

“Do you realize what kind of international laws you’re probably breaking?” he whispered in her ear.

“Like I said yesterday, I’m not leaving him behind. Besides, he loves to fly. He did really well when Suzanne and I took him to Mexico. I couldn’t leave him with anyone. The one time I had someone watch him, they almost flushed him because they thought he was dead.”

“He doesn’t swim upside down anymore,” Cai grumbled, but he let it go.

Jordy hated the tension she saw in his face. She was really worried about him. Despite the complicated plans he’d made to retrieve her passport, she knew he’d hoped that they’d intercept Alfred and Dilys in the airport in Miami. They’d tried everything to find out if they’d booked a flight, but it would take the FBI to get information on the passenger manifests.

The flight to Richmond had been tense. She had barely made it to her bank in Warburg in time. It had felt so strange being back home again, but Cai had been so upset and they were in such a hurry, she’d hardly had time to figure out how she felt about it. It certainly wasn’t the homecoming she’d planned.

She was worried about Alfred, too. How was he holding up through all this? Thank God he had Dilys with him. It was the only thing that eased either of their minds.

She thought about the binders tucked in the bag beneath Fred. She’d found them in an old trunk in Dilys’ closet. Stuffed full of Alfred’s notes, they were thick and somewhat heavy. She’d been able to bring only a handful.

Jordy buckled her belt, her shoulder rubbing against Cai’s. His face was turned to the window. Strain drew his features into tight lines. Neither of them had slept well the night before, too worried to do much more than hold on to each other in the dark. She slid her hand to his thigh and wove her fingers through his. Without looking at her, his fingers tightened almost painfully on hers.

As the plane lifted from the runway, her eyes blurred and she tried not to wonder how this was all going to end.

With the jump in time, it was dark when they landed at Heathrow. They’d slept fitfully on the flight and both were ragged around the edges.

“Come on, we have one more flight to catch.”

She transferred Fred back to his water-filled plastic baggie and they trudged through Customs. An hour later, they were on a private plane to Manchester.

It was the early hours of the morning when Cai finally checked them into a modest hotel. Even though, U.S. time, it was evening, she felt every bit as tired as if she’d stayed up half the night.

“Any news?” she asked, once they were settled in their room. She put Fred on the nightstand.

Cai hung up the phone. “No messages from Alfred or Dilys. Several calls from Kuhn.” They both grimaced. “Naturally, he left no word on the boat or deliveryman.”

“Figures. What about Eric? Did he call in?”

Cai had contacted his researcher before they took off from New York and asked him to check into Isolde’s address in Wales.

Cai nodded. “Isolde has homes in London and Paris, but she also has family property in north Wales that apparently dates back quite a ways. I asked Eric to look into Alfred’s past here, too.”

“He didn’t think that was odd? You asking about your own grandfather?”

“I ask him to look up all sorts of weird stuff. His head is always in a book, he doesn’t ask why, he just loves the hunt. That’s why I use him.” Cai paused, then nodded to the canvas sack on the foot of the bed. “Did you find anything useful in his books?”

Jordy was surprised. Even though it had been his idea to bring them along, Cai hadn’t once asked her what was in the books. She knew he was still having a hard time believing anything Alfred had said. She wasn’t sure how much she believed herself. “A few place names, but I have no idea how they might relate to Isolde, if at all. We’ll need a map to locate them.” She sat on the edge of the bed and waited for him to ask what else the books entailed, but he didn’t. “We have to talk about this at some point, Cai. The information he’s recorded goes way beyond some fantasy he’s created in his head. The notes are very detailed.”

Cai’s face, lined with exhaustion and worry, tightened further. “Does it say where he hid the damn Pearl?”

She shouldn’t have brought it up. “No, it doesn’t. He’s written this as if that knowledge is already known. He does relay the history. The place names he mentions are the ones I copied down. It might be a start.”

He nodded wearily. “Fine.”

She stood and moved into his arms. She kissed him and kept on kissing him until the tension ebbed and he was returning her kisses with equal ardor. “Come to bed, Malacai,” she whispered against his mouth. “We’ll find a more productive outlet for all this frustration. And then we’ll sleep.”

She didn’t get any argument from him.

F
red’s bowl wedged perfectly between the seat of the little Ford they rented the following morning. It felt weird sitting in the left seat with no steering wheel in front of her. The landscape west of Chester was captivating. So this was the land Alfred had been raised in. Even in the dead of winter, it was stunning. She wondered how he could have stayed away from this for so long. Chilly blue skies, a constant wind, snow dotting the peaks of the Clwydian Range, and fields so bright the color defied description. Stone farmhouses and sheep dotted the fields, their black faces making her wish she were sharing this with Alfred.

It was late afternoon when they closed in on their destination. “Get off here and cut across to Ty’n-y-Groes. It’s only a couple of miles to Llanbedr-y-Cennin. However the hell you say that.”

Fifteen minutes later, Cai pulled up in front of the small bed-and-breakfast he’d made arrangements with back in Manchester.

“Just bring the one bag in for now. And stow that damn fish.” Cai hefted his gym bag and climbed the stone steps to the porch of the small farmhouse.

Jordy made a face at his back, but did as asked. She
knew his stress was at max load. However, as soon as they closed the door on their room, she turned to him. “I know you’re worried, Cai. I am, too, but you could be a bit nicer to me. I am just trying to help.”

He waited a long moment, then finally said, “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Now,” Jordy began, “you said Isolde’s family land is close to here. We can check it out before dinner.” She bent a little and went to him. “We’re here, Cai, we’re doing something to help.”

“But it’s just … something doesn’t feel right.”

“What do you mean?”

He swore under his breath and leaned back in the doorway. “I expected the place to be somewhere more, I don’t know, populated. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

“You said the property has been in her family a long time. So it’s not that surprising that it doesn’t fit in with her jet set glamour reputation, is it? Maybe this fits perfectly. I mean, an isolated place like this would be perfect to hide … you know …” She shuddered, unable to put it into words. When he didn’t respond, she said, “It’s more than just the location, isn’t it?” She saw it in his eyes.

“Ever since we drove through Ty’n-y-Groes, I’ve had this, I don’t know, this …”

“Say it.”

“This weird feeling. I can’t explain it, Jordy.”

She took his arm and pulled him to the door to the hallway. “Come on.”

“Where?”

“We’re going right now. We’re going to check the place out, see what we’re dealing with. We can ask our hostess, Mrs. Evans, if she’s heard of two older Americans staying nearby.”