Still he stared, unblinking. “Jake. You’re scaring me.” She shook him and he turned to face her. “What happened?”
“I remembered something.”
“About Lilly’s grave?”
“It wasn’t Lilly’s grave.”
“One of the girls in Iraq?”
“No.”
“Then whose?”
He looked at her, his forehead bunched into a frown. “I don’t know.”
“You remember a grave but don’t know whose it was?”
Something flashed at the window. “What’s that?” Kendall asked.
Jake got out of bed and walked to the window. He cracked the curtain, and Kendall saw lights.
“Is it the lights on the Tor?” she asked.
“No. Cops.”
Kendall hurried over next to him. Two police cars were in the abbey parking lot. Several lanterns were moving across the abbey grounds. “I have a bad feeling.”
“You wait here. I’ll go see what’s happening.”
“I would rather be with you.”
They dressed quickly and hurried outside to the ruins. “What’s going on?” Jake asked a man who was walking close by.
“A little boy is missing. We’re helping with the search. His mother said he kept talking about a hidden tunnel. After that murder at Little Saint Michael’s, I guess the cops aren’t taking any chances.”
Jake cursed. “I knew that kid was trouble.”
A minute later, they heard raised voices. “Art! Oh my God. Where were you?”
“There’s a dead man. I saw a dead man.”
“Art, stop that. I’ve had it with your lying. This won’t get you out of trouble. I told you not to leave the room.”
“But I saw him. There’s blood all over his chest.”
“Art! I’m going to send you home to your father.”
A second later, a scream sounded farther away. Kendall and Jake started running toward the sound. A small group had already gathered.
“What happened?” Kendall asked.
“There’s been another murder,” someone said. “A woman fell over the body.”
Kendall looked at Jake. Nathan couldn’t have killed again. Kendall saw Halle near the front of the crowd. Alice stood next to her, face buried in Halle’s shoulder. Halle turned and saw Kendall. Her face froze and Kendall knew. She stood, not breathing as Halle led Alice over to them.
“I’m so sorry, Kendall.”
Kendall’s heart felt like a chunk of wood. She asked the question anyway, holding her breath, hoping, praying for a different answer than the one she knew she would get. “Who is it?” she whispered, feeling the words scrape out of her mouth.
Halle touched Kendall’s arm. “It’s him, our missing guest. Nathan Larraby.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE COLOR DRAINED from Kendall’s face. Her knees buckled and Jake caught her. He felt her trembling against his side. “How do you know it’s Nathan?” Jake asked.
“He’s the man I saw watching the house, the handsome man.” Alice collapsed into tears again.
“He can’t be dead,” Kendall whispered. “He can’t be.”
“I’m sorry,” Alice said.
Kendall’s face crumpled, but she didn’t cry. “I have to see him.” She turned desperate eyes toward Jake. “Help me, please.”
“The police aren’t going to let us near him,” Jake said softly. Two officers held the group back, while three others stood some distance away, studying something on the ground. One of the officers stepped back to speak to someone, and Jake saw a man lying on the ground. It was too dark to tell more than the fact that the man was tall and he was wearing light-colored pants. Like khakis. Nathan often wore khakis. Then the light from a flashlight moved over him and Jake saw his bloody chest. He tried to turn Kendall away, but her breath hitched, and he knew she’d seen it too. “Kendall, we need to leave. It’s not safe.”
“But I have to know for sure.”
“I’ll come back. There might be some mistake.”
She didn’t argue but moved like a robot beside him. “We have to tell Fergus,” she finally said.
“Let’s wait until we know for sure.” The first thing he had to do was get Kendall to her room. If Nathan was dead, Kendall might be next on the list.
Kendall didn’t remember the walk to their room. She moved to the window and stared at the lights from the police cars.
“Stay away from the window,” Jake said, shutting the curtains.
Kendall turned to him. “Why?”
“You might be next.”
Kendall walked away from the window and sat on the bed. She had no feeling in her body. Even her head was numb. Jake locked the door and proceeded to check every inch of the room and bathroom. Kendall watched his movements, and the numbness inside her started to thaw. She didn’t want Jake to see her cry. “I need to take a shower.” She walked toward the bathroom on shaky legs. She closed the door and undressed with trembling fingers. She turned on the shower and stepped under, not feeling the cold spray. The water warmed, but she still felt numb. He was dead. If he was Adam, she’d lost him all over again.
Kendall leaned her head against the tile and let her heart break. She sobbed like she had the first time she found out Adam was dead, that they were all dead… Adam, her father, Uncle John. She didn’t hear the bathroom door open, didn’t hear Jake come in. He pulled the shower curtain back and reached for her, putting his arms gently around her. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
She knew he was hurting too. She had seen the grief on his face before he covered it. He cared for Nathan more than he admitted. Probably more than he knew. He turned off the water and helped her from the shower. He wrapped a towel around her. She held the towel as he got another one and blotted the water from her hair. He patted her face and shoulders dry, then bent and dried her legs.
“I’m OK. You don’t have to do that,” she said, but he didn’t stop and she let him.
He removed her towel and dried the rest of her body. His hands didn’t linger but moved perfunctorily as if he were her doctor and she his patient. He grabbed one of the robes and wrapped her in it. “I’m sorry. I know you loved him.”
“I think he was Adam.”
Jake’s hands froze on her robe. His face fell. “Nathan is Adam?”
“I think so. I thought you might be until you told me about your past. Twice Marco mentioned Adam when he was looking at you and Nathan. He said he saw Adam.”
“Marco isn’t all there sometimes.” But Jake looked shaken by her revelation.
“There’s a connection between Nathan and me. You’ve seen it. I can’t explain it. There’s some kind of bond.” Kendall’s eyes burned. “I think I’ve lost Adam twice.”
Jake’s jaw clenched. He pulled her into his arms, trying to comfort her, but she could feel his own hurt. “I’ll go and identify the body. Maybe there’s some mistake.”
Kendall held on to him, not wanting him to leave her, but she had to know.
“Do you want to put on your clothes?”
“No, I’m just going to sit on the couch. Sorry I got you wet.”
“It’s just a little water.” Jake settled her on the couch and handed her a pillow. He knelt beside her and brushed her cheek. His eyes were sad. “I won’t be long.”
When the door shut behind him, she pulled the pillow close and let go. Tears rolled down her cheeks like melting ice as the numbness thawed. Twice, she had failed Adam. Her gifts never worked for the people she loved most. She felt someone enter the room. She didn’t want to open her eyes. Didn’t want to see the truth in his face. As long as she didn’t know for sure, there was hope. Her lips quivered, and she knew she would cry again. She opened her eyes. It wasn’t Jake standing there watching her.