“To see your grandfather,” I said. “But shouldn’t we call the police first?”
“We can’t. There’s no signal.”
“How do you know? You didn’t even try.”
“I tried earlier. The nearest towers have been taken off-line due to the flooding. We’ll have to call the police from Asher House.”
“But that’s not why we’re going there, is it?”
He ran a hand through his wet hair. “You should just go home with Tilly. This won’t be pleasant.”
“I don’t think you should confront him alone.”
“I won’t kill him if that’s what you’re worried about. Although I think I could with very little effort.”
I put my hand on his arm. “He’s not worth going to prison over. And what if this isn’t you? What if you’ve let it in again?”
He started the engine and turned the car without a word.
As we reached the main highway, the moon disappeared and the countryside darkened. I could barely see the outline of the pine trees against the tapestry of mountain and sky. Raindrops splattered the windshield and strained the already-full ditches.
Thane drove fast despite the wet roads. I turned to study his profile. His anger was a tangible thing, an unwelcome passenger that goaded a flirtation with danger. He took a curve that made me catch my breath and clutch the seat.
He slanted a glance. “You heard me looking for you in the laurel bald, didn’t you? Why didn’t you answer me?”
This wouldn’t be pleasant, either, I thought. “I was afraid.”
“Of me? Why?”
“Because of something Catrice told me.”
“What did she say?”
Absently, I rubbed a hand up and down my arm. “Do you remember that day I gave her a ride home? I told you I thought they’d all gathered at her studio to observe me. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d been brought to Asher Falls for a reason.”
“I remember.”
“That same day, when we were sitting on the back steps, you looked at me as if you’d seen a ghost. You said that you must have had a waking dream because for a moment I looked like someone else.”
He frowned at the road. “What about it?”
“Who did you see when you looked at me?”
A pause. “Edward.”
“So you did know.”
“I guessed. You had this faraway look in your eyes and you held your head a certain way. For a moment, you were his spitting image.”
“Do I look like him now?”
“Maybe not at this particular moment, but I’ve noticed the resemblance before. That day in the cemetery when we were talking about the angels…one of the faces reminded me of you. But I never thought much about it until later and then I started to put two and two together. Your uncanny resemblance to my stepfather. Your insistence that you’d been brought to Asher Falls for a reason.”
“You didn’t know that day on the ferry?”
“I recognized you from a picture in the paper,” he said. “But I didn’t make the connection to Edward until later. Why?”
“Catrice told me that you knew. She said you were in league with your grandfather, that he had brought me here so that you could seduce me. Because I was his last hope to continue the bloodline.”
His face looked pale and grim in the dash light. “And you believed her?”
“I didn’t want to, but I was scared. Tilly was missing and Catrice had just told me about Freya’s murder. It was a lot to take in and I wasn’t thinking clearly… .” I trailed off. “Surely you can understand how her accusation might have given me pause.”
“What did she say?” His voice was very tight, very controlled.
“I already told you—”
“I mean exactly. Word for word.”
“She said that you would do anything to solidify your position in the Asher family. That you’d cut off your right arm to be the one to give Pell Asher an heir.”
“I see.” He was still staring straight ahead, speaking very softly. “There is a certain plausibility in that, I don’t deny. But for you to think that I would hurt you…that you would hesitate to take my hand on the cliff…” He drew a breath. “That’s hard to accept.”
“I’m sorry.” I turned back to the window, watching the night shadows fly past me. “But maybe it’s all for the best.”
“Why?”
“Because of who I am.”
Another pause. “This is about the other night, isn’t it? You said you were the one who had let it in.”
“It seems it all started on the night of my birth. Freya Pattershaw was my mother.”
“So Freya and Edward…?”
I faced him, my gaze going again to the marks I’d left on his cheek. “There’s a lot I still don’t understand, but this place is very dangerous for me. And I’m dangerous to the people who get close to me. Whatever is out there…whatever you and I felt that night…it’s coming for me.”
“How do we stop it?” he asked, the dangerous edge in his voice making me shiver.
I closed my eyes. “I don’t think we can stop it.”
As we came around a curve, the police flashers took me by surprise. Obviously, someone had managed to get a call through. Then I wondered if there’d been a bad accident. Not unusual in this weather. But as Thane slowed, I saw the yellow hazard lights on barricades that had been pulled across the road.
He rolled down his window as one of the policemen approached.
“What’s going on?” Thane asked.
“Flash flood washed out the bridge,” the officer said, water rolling off the brim of his hat as he bent to glance inside the car. “You won’t be able to get across tonight. Creek’s too high.”
“We need to get up to the house,” Thane said. “My grandfather is an invalid.”
“He’s not up there alone, is he?”
“I don’t know if anyone is with him or not. That’s why I need to get up there.”
“If the rain stops, the water should recede in a few hours. At least by morning.”
Another cop approached. “What’s the problem?”
“No problem,” Thane said. “We’d like to get home, is all.”
“Not going to happen tonight. You try to go across now, you’ll get swept downstream. My advice is to find someplace warm and dry and wait it out. And keep away from these bluffs. We’ve got reports coming in from all over the county of mudslides. People claim they’ve seen boulders the size of cars crashing down on highways. You get enough rain and sooner or later these ridges will start to cave.”
“Thanks.” Thane reversed the car, turned in the road and headed away from the barricades. As soon as we were around the curve and out of sight, he pulled to the shoulder.
“Why didn’t you tell them what happened?” I asked anxiously.
“Because I didn’t want to get waylaid with questions and statements. I’m going up to the house,” he said. “You can tell them after I’m gone or you can go home and wait for me. Do whatever you want.”
“But…how do you intend to get across the creek?”
“There’s a foot bridge about a half mile downstream. I’ll go across there.”
