“Unusual name. Been here long?”
“Since last ni… last night.” Drat.
“I hope you didn’t pick him up somewhere.”
Did a graveyard count? “No, I’ve known him… seems like forever.”
“Is he staying at the house?”
“Yes. No. I mean, he’s leaving.”
“Does Jared know he’s here?”
“Not exactly. Do you think you could not mention him to Jared… or anyone?”
One eyebrow lifted. “One horse at a time, girl,” he whispered as Faelan approached.
Bree introduced the two men and maneuvered a hurried conversation in which Peter briefly explained the incident again, scrutinizing Faelan as he spoke. “I’ve got to get back to the office. Just stopped to get coffee. Call if you need me, Bree. Faelan, nice meeting you.”
Faelan muttered a reply, staring at the street outside, his eyes narrowed, body stilled. A tingle tiptoed across Bree’s arms. She followed his gaze, subconsciously looking for Russell’s dark-blond head.
“Let’s go home. We have enough food for now.” She took the ice cream from the second cart and hurried Faelan to the checkout. His jaw dropped as he watched the items being scanned. He asked the lusty-eyed cashier to charge him for the half a pound of grapes he’d eaten, and she simpered and sighed, paying more attention to him than the groceries sliding past. Bree was certain at least two items made it into the bag without being scanned. When the third item missed the scanner, she started to mention it, but alas, it was a box of extra large condoms.
***
The tall man reached inside the coffin and removed the metal object hidden under the corpse’s hand. He stared at it, stunned. God in heaven, it was true.
This was far beyond what he’d expected. He needed help.
***
“You did this?” Faelan asked, looking at the newly sanded floor in one of Bree’s second-floor bedrooms. Sweeping and scrubbing floors was a woman’s work. Refinishing them was not.
“I’m doing the smaller stuff myself. Grandma’s dream was to restore this house to its former glory. I’m going to finish it for her. And the chapel, too. There’s still a lot of work to be done. My sander broke. I’ll have to finish this room by hand, but it keeps me occupied until I go back to my job.”
“You work outside your home?” He’d assumed her grandmother had left her provided for, since she had no husband to take care of her.
“If I don’t have a job, I don’t eat. Come on, I’ll show you where you can sleep.”
It wasn’t enough that he’d brought hell to her door. He was a burden on her purse as well.
Bree led him to the room across from where he’d slept last night. “You can sleep here.” There was a dresser, one table, a chair, and a small bed frame without a mattress. He wasn’t sure if he’d fit on the bed, but was pleased to see a window facing the graveyard so he could keep an eye on the crypt. No point in sending the time vault back when he’d need it for Druan, but it wasn’t safe to leave unguarded. At least he’d hidden the key.
“We’ll have to get a mattress from the attic.”
“Are you sure you won’t—”
“I told you, I’m not going to stay with Biff. This is my house. I’m not leaving.”
If he could drive that confounded thing she called a car, he’d throw her over his shoulder and take off. If he had a horse, he’d do it anyway. “A man’s been killed not a mile from your back door. It would be prudent to leave.”
“Prudence has never been my forte. I’m sure it was a fight between two campers or a wild animal attack.”
It wasn’t an animal. He knew that scream. It meant one thing.
“I don’t suppose the trip jogged your memory,” she said, stacking the rest of Faelan’s new clothes on the chair.
“No.” He knew she doubted his story, but he couldn’t tell her the truth, not until he knew for sure who she was. “Do your doors and windows lock?” he asked, resuming his inspection of the room.
“Yes.”
“Keep them locked. And stay away from the graveyard.”
“Why?”
Because something was out there. And it wasn’t human. Not fully. “You mentioned your great-great- grandfather was killed out there.”
“In the chapel, not the graveyard. A falling stone hit him. And I think I’m perfectly capable of deciding whether or not to visit my graveyard. Somebody has to pull the weeds. I’m going to start dinner.” She stalked out of the bedroom and left him staring after her.
He’d never seen anything like her. She was intelligent, beautiful, and he felt some kind of connection to her that scared the hell out of him, but he’d never met a woman who explored caves and searched graveyards for treasure, not to mention let him get away with things that would’ve had a woman of his time hysterical. He hoped she wasn’t touched in the head.
