Joe stopped the car on the flat sands. A thick fog hid everything but their immediate surroundings. She knew they were near the North Sea. Not only could she smell it, but she could also hear the surf.
“Didn’t I promise you beach with a water view?” Joe asked.
Judith stared at him. “We’re camping?” Her tone wasn’t pleasant.
“No,” he replied. “Just wait.” He sat behind the wheel, hands folded on his slight paunch. After a few minutes, a light glowed in the fog. Joe flashed the headlamps. “Here’s the ferryman.”
“The ferryman?” Judith asked, aghast. “We’re going to an island?”
“Not quite,” Joe said. “Only when the tide’s in.”
Judith saw an elderly man approach carrying a lantern. He wore a peacoat, dark pants, and heavy boots. A fisherman’s cap covered most of his longish white hair.
“Gibbs here,” he said with a Highland accent. “Ye be Flynn?”
“Yes,” Joe replied. “Flynn and Jones.”
Gibbs peered inside the car, gazing with sea blue eyes at Judith and Renie. “These be your ladies?”
“Yes,” Joe repeated. “Mrs. Flynn and Mrs. Jones.”
“Come along,” Gibbs said.
Judith stepped out onto the wet sand and sank about half an inch. “I’m stuck,” she informed Joe. “Help me.” She refrained from adding, “Before I kill you.”
Renie disdained any assistance, her shoes squelching in the sand as she tromped toward a small skiff about ten yards away from the car. She swore several of her father’s favorites oaths along the way.
“Ah,” Gibbs said softly. “She be a rough ’un. Sounds like a sailor.”
“It’s hereditary,” Bill said.
Joe took Judith’s arm. She refused to look at him. When she was settled into the small craft, the wind changed and the fog began to roll out to sea. While Gibbs plied the oars, Judith could make out a rock formation with craggy, sheer cliffs. Her heart sank. She was sure they were going to stay in a lighthouse. With any luck, maybe the boat would sink, too.
Gibbs, who seemed very strong for his age, rowed the little group to the bottom of the rocks in less than five minutes. “Up ye go,” he said.
Joe helped Judith get out of the skiff and onto flat granite stones set in the sandy ground. “How,” she asked pointedly, “do we get up?”
“We follow these stones,” Joe said in a reasonable tone. “Look. There’s the lift.”
The elevator was an iron-grilled cage on cables that seemed to disappear into the clouds. Judith stared—and shuddered. “Is it safe?”
“Gibbs came down in it,” Joe said. “So now we go up in it.”
Renie was balking. “No way. I’ll sleep on the beach.”
“Move it,” ordered Bill, giving his wife a push. “Let’s go, let’s hit it, let’s boppin’, let’s—”
“Let’s shut the hell up,” Renie snarled. But she moved.
The foursome went inside the cage. Joe found a lever and pulled it. The conveyance rumbled and shook—and moved slowly up the face of the cliff. After about a minute, it stopped. They got out and took in the sight before them.
“My God!” Judith cried. “It’s a castle!”
Joe chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders. “Didn’t you want something fit for a queen?”
3
Good Lord!” Judith gasped. “It’s real? It’s not a mirage?”
“It’s real.” Joe offered Judith his arm. “Shall we enter, milady?”
“What’s it called?” Renie asked, looking suspicious.
“Ah…” Joe hesitated. “Grimloch, Gaelic for ‘green’ or ‘grass.’”
“No,” Renie countered. “It comes from Old English for ‘fierce.’”
“Are we waiting for a dictionary?” Bill asked impatiently.
Judith and Joe moved toward the arch. She noticed a raised portcullis and saw that the castle’s building stones were a weathered dark gray, covered in patches of lichen and moss. Indeed, water seemed to seep out of the masonry cracks. The outer wall was only one story, though the inner U-shaped section had at least two levels aboveground. Since the castle sat high on an outcropping of rock, there was a drawbridge and a moat. Judith noticed twin towers, the castle keep, the battlements, and a few narrow windows on the ground floor. The inner courtyard was planted with grass and shrubs.
“There’s only a couple of lights inside,” Judith said, then peered at her watch. “It’s a little after seven. Where is everybody?”
“I told you, we’re the only guests,” Joe replied. “Isn’t that great?”
The social animal in Judith reacted. “I don’t know if I like that.”
