Page 64 of Hold a Candle

Dal sounded so excited that Pauley eased the window down quickly and they hurried towards the front to see the lad crawling out from beneath the crawlspace of the deck.

“It’s a recording of the banshee, right?” Luca replied, taking the small cassette player from Dal and inspecting it in the moonlight. “I knew it had to be something like that.”

“Don’t play that again,” Pauley instructed fiercely, watching them jump as she and Jamie materialized out of the shadows of the house.

Luca frowned. “Are ye kidding, Mum? None of us are in the mood for pranks after what happened earlier. And after what ye found in the woods, we are even more on edge. Me and Dal keep moving around just to make sure no one is sneaking up on us,” he confessed. “I don’t think I’ll be getting much sleep tonight. I just hope it will all be over with by tomorrow.”

“May I see that?” Jamie asked Luca, holding his hand out.

Luca handed the player over to Jaimie. “I was going to give it to Darro, but I guess ye can do that.”

“I think I know who this belongs to, so don’t say anything yet, please,” Jamie replied, slipping it into his jacket pocket.

Luca and Dal glanced at each other and shrugged. “Whatever ye say,” Dal replied.

They all looked up when the front door suddenly opened and Angus and Darro came striding out, their faces like thunder.

“Dal,” Darro barked, “I want to speak to ye, young man.”

“Aye, sir,” Dal replied smartly, jogging around to the deck steps as the two men thumped down them with an intimidating tread.

“Have ye been up to pranks tonight?” Darro thundered, his hands on his hips.

Dal’s eyes opened wide and he held his hands up as if warding him off. “Me? Of course not, sir. This night has been bad enough, no one is in the mood for pranks.”

“Do ye know anyone who has?” Angus growled. “This last one brought on an asthma attack fer Poppy and scared Lucerne’s baby, and we ain’t taking that kindly.”

The two young lads glanced sideways at Jamie and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

Pauley took pity on them. “The lads are nae involved in these pranks, Darro, but we believe we know who is.”

Jamie took the recorder out of his pocket and handed it to Darro. “Dal found this under the deck, and I asked him to give it to me. I know who the culprit is, but I didn’t want to explain until everyone had a chance to cool off. Ye and Angus are both very angry right now and that’s completely understandable. But ye need a chance to settle down.”

Angus’s eyes narrowed at the cassette player and his lips thinned, but Pauley could see the steam drifting away. He knew who it was too.

Darro’s anger seemed to cool as well as he studied the cassette player. Finally, he sighed deeply. “Aye, ye are right. I know exactly who this belongs to, and I do need to take a few minutes before I confront the culprit.”

Luca shot Dal a side eye. “Well, we are headed for the bunkhouse to join Belton. Joe and Bubs are on guard and might play some cards with us.”

“Aye, lads,” Darro murmured. “Watch yerselves now. Stay out of sight as much as possible.” He headed back into the house with Angus following.

Pauley watched as the two young men moved furtively away, keeping to the shadows. Her lips tightened as she glanced at her watch. Six hours until dawn.

Jamie reached for her hand and took her back to the deck where he sat down in one of the stuffed rockers and pulled her down into his lap to snuggle with her.

She looked at her watch. “No word from Mica. I wonder if Brodie is out of surgery yet?”

“Now that we are alone, care to tell me what really happened between ye and Brodie Macalister?” he murmured in her ear. “From the way ye speak of him, ye’d just as soon he didn’t wake up.”

Pauley sat up straight. “I’ll tell ye if ye tell me what ye were staring at just before we left Kelly Woods.”

Jamie was silent for a moment, then he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “It was my brother. He said if I’d leave the house open on All Hallow’s Eve, he wouldn’t have to visit me in haunted places.”

Pauley’s mouth dropped open. “For real?” she finally asked, tucking her hair behind her ear on one side.

“I know it sounds like I’ve lost my mind, but ye asked.”

Pauley studied the sincerity and the grim humor in his eyes. “There is obviously much more to this story, but given the circumstances in which we find ourselves, I don’t want to know right now.” She shivered and looked around.

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