“I actually don’t believe there are any,” Devin said.
“Oh? Why?” he asked, coming upon an elbow to stare at her.
“The banshee sees that they are able to move on.”
“The banshee?”
“I met her this evening.”
“What?” He nearly pounced upon her, rising above her, arms on either side of her shoulders as he stared down at her intently.
Devin smiled and said softly. “I met the banshee. She’s the shadow that we see and feel. Very lovely, really. Her name is Deirdre. But, she’s very upset. She’s insulted for one—banshees do not sound like that awful noise we heard!”
Rocky moved, sitting up, looking around the room. “Is she—here?”
“No. She would never intrude. She’s gracious and polite. Honestly! Do you think that I would have jumped into the tub as I did if she were?”
“No, no, of course not,” Rocky murmured. “Can I meet her?”
“I suppose—but she’s not different from the ghosts or spirits we’ve encountered before. I don’t have a cell number for her!” Devin said.
He gave her an impatient glance. “Has she seen anything? Does she know anything?”
Devin nodded gravely. “She was able to get a bit from Collum, but only a bit. She was late on the scene; he wasn’t supposed to die. He said something to her about Sir Barry Martin—he who murdered Brianna and died with Declan Karney—coming back for him as a devil or demon from hell. Rocky, someone has to be doing this—but who?”
“When we find out exactly what’s going on,” Rocky said, “we’ll know who is doing it!”
Devin started suddenly, aware that the ringer on her phone was going off in the jeans she had shed so quickly.
She leapt out of bed and hurried back to the tub area, grabbing up her jeans and finding her phone.
“Hello?” she said quickly.
“Devin?”
“Yes. Kelly?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Oh, no. Has something happened? Brendan is…”
“Holding his own; still unconscious. But,” Kelly said quickly, “Devin, I’m scared. My dad went down for some coffee and I was alone here. I think someone was in the hall—someone watching me. It didn’t feel right. I don’t know how to explain it. But—I’m afraid. My dad came back. But, I’m just out in the hall now. I don’t want to leave him alone here. Even for a minute.”
“I’ll come right back, Kelly,” Devin promised.
Rocky was already up and dressing; he’d heard her conversation.
“We can’t both leave the castle,” she said. “Michael and Aidan are here. And they may be guilty or—they may be vulnerable as victims.”
He shook his head. “We won’t both leave. I’m walking you down to the car; you’ll go and stay with Kelly and Seamus until morning. I’ll have you spelled then. I’ll keep guard here.”
“How will you have me spelled?”
“I believe that Will Chan and Kat Sokolov will arrive in Dublin early in the morning. They’ll have been on a night owl flight.”
Devin nodded slowly. “All right. That seems best. What about the sheriff? Don’t you trust him?”
“I trust us,” he said simply.
A few moments later, she was in the car.
By then, the courtyard was quiet; the vendor’s stalls were covered for the night.
The music had gone silent.
The moon rose high over the night.
“Rocky!” Devin said.
“What’s that?”
“There’s going to be an eclipse. A solar eclipse of the moon. On St. Patrick’s Day night, it will be dark!”
“And?” he asked.
“The prophecy!” she said. “Remember? ‘Castle Karney in Karney hands shall lie, ’til the moon goes dark by night and the banshee wails her last lament.’”
His lip went grim and tight for a moment. “So that’s it, then,” he said softly. “Someone is playing not just on the banshee legend, but on history and the prophecy as well. All right. The moon may go dark—but we’ll see to it that the banshee has no cause to wail at all.”
Chapter 11
The night was quiet.
Rocky sat up in one of the great chairs by the hearth, allowing himself to doze now and then.
He was armed.
He’d chosen a small knife from the weapons above the hearth in the great hall. It was unfortunate that they had come as tourists—without their weapons.
But this killer wasn’t walking around with a gun. A gun would be too obvious. This killer was trying to murder his victims in ways that made it appear that natural causes or fear itself had done them in.
So far, the killer had attempted to kill older men who had lived their lives steeped in legend.
They hadn’t gone after an able-bodied American trained in arms and self-defense.
He jarred upright to the least crackle of the fire. He slipped out to the hall now and then, and even back downstairs. He checked to see that the pub was locked up tight for the night.
There was no movement. The castle guests were in their own wing, most probably sleeping.
As were Aidan and Michael. Rocky would have heard them had they left their rooms.