He was grave but calm. “Where are Sean and Kat?”
“Tom took Sean to talk to Father O’Malley about funeral arrangements. I’m not sure when they’ll be back. Amanda is in bed ‘recovering,’” she said sarcastically. “Kat and Caer are up in Kat’s room, Clara is out back, and I just sent Cal to pick up some things we’ll need once word spreads and people start coming by.”
“Thank you, Marni,” he said. “I’m going to go up and see Kat.”
“Is there anything I can do for you, anyone you need me to call or anything?”
He shook his head. “But thanks. I know your help will mean a lot to everyone, especially to Sean.”
He’d been gone a few minutes when she thought she heard someone at the front door. It was beginning already, she thought, as she went to let them in. The next few days would be hard, but she intended to be there for the O’Rileys all the way.
She looked through the peephole in the front door and saw no one. She frowned. She was certain she had heard something.
She opened the door and looked to both sides.
Still no one.
Then she looked down, and a scream rose to her throat.
It was another one.
Another dead bird.
Horrible, contorted, lying there on its back, looking up at her.
Its eyes were open. Both of them. And they seemed to be staring at her.
Fear shot into her heart, and she gasped for air, only then realizing that she had been holding her breath.
Dead birds. Everywhere.
First at the office.
Now here.
She closed her eyes. She couldn’t deal with it; she just couldn’t deal with it. Bridey, yes. Bridey’s death had been natural and smooth and easy, and she knew that things needed to be done, so she would do them.
But another dead bird…
She closed the door and locked it, then realized how ridiculous that was. As if a dead bird could get in!
Shivering, she walked away.
“Zach!” Kat exclaimed when she saw him.
She had been lying down, her eyes huge and puffy from crying. Caer, sitting next to her, wore a deeply sorrowful look. She met his gaze and smiled weakly, but she stayed where she was as Kat rose and threw herself into his arms.
“Oh, Zach,” she sobbed.
“She was a wonderful person, and she lived a long, full life, Kat,” he said, holding her, soothing her.
“I loved her so much,” Kat said.
“And she loved you, Kat. She always said you were the light of her life. And she was so proud of your success.”
“Oh, Zach, I know she was old. I know she lived a full life. But I’m going to miss her so much. I can’t picture life without all her stories about leprechauns and banshees. Oh, Zach…”
“Kat, it’s all right.”
“I can’t stop crying.”
“It’s all right to cry.”
Kat pulled back slightly. “She loved you, too, you know.”
“I know. And I loved her back. We all did.”
“Have you called Jeremy and Aidan?”
“Not yet, but I will. I wanted to see you first.”
Kat started to cry again. “She was old, but people can live to be older. And if she’s old, then my father isn’t that far behind her. Zach, I’m so scared. If I lost my father now…”
“You’re not going to lose your father.”
She wiped her tears away, tipped her head back and studied his eyes. “You believe me that someone is trying to kill him, right? So this…This…won’t stop them,” she said in a whisper.
“I’m going to protect your father.”
“Oh, God, Zach, the birds. The birds came, and that’s why she died.”
Zach smoothed back her hair. “The birds are birds. Kat, Bridey was old. She caught a cold, and it turned into pneumonia.”
“She knew the banshee was coming for her. She told me that. I tried to tease her out of it, but she was right. She knew,” Kat said earnestly.
“Kat, people often know when they’re going to die. At least, that’s what they say.”
“Where were you?” Kat demanded suddenly.
“Out on Cow Cay,” he admitted.
“Cow Cay? Why? What happened out there?”
He realized that Caer was studying him, too, frowning in concern.
He didn’t want to say. He didn’t want to tell Kat that another man had disappeared, only this time, he’d left behind a trace of his existence and pretty irrefutable proof of his death.
His blood.
“Something is going on out there—I’m not sure what yet. A guy was out there and now…they can’t find him,” Zach said.
“He’s disappeared? Like Eddie?” Kat demanded.
“Yeah, I’m afraid so.”
“Oh, my God! Eddie, Bridey…my father getting sick, and now this man? What the hell is happening, Zach?”
“Kat, Bridey was sick. And old. It was just her time,” Zach said.