The temperature had dropped twenty degrees, and a thick mist had rolled in from the ocean. Wishing she’d taken time to get a jacket before going to the farmhouse, Jennie shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. Tired and stunned, she watched the taillights of the fire truck disappear. The fire was out, and damage to the house was minimal.
Like the others, Jennie had prayed it would be.
The fire had been purposely set. Fortunately, recent rains had soaked the house and surrounding area. The flames Declan had seen from the castle had been gasoline-soaked rags that had flared up and burned themselves out. They were stumped as to who might want to burn them out and why.
Jennie went inside with the rest of the family and the Kavanaghs. William and Declan were trying to talk the Keegans into coming to the castle to spend the night.
“Thanks for the offer, but we’ll be fine here,” Thomas insisted.
“Well, in that case, perhaps we’d best get back.” William sighed. “If you change your mind …”
Thomas shook his head. “We won’t.”
Jennie expected Shelagh to object, but she had become uncharacteristically quiet. Jennie couldn’t blame her. Having someone try to set your house on fire was a sobering thing. Frightening as well.
Jennie hugged her. “I’m sorry, Shelagh. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Shelagh nodded. Tears gathered in her eyes.
“Will you still want to go riding tomorrow?” Jeremy asked.
Shelagh and Sean both looked at their parents, who now stood arm in arm. “I don’t …”
“There’s no reason you shouldn’t go on as usual,” Thomas said.
Sean grinned. “It’s set, then.”
They said their goodbyes and headed outside.
“Where are you off to, Jeremy?” Declan asked when Jeremy started down the path to the beach instead of going to the car.
“You’ve got a full load. I need a run. Jennie, would you like to come with me?”
“Um, thanks for the offer, but I don’t have my jacket.” Besides, Jennie wanted to talk to Gram about the fire.
Jeremy shrugged and took off running.
“Gram, could the fire somehow be connected with the threat you got?” Jennie asked as they walked out to the car. “Maybe the person who sent it thought we were staying at the farm.”
“Mmm. I thought about that myself, but there’s one problem. The dog. Gracie never would have allowed a stranger to come into the yard. You saw how she was with the firemen. If she’d have raised that much of a ruckus, we’d have heard her clear over at the castle.”
“Maybe the arsonist gave her some food.” Jennie climbed into the backseat after Gram.
Gram frowned. “No, I think Thomas is right. Whoever set that fire was someone Gracie knew and trusted. Besides that, we weren’t there. No one was home. I really doubt the fire was meant to harm us.”
“They weren’t very bright, that’s for certain,” Declan put in from the front seat.
William agreed. “At least not very serious about it. With everything so wet still, any idiot would know you’d need more than a few douses of gasoline to start a fire big enough to burn down the house.”
Gram took hold of Jennie’s hand. “You may be right in thinking there’s a connection. Perhaps the fire was meant to frighten us. I’m sure the police will get to the bottom of it.”
Jennie leaned her head back against the seat and yawned. “I hope so.”
Declan dropped Jennie, Gram, and William off at the front door and headed back to the garage.
Jeremy came around the corner of the house. Jennie waited for him while Gram and William went inside. When Jeremy reached the steps, he bent over, resting his hands on his knees. “Whew, good run. Tide’s out. You should have come with me.”
Jennie rubbed her arms. “It’s freezing out here.” She opened the front door to go inside.
Jeremy placed a hand on her arm. “What do you make of it, Jen?”
“What do you mean?”
“The fire. You must have some idea. Shelagh’s always going on about how you solve all these crimes. So are you going to solve this one?”
Jennie shrugged. “I … I don’t know where to start. All I know is that Gram got a note telling her to stay out of Ireland. Then, we no sooner leave the airport than she’s nearly run over. And now, the place where we were planning to stay is set on fire.”
“Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Well, I’d best get upstairs. School tomorrow. As it is, my brain will be mush from lack of sleep.”
Jennie nodded. “Mine too, but at least I get to sleep in.”
Jennie watched Jeremy bound up the stairs and then stood in the entry a moment. She was about to head up to her room when she heard voices coming from the sitting room. Gram and William were sitting side by side on one of the sofas, apparently deep in conversation. Were they talking about the murder? They looked up as Jennie entered.
“Oh, hi, sweetheart.” Gram held a hand out to her. “I thought you’d gone up to bed. Did you need something?”
“Um … not really.”
“We were just going to have some tea to settle our nerves. Would you like some?”
Jennie shook her head. The tea sounded good, but bed sounded better. “I was just going up to bed.”
“Good idea. I’ll be up shortly.” Holding out an arm, Gram said, “Come give me a goodnight kiss.”
Jennie reached down to hug her and kiss her cheek.
“See you in the morning.” Jennie turned to William. “Good night.”
“Sleep well, lass.”
Jennie took her time walking out of the room into the foyer and up the stairs. She could hear nothing but a soft murmur of voices. Were they talking about William’s father, the fire, or both? Maybe Gram would fill Jennie in the next day. Maybe Jennie should have stayed and had tea with them.
When she got to the second floor, Jennie couldn’t remember which floor she and Gram were on. She thought she recognized a painting and started toward the end of the hall. About halfway down the hall, she heard voices. Angry voices came from behind a set of carved wooden doors.
“Don’t give me that garbage,” Jeremy yelled. “You don’t care about me. All you ever do is work.”
“I work to keep food on the table and you in school.” Declan matched him decibel for decibel. “It takes a lot of hours to run a business.”
“I don’t care. I liked it better when we lived in the apartment in New York. I never wanted to come here.”
“Jeremy …” Declan sounded tired.
“I want to go home. Mom wants me. At least—”
“This is your home. You are not going back to the States.”
“This is your home, not mine. I talked to Mom this afternoon. She and Tom are buying a house. She says there’s an extra room.”
“We’ll talk about it later.” Declan sounded hoarse.
“There’s nothing to talk about. I’m sixteen. I can make my own decisions.”
“No, you can’t. Jeremy—”
One of the doors opened and Jeremy burst out, nearly colliding with Jennie.
He muttered a curse and closed the door behind him. Grabbing her arm, he led her farther down the hall before confronting her.
“Ouch. That hurts.” She wrenched her arm from his grasp.
“Sorry.” He scowled at her. “What are you doing here?”
“I … I was going to my room.”
“Right. You’re on the wrong floor.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know. I couldn’t remember.”
“It’s okay.” Jeremy lightened up. “It’s easy to get lost here. Come on. I’ll take you to your room.”
She touched his arm as they walked back toward the stairs. “Jeremy?”
“What?”
“Are you okay?”
“Does it look like it?” he snapped. Then he sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. It’s nothing to do with you. Dad’s being a total jerk.”
“I heard you say you were going to live with your mom.”
“He doesn’t want me to. He thinks she doesn’t want me. That’s not true. Yeah, she’s got another family, but I’m still her son.”
“How long have they been divorced?”
Jeremy shrugged. “Six years. Been living with Dad most of the time. Sometimes, when we lived in the States, I’d see my mom on weekends and for a couple of weeks in the summer.”
“So your dad has custody?”
“It’s a joint-custody thing. Mom was a flight attendant and traveled a lot. It was easier staying with Dad. But she’s married and has a house now—in California.”
They reached the staircase, and Jeremy indicated they needed to go up another flight to the third floor.
“Are you really leaving?”
“Yeah. As soon as my mother sends me a ticket.”
“Hmm. It must be hard having your parents in two different places.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have any brothers and sisters?” Jennie hurried to catch up to him.
“No—at least, I didn’t until Mom got married. She’s got a three-year-old and a baby.”
Jennie winced. “She’s kind of starting over, huh?”
“Yeah. But she wants me there. Dad says she just wants a built-in babysitter.”
“What a cruel thing to say.” Jennie wondered if it was true. It seemed strange that his mother would wait until he was sixteen to invite him into her home. Jennie felt sad for him, but it really wasn’t any of her business.
At the top of the stairs, Jeremy turned right and led Jennie down the hall to her door.
“I hope everything works okay for you—with your parents, I mean.”
“It will. I’ve made up my mind to go. Dad’s just going to have to accept that. Mom has every right to have me stay with her.”
Jennie nodded, though she didn’t necessarily agree. “I don’t see how you can leave the castle, though.” She smiled. “I’d love to live here.”
“Wait till you’ve spent the night here. You may change your mind.”
“Why’s that?”
“The ghosts come out at night.” Jeremy’s voice took on an ominous tone, and though Jennie thought he was teasing her, she still felt goose bumps shiver up her arms.
“There are all kinds of them here,” Jeremy went on. “Sometimes they’ll go into their old rooms and play pranks on the people who are sleeping there.”
Jennie straightened. “Jeremy, please. There are no ghosts. If you’re trying to scare me, it isn’t working.” It was, but she had no intention of letting him know that.
He tossed her a crooked grin. “Don’t worry. They’re not dangerous. Haven’t killed anybody yet, that I know of. Of course, it might have been a ghost that killed my great-grandpa Liam. He supposedly fell off the walk.”
“The stairs ended at this one. I noticed there were five stories.”
“There’s another set of stairs. Two, in fact. But only one leads to the upper floor and the walkway. Soldiers used to stand guard up there all night during the battles. That’s who you’ll hear walking around up there at night, all the dead soldiers.”
“Humph.” The hair on the back of Jennie’s neck stood on end. Still, she was not about to back down. “You’re wasting your time trying to scare me. It isn’t going to work. I’m immune.” He was going to give her nightmares.
Looking into his eyes, Jennie realized that’s exactly what he meant to do.
“Good night, Jeremy. Have fun with your ghosts. I’m going to sleep.” She let herself in and took a quick look around before turning back to him.
Hands in his pockets, he cocked his head. “Sweet dreams,” he drawled. Turning around, he started to make his way back down the hall. After a few steps he looked back. “I’d lock my door if I were you.” Chuckling softly, he half jogged to the stairs and disappeared down the staircase.
Jennie told herself over and over that Jeremy had only been teasing. There were no ghosts in the castle. Still, Jeremy’s tales and her own vivid imagination, along with the fact that someone didn’t want Gram in Ireland, kept Jennie awake and shivering for well over an hour. She finally felt herself drifting off. A flash of light and crash of thunder brought her bolt upright. Something lashed against her window.
“It’s just a storm,” she said aloud, trying to calm her wild heart. Her breaths came in snatches as the window smashed open. A cold, wet wind swished through the room.
Two massive forms came toward her.