Oxford Shadows (29 page)

Madison threw a glance back at the reception desk and the clerk. The woman now wore a suspicious frown. Rupert took hold of Madison’s elbow and directed her toward the sliding doors.

“We’ll need the police then,” Madison said. “Maybe Inspector Crawley could fast-track—”

“No police,” he cut her off. “I hope I can get hold of one of our own security guys.” He buried his hand in his jeans pocket to extract his phone. With a silent prayer, he scrolled through his contact list under Madison’s heavy gaze.

He’d have to spy on his own father now.

41

TRAVEL SICKNESS HAD always been one of Madison’s weaknesses. It had started when she was a kid in the back of her mom’s truck. Lately, her stomach had reached her mouth more than once. During the night drive from London to Magway she tried to glue her eyes to the road ahead of her, but Rupert drove his toy so fast that any attempt to keep her eyes on
anything
failed. The blood had frozen in her fingers, which had been clutching the edge of her seat for the last hour.

The lights of the car threw their blurred signal forward, their harshness diluted by the curtain of rain. It was pouring down, just like the night when Rupert had driven to Magway with his mother. The night she had died. Madison was about to ask Rupert to slow down but a glance at his clenched jaw discouraged her. He was focused intently on the road ahead, his arms extended and hands frozen in a tight grip on the steering wheel. The only interruption to his pose—and the constant roaring of the engine—was when his left hand took hold of the gear stick to shift it forward or backward.

Rupert had managed to get hold of the guy in charge of their security. However, between the time taken to reach him and for him to run his search on Hugo’s GPS, the hunt for Hugo had taken time and it was now past midnight.

Madison shut her eyes, but there was another jerk from the car and the sound of gravel under the wheels, alerting her that something was up. She opened her eyes to the daunting sight of Magway and a chill ran through her veins. Light shone from several windows but the sight wasn’t as enthralling as the first time she had arrived here, one crisp and sunny December morning.

“The guy from the security firm told me my dad’s car arrived more than two hours ago,” Rupert told Madison. “It hasn’t moved since then. And Jasper’s based in London at the moment. My father planned the whole thing carefully.”

He lifted the handbrake and left the engine running, the car lights slicing through the darkness and rain outside. His hands were still on the steering wheel and he stared ahead blindly. His profile stood out against the dim light emanating from the car.

Madison hurt for him. Her fingers tingled with an impulse to touch him, to caress his beautiful face and smooth the tense lines between his eyes, the one at the crease of his mouth. To protect Camilla and the baby, they would have to free Hugo from Liliana’s possession. And if Liliana was in fact Laura, her soul would be damned, condemned by the prayer to an eternity in hell. That was where Peter was rotting right now.

“Whatever the outcome, I will lose something tonight,” Rupert summarized Madison’s fears.

She didn’t have to answer.

The rain beat against the car roof like a drum and filled the silence. They could see their breath in the cold air.

Rupert switched off the engine. He rubbed a hand over his face and exhaled. “So here’s the plan. We’ll check the manor house first, and get to the park extending the perimeter gradually. Okay?”

Rupert’s eyes had settled on Madison for the first time since the Big Reveal at the townhouse. She searched for some connection in them, but read only a burning mix of exhaustion and determination. He finally released her gaze.

“Why don’t we split the ground search now?” she suggested. “I’ll start on the outside while you clear the inside. If we see anything, we use our cells to warn each other.”

Rupert’s gaze shot back toward Madison and he zeroed in on her. “You do
not
, under any circumstances, leave my side. Have I made myself clear?”

Madison jerked against the back of the car seat under the fire of his anger. She nodded. She wasn’t one to be pushed around, but she knew that the closer to Rupert she stayed, the better she could keep an eye on him.

42

RUPERT OPENED THE door wide and jumped out of the car. Madison took in a gulp of air and forced herself to follow. She ran around the Morgan’s bonnet to catch up with Rupert. His arm wrapped around her shoulder and he offered his body as a shelter against the torrential rain. In vain. By the time they stepped into Magway, Madison’s shirt and pants were drenched.

Rupert ran his hand absently over her face to wipe the droplets that were flowing down her forehead and cheeks. The contact didn’t last. He forged across the hallway, finding his way through the sparsely lit rooms on the first floor.

Madison followed in his wake but her attention was focused on different clues entirely. Rupert was looking for two living people—three maybe, if the child had been born—while her own senses were heightened to respond to the dead.

Liliana. Laura. Even Henry.

Through grand room after grand room, immense floor after immense floor, Rupert hunted down the prey he didn’t want to hurt. Madison struggled to keep up with his pace. She kept her hands open in front of her, palms up, letting the air flowing inside Magway caress her skin. The air was vapid. There was no spirit, at least not inside the building.

“There’s still the cellar. We can access it from the kitchens.” Rupert stood on the edge of the spiral staircase, considering the descent down to the first floor. “It’s the only place we haven’t checked yet.”

His foot was already on the first step when Madison grabbed his elbow. “No need. They won’t be there.”

His face tightened and he bit the inside of his cheek. “Are you sure?”

Cold had seeped through the material of her shirt to her bra, and goosebumps had broken out on her arms and chest. She repressed a shiver and the chattering of her teeth to answer Rupert’s question. “I assumed you drove thirty miles an hour over the speed limit because you took me serious—”

He cut her off. “Don’t always bring things back to yourself. I don’t want to take any chances.”

Madison pointed her index finger at him. “We’re running out of time. I’m telling you, they’re not here. Dead or alive. We need to check the grounds. Now.”

Rupert gave her a tight nod that felt more like dismissal than agreement and ran down the stairs. She followed him as fast as her much shorter legs could carry her. In the drawer of the antique table at the side of the hallway, Rupert grabbed a flashlight. Without turning back to check if she was behind, he jerked open the wide wooden panel of the entrance door and propelled himself into the darkness and rain outside.

Madison’s feet froze on the doorstep. The chilly wind flooded into the hallway, pasting her wet T-shirt against her skin. She breathed in and let her senses decipher the signals of the night. She ignored the fat droplets that smashed like marbles onto the stone floor at the entrance. Her spirit flew away in search of other spirits. She called their names.

“Liliana.”

“Laura.”

A face shot to the forefront of Madison’s consciousness. Blond hair, dark blue eyes and chiseled cheekbones. So familiar. Laura had shared so much of Rupert, but fear tensed her beauty into a mask of death.

Water, so much water …
An unknown voice echoed in Madison’s head. Laura’s?

With a
whoosh
Madison plunged into tumultuous flows, violent streams pushing her body down to the abyss. Her hand opened to release the crushed petals of a lily. Surprise and understanding made her gasp. Her mouth filled with water, as did her throat, her lungs …
Ahhhh.

“Madison, breathe. Breathe again.”

Rupert’s hard shake of her shoulders extracted her from her vision. Pain radiated from her knees. She had collapsed to the ground. Looking back at the manor, she saw she was now at least three yards away.

“Liliana drowned herself,” she managed to say. “She drowned herself, and that’s what she has in store for Camilla.”

Rupert slid his hands underneath Madison’s armpits and lifted her back to her feet. Her legs were shaky, but she had regained mental focus.

“They’re at the lake.” Madison was certain.

His mouth opened and she expected another one of his “Are you sure?” looks, but he swallowed his words. “Let’s go,” he said.

They ran hand in hand around the main body of the manor onto the vast expanse of grass that descended toward the wood and the lake. The feeble ray of light from the flashlight gave them a couple of yards of visibility into the denseness of the rain, but Rupert knew his way by heart. There was no hesitation in his steps.

Out of breath, Madison pushed her legs to move as fast as Rupert’s. The light in the boathouse confirmed her intuition. That was where the action would take place, whatever the action was. Or
had
taken place if they were too late to prevent the tragedy.

Her feet flew forward and her bottom splashed backward into a puddle, cutting her fears short. She rolled sideways to recover her breath, only for her cheek to squash against the runny mud that covered the field.

“Shit.” She stood up quickly, but with the sudden movement an acute pain shot from her ankle up to her hip and back again. “Double shit.” She winced.

“Are you hurt?” Rupert knelt by her side. The rain had increased in intensity and the noise around them almost muffled his question.

“It’s my ankle … but don’t wait for me. I’ll catch up with you.”

“No fucking way I’m leaving you behind.”

“I’ll slow you down. There’s no time for that.”

Rupert slid one arm underneath her knees while the other lifted up her shoulders. He stood, and her face, which was now plastered with mud, rested against his chest.

Rupert had also seen the lights in the boathouse. He broke into a run as if he wasn’t carrying an extra one hundred and ten pounds. With a kick, the wooden door of the boathouse burst open and he stepped inside. His eyes scanned the room, messy with ropes and tiny boats leaning against the walls.

“They’re not here.” Disappointment gave Rupert’s voice an usual edge.

Twisting her neck, Madison scanned the place for herself. Her eyes caught an alarming sight. “Put me down please.”

“We need to check every corner of the riverbank … and the waters.” Rupert broke off at the last word.

“I can see something. Go over there.” Madison pointed a shaky finger to the opposite corner of the room.

Rupert obeyed her order but released her only after they had reached the corner. When her injured foot touched the ground, Madison swallowed a cry of pain, but she forgot about the acute sensation when Rupert grabbed the material rumpled on the floor.

A torn bed linen soaked with …

“Blood. A lot of it.” Rupert threw the material back to the floor and wiped his hand on his pants. Without any warning, he picked her up in his arms again.

“Go to the jetty. That’s where Liliana appeared to me.”

Rupert agreed with a curt nod. The muscles of his shoulders tightened under Madison’s palm. An ache formed in her throat.

Now for the final showdown.

43