Echoes Through the Mist: A Paranormal Mystery (The Echoes Quartet Book 1)

by K. Francis Ryan

  Deep lines of concern scored Julian face. He had felt more clearly something was wrong, off somehow. Now on the ground in front of him was the cause or a part of it. The air seemed to leave his lungs and the cave suddenly seemed small and tight. At last, Julian said, “This isn’t possible.”

  Brendan smiled broadly and shone Julian’s flashlight against another far wall and pointed with the Roman sword to what looked like a low mound of dirt. He drew Julian closer and removed some of the dirt with his boot. More coins spilled onto the dirt floor. Julian used the light to examine the area.

  The mound was actually the remains of leather bags full of Roman coins. All but a few remnants of the bags remained. The years it took for the bags to disintegrate were also years when wind and weather deposited a fine covering of dirt on top of them. Julian took the flashlight and sent the beam along another wall of the cave.

  He continued to scan the next wall and then over to where he had first seen a glint in the firelight. Bags of coins had been stacked around the entire perimeter of the cave. When and by whom were the questions Julian wanted answered and he knew a man who would have those answers.

  “Brendan, may I take a few of these coins and that sword to show a friend of mine?”

  Brendan Maher smiled broadly then moved to the back of the cave. He returned with another sword in better shape and handed it to Julian.

  The boy then moved back to his bed by the fire and Julian found himself a comfortable place opposite. Sleep, however, was the last thing on Julian’s mind.

  He could feel them, see them, these men who brought this treasure to Ireland. They were soldiers, and he could sense their honor and their valor. But the scene Julian was witnessing was confused and confusing. His ability to see into the past was improving, but his previous experiences were of recent events. Tonight, he witnessed an incident two millennia into a dark past.

  ***

  The coal blackness of night had given way to a steel gray morning that found Julian staring into the fire pit. He had sat before the fire in the company of Roman Legionaries who arrived in Ireland to fulfill their duty. Now these men of honor sat in abject despair knowing they would never see their homes again and, to their shame, knowing why.

  The wind had died down and the rain had stopped. Julian woke the boys and together they finished off the last of the food Ailís Dwyer had packed. They doused the fire and Julian watched as the boys erased any trace of their having been there. They obscured the entrance to the cave and dusted the trail with branches to obliterate any footsteps that would have given away the location.

  The path through the woods was easier now that they had rested and could see. Soon they neared the tree line that abutted the village of Cappel Vale. Julian stopped and looked at the boys. Even after a night’s sleep, they were tired and ragged and could use a hot bath and a hot meal.

  Julian said to the boys, “Now you know you are probably in for it. The entire village was worried sick about you Brendan, and Timothy, your mother was beside herself. It is my advice that you stand up straight, leave off with any sort of excuses and simply throw yourselves on their mercy and hope they don’t punish you as you deserve.”

  The boys looked mournful, but only murmured a subdued, “Yes, sor.”

  “Right, here we go. Let’s try to look like we know what we’re doing.”

  They moved through the tree line and into the village. Sean Maher, Ailís Dwyer and Moira Hagan were on the main street talking together. A number of men were just coming out of the pubs after a farm breakfast and were ready to take up the search again for the missing boys.

  With more discipline then he would have expected, the boys stayed with him and marched up to Ailís and Sean. The thunder behind Sean Maher’s eyes dissipated when he set them on his eldest son. Julian approached Sean, looked up at the big man and murmured, “I’m not sure I would have done any differently than Brendan and I don’t think you would have either.”

  Sean nodded his head and opened wide his arms to his son. Together they moved off toward the Maher house. On their approach, Kathleen Maher emerged along with the rest of the brood and they surrounded Brendan and spirited him inside.

  Julian looked at Ailís and noted she was doing a very bad job of looking stern. Her nose flared and her lips were pressed hard together as she tried to suppress her emotions. Before hugging her son, she took him by the shoulders and said, “You are never to do that again.”

  Julian approached, his face drawn by pain and weariness. He leaned down and with his lips close to her ear and whispered, “Try not to be too hard on the boy. He faced his worst fears to search for his friend. He did this after he thought everyone else had given up the hunt. That is the kind of strength and courage few have.” Ailís turned to look at him. This was as physically close as she had been to him in weeks. Pain seared her soul as she looked at him. There was a haunted look that had swept away the softness of his eyes. Ailís slowly nodded.

  Moira Hagan looked at Julian, smiled warmly and was shocked by the knowing and disturbingly frank look she received in return. Julian inclined his head slightly, nodded, smiled slightly and, with the help of his walking stick, limped the length of the village to the police station.

  With history in his hands, he hefted the backpack with the score of coins he had picked up at random and the Roman sword and thought about nothing but a hot shower, a proper bed and sleep.

  Behind him, Ailís Dwyer knelt in the dusty street and held her son for a very long time. She thought, “He said, ‘I won’t let it be otherwise,’ and I knew he wouldn’t. What have I done?”

  ***

  “Timothy, come along and I’ll get you something hot to eat,” Moira Hagan said to the boy who smiled. He left his mother and moved toward the older woman.

  “I can do that,” Ailís said and looked profoundly confused.

  Moira looked at her as if she were an especially dull child and said, “No, I’m afraid you can’t. There are other things you need to do.” She gently pushed Timothy in the direction of her cottage.

  Ailís’s face, drained of color said, “I don’t know what you’re…”

  Moira looked at the doctor, into her and said nothing. Ailís deflated visibly. “I can’t and even if I could it is too late. You saw his face. He hates me and so he should.”

  “Indeed, I saw his face. Tell me, did you or did you not just see what you needed to see? Did you see the face of someone who overcame every bit of his past and all of his fears in order to love someone? Did you not see the face of a remarkable man who was forced to watch as the woman he loved shredded his soul?

  “You are a bright woman, Ailís – a bright woman capable of doing some of the stupidest things imaginable.” Moira let her words sink in.

  “Don’t you see? I can’t,” the doctor pleaded. “It isn’t just about me. I am protecting Timothy. I won’t let him have his heart broken.”

  “Well then, you have been stunningly unsuccessful,” Moira spat. “You have played a dangerous and stupid game, my girl. You sat down at the card table without knowing the stakes or the odds. You risked it all not knowing there was never any chance of winning.

  “You say you wished to protect Timothy and your lovely self from heartache. Well, you played and you lost and you are only now coming to grips with how much you lost.”

  Ailís looked at the ground and closed her eyes.

  “Since you mentioned your son, let me ask you a question,” Moira said. “Timothy looks to you for guidance. That is as it should be. When it comes time to talk to him about love, what will you tell him?

  “Will you say, ‘Walk away from love, son. Set your foot on a path that will lead to heartache without end. That is what I did in order to protect us both.’ Will you say that to him, Doctor?”

  Ailís stood in stunned silence, powerless to answer a question that only had one reply.

  “You are in pain, Doctor, are you not?” Moira smiled crookedly. Her piercing, dark gray eyes cut in
to the younger woman. “Just answer me yes or no. ’Tis an easy question, surely.”

  Ailís had no choice. She nodded yes.

  “Ah, but you don’t have a monopoly on pain now do you. Timothy is a sensitive boy and he feels the loss of his Mr. Julian’s company keenly, as keenly as he senses his mother’s sadness. I can feel it in him and you know the truth of it too. But we will put your son aside for the moment.

  “You suffer, but yours is a pain that is self-caused. You picked the time and the place with care and you set it in motion by your own hand. Agonizing to be sure, but as I say, you are not alone.

  “There is man suffering an anguish that you cannot imagine. He had no control in its cause you see. His is a pain so intense many would lose their minds if they had to endure for a moment the torture he does. And why is this you might ask?” Ailís bunched her fists and swallowed hard as Moira continued her relentless assault.

  “His suffering is limitless because he loves you with a passion that is limitless. At the end of this very street is a man who loves you so completely that he does it without the slightest reservation or regard for himself. You see, he is so devoted to you that he will pay any price to assure your happiness even if that price is his own happiness,” Moira said.

  “You did tell him there could never be anything between you two, did you not? Don’t worry yourself, he didn’t tell me and wouldn’t. It is plain for anyone to see. You saw it just moments ago in his face.

  “But it doesn’t stop there for him now, does it?” Moira stepped closer to the doctor and Ailís staggered as if struck. “He believes he will have to endure this pain endlessly and not only that, he must do so alone.”

  Ailís gasped for breath, her shoulders shook with her agony as she screamed, “Stop it. Enough. I can’t take any more of this!”

  Moira stepped closer still and her eyes flared. “Ah, but darlin’, that is the nature of a thing that is endless. It doesn’t stop. This pain is limitless. There is no ‘enough’ don’t ya see, either for you or for him.”

  Ailís stood in the street and said nothing, her lips a thin harsh line, her eyes pleading.

  “I will not say you suffer less nor that you love less, but you have Timothy who relies on your wisdom, who loves you and you him. You are not alone and at the end of the day, that is a tremendous comfort.

  “At the end of the day the man we are talking about will suffer alone with his only comfort being that he once loved another completely.

  “Ailís, the choice is plain. Take yourself home and suffer for your choices or go to this man and offer your love to him.

  “I’ll say no more. Besides, Timothy and I have a great deal to talk about and we’re both hungry.” Moira Hagan smiled shrewdly. “Doctor, do see if you can come by for supper this evening. Timothy and I will have something special laid on for the occasion. But,” she added and smiled a wicked smile, “If you are somehow detained, ah, but that will be alright too.”

  ***

  Entering the police station Julian sat down heavily on the bench near the fireplace. In his absence, Jimmy had stoked the fire. After his night in the forest and cave, the station felt warm and inviting.

  He had been arranging his personal papers by the fire before being called away by Timothy for Dunla’s murder. He thought again of Timothy and the important place the boy had taken in his life. His spirit sagged at the thought.

  He hefted the papers, then groaned at the thought of sorting through them. Stiff and aching, he dropped the stack of documents, removed his boots and the rest of his clothes. He made for the bathroom where he intended on showering until all the hot water was gone.

  The water had been searing hot, but not nearly hot enough to burn away the ache he carried. He dried off, pulled on a pair of sweatpants and picked up his razor to shave. Wiping steam from the mirror, he carefully shaved around his scar. He felt, rather than heard, the station door open.

  Julian closed his eyes and could sense Ailís. She felt to him like a jumble of thoughts and unhappy emotions. When he sensed her in the past she had always felt clear, focused and without equivocation. Now she was confused, angry and rudderless, but he sensed something else too. Wariness crossed his face, then he relaxed slightly, calmed his thoughts and continued shaving.

  Julian emerged into the office and found the station’s curtains had been pulled closed and the bar used for locking the door had been shot home.

  She sat in the Desk Sergeant’s chair. “How can I help you, Doctor?” Julian said with formality.

  Ailís looked up at the sound of his voice then closed her eyes tightly. A towel was draped over his shoulders. His chest and abdomen were still covered with the remnants of bruises that varied between light green to dull yellow. The scar on his cheek was still an angry gash.

  His face was no longer swollen and the smile she longed to see, the sensuous lips once soft and tender under hers had been replaced by a thin, tight line. Ailís had closed her eyes to shut out what she now saw. The eyes she remembered so vividly as being alive with mischief and deep caring were the same light gray, but were filled with pain.

  “Doctor?” Julian said and walked wearily to the hearth where he straddled the bench and sat facing the fire.

  He looked up at her for a moment and Ailís’s heart ached for them both. She took a deep breath. Her eyes burned and she bit her lower lip hard. She dug her fingernails into her palm to control the flood of emotions that threatened to ambush her resolve.

  Ailís stood and walked toward Julian, swallowed and knelt beside him. His eyes never left the fire, eyes that looked ghostly as they reflected the fire’s light and the agony inside of him.

  “Julian, I need to talk to you. You have no reason to listen to me, but there are things I must say.”

  He sat, stared into the fire and said nothing.

  “Please, tell me you will give me a fair hearing. I’m not asking for anything more,” she said.

  Julian looked down to the sheaf of papers at his feet. The letter from his ex-wife sat on top, a potent reminder of his failings. Ailís was a reminder of his deficiencies too, but also of his profound loss. “Doctor, go back to Timothy and your practice. Your future is there. I’m asking you to leave all this alone, leave it all in the past. No good will come if you pursue it. Now, please, leave before things are said that should not be said.”

  A sob escaped her lips. “Please, for the sake of any feelings you may have once had for me, I am begging you to just listen to…”

  Julian’s eyes blazed, his face contorted not with anger, but with pain. Ailís was stunned and frightened by his intensity.

  “For the sake of any feelings I may have once had for you. Is that what you said? Is it? How dare you,” he spat. “How dare you come here and say that to me?”

  “Please, Julian, my heart is broken. I’m asking you…”

  He shook his head slowly and turned back to the fire. “Your heart is broken?” he asked. “When things turned personal between you and me, the last resort became your first response. I have been learning to make choices, but I found that another would make the one choice vital to my life. You chose a path you needed to follow. That choice tore the heart out of my chest.” His breath was ragged and his teeth were clenched.

  “That day in your home, after you put me back together, you said to me, ‘There can never be anything for us.’ That was the last thing in the world I wanted but the only thing you could live with.

  “I know you did it without malice. You did what you thought best for you and for Timothy. I understand that.” He looked down at his ex-wife’s letter. “I’ll have to learn to live with the only choice you left me.

  “I don’t say this – any of this to hurt you – I realize I’m not what you want or need, but please know I would rather have died in the church than hear you say there could be nothing for us.” His eyes were closed, his face twisted in torment and tears coursed his cheeks. “Go Ailís, please. Being this close to you is killing me
.”

  She crept closer and put her head on his thigh. Sobs shook her shoulders as she searched for the voice to say what she felt so deeply. He looked down at her and ached to be able to run his fingers through her hair. He wanted to hold her, reassure her everything would be fine.

  Deep ridges appeared on his forehead. He realized comfort was a road closed to him; he had no hope of getting it or giving it. He would not lie to her or himself. The world, their world, had changed and nothing would be as it had been.

  She looked up and met his eyes. She looked for solace there and found only grief. His pain doubled her despair. She pushed away from him. She sat back on her heels and a hard-edged fury overtook her. “No!” she said. “I will not have it. I will not let go so easily.

  “You’re right, I made decisions but I was not heedless of the consequences. I was willing to accept the cost or thought I was. But I forced the consequences of my decisions onto you and I had no right to do that. I made choices for the reasons you say, but for another reason as well, one of which I am deeply ashamed. Ultimately, I made that decision and every decision leading up to it because I was afraid,” Ailís said.

  “At first I convinced myself my love for you could never match the intensity of yours for me. That made me feel almost noble, but I knew the truth of it – deep down, I knew. I was terrified you would go away and leave me loving you. I felt that would break me all to pieces.

  “Julian, you loved me once, didn’t you?” She staggered under the fierce intensity in his eyes.

  “You must stop saying that. Don’t you know what it does to me?” The fire left his eyes, his body sagged as emotions dragged away the last of his stamina.