Deep is the Night: Dark Fire

by Denise A. Agnew

  Erin thought back to when she’d left the library. “What time was the attack?”

  “Ten-thirty.” Gilda sighed. “Would you be out that late all by yourself?”

  Discomfort ran through Erin. She’d left the library earlier than ten-thirty, but she recalled that unsettling feeling when she imagined a dark shadow hovering above her. “Probably not.”

  “You know that group of old ladies. They’re like true party animals.” Gilda poured the rest of her coffee into the small sink. “Apparently she’s in Governor’s Hospital.”

  Trying to calm the alarm in her mind, Erin took a sip of hot, black coffee. “How bad is she?”

  “She’s in a coma. Her daughter reported that she lost a lot of blood. In fact, they may move her to a larger hospital out of town.”

  Erin put her mug on the small lounge table and rubbed her temple. A headache started in her forehead already. “When I heard it on the radio this morning they didn’t give details. Was she bitten on the neck like the other woman?”

  Gilda’s reddish brown eyebrows tilted up. “Bingo.”

  Erin sighed, her stomach lurching with a sickness that had nothing to do with black coffee. “That’s sick.”

  “Well, there are a lot of sickos in the world.”

  Erin knew this, but it didn’t make the reality any more palatable.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you to reopen the library last night,” Gilda said. “Was everything all right? With Mark’s accident—”

  Waving one hand in dismissal, Erin said, “It’s no problem. I understand entirely. And thanks for sending Lachlan.”

  Maybe the initial stress of moving to Pine Forest had rotted her brain. Moving to a new place could do that to a person, and the stress might make them crack and do things they’d never think of doing any other time. She couldn’t get the feeling of Lachlan’s touch, real and imagined, out of her mind.

  If he had behaved roughly or cruelly, she wouldn’t be attracted to him. Instead he’d treated her like a goddess, one to be honored and loved. Even the words she’d heard whispered in her head had been tender and reverent. If she thought about it too long, she realized a caring feeling for him—potent and mind-boggling—rose up inside her.

  No, she couldn’t have feelings for a man she knew nothing about beyond a few minor details. She felt lust, but that didn’t signal happiness came around the corner. Yet there you have it, Erin. You’re interested in him whether you like it or not.

  Still, it didn’t mean she had to do anything about it. Especially not when she didn’t know if she could trust him.

  Sure, she’d become carried away with Lachlan, but if she saw him again she would pretend, with dignity intact, that she hadn’t almost climbed his body and done the animal thing.

  “He seems great with kids,” Erin said with reluctant admiration.

  Gilda’s face turned sad. “He always talked about wanting a family, but he can’t seem to find the right woman for him.”

  Erin made a disbelieving noise. “I find it hard to believe women aren’t swarming all over him. You should have seen how the ladies reacted to him last night.”

  You should see how I reacted to him last night.

  “He’s a quiet sort of guy and not too gregarious with people he doesn’t know. And you’re right, women do flock to him.”

  “He seemed fairly talkative last night.”

  Gilda’s grin held satisfaction. “I’m glad you had a chance to meet him.”

  Erin knew what her matchmaking friend planned, and as they headed out of the break-room and into the main room, Erin said, “Oh, no you don’t. Remember the last time you tried to set me up?”

  “Baker Kinsley. How could I forget him?”

  Erin didn’t want to even think about the pretentious guy Gilda’s husband Tom had introduced her to at a dinner party three weeks ago. “What a disaster.”

  “You’ve only been in town about a month. We want you to feel welcome. You know Tom never would have introduced you to Baker if he’d realized the man was an octopus.”

  Well, Lachlan had been all over her. Yet, when he touched her, she felt no revulsion. Only startling, one-hundred percent fiery desire.

  Erin nodded. “Every time I see Baker in town he gives me this greasy smile and I want to gag. Besides, I’m not interested in dating right now.”

  Gilda sighed. “You’re certain?”

  “I think I’m through with love for a long time.”

  “You’re only twenty-nine. You’ve got plenty of time to find the man of your dreams.”

  “Maybe, but I’m not counting on it. I’m a realist.”

  “You mean a pessimist.” Gilda started work behind the front desk. “Lachlan isn’t like Baker, you know. Lachlan is a peach.”

  Erin chuckled. “He’s the farthest thing from a peach I’ve ever seen. All hard angles and darkness and…”

  With a twinkle in her eyes, Gilda grinned. “Yes? Go on.”

  Erin shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s just not a softie.”

  “The man works out religiously and is otherwise very active. But he has a gentle side.”

  He’d been gentle with her last night, even if his touch and actions had bordered on ravenous, intent, and determined to fuck her. Heat flamed in her face. He’d wanted her in no uncertain terms. Even she couldn’t deny that.

  Erin’s throat went so tight she thought she’d choke. “He’s imposing.”

  “Did he scare you?” Gilda asked Erin as she removed a few new hardbacks from a box and sat them on the front counter. “He’s so unusually handsome that some women expect him to be conceited and shallow. They never give him a chance.”

  “No, of course he didn’t scare me.” Erin lied. Gilda wouldn’t understand the strange hypnotic effect Lachlan produced in her. “I just didn’t expect a vampire to attend story time. That and he told me I should be careful when I left the library last night.”

  “That means he cares.”

  Erin didn’t want to offend Gilda by disparaging her friend, so she didn’t tell her that she’d considered Lachlan a suspect in the attacks.

  A patron interrupted, and Erin started other work. The library, with its vast, high ceilings and hundreds of books, looked peaceful and the slightest bit mysterious. Unlike last night, Erin didn’t feel as if a boogie man might be hiding around the corner.

  Not that you did last night, either. Ghosts don’t exist in this library, nor do they exist anywhere else in Pine Forest.

  People allowed tall tales and superstitions to get out of hand, and before they knew it, they created a mass hallucination. She reminded herself to keep focused on these thoughts and she wouldn’t get caught up in the same fallacies.

  She also wouldn’t keep thinking about the crazy experiences she’d encountered last night, and the man who’d made her so wild and hot she’d combusted in his arms.

  Erin. Erin, I’m here. The voice inside her head whispered softly. You can’t see me, but I see you.

  A chuckle followed, and she peered around in case someone might be on the other side of the counter, crouched down and having a joke at her expense. She peered over the counter. No one there.

  Come to me, Erin, when the night deepens. Come to me.

  The masculine voice rippled through her like a drug, making her feel sluggish and almost ill. Lachlan? No, it couldn’t be. Besides, this voice sounded different. She scanned the room again. No one appeared to be paying attention to her. To say the voice gave her the willies would be an understatement. She steeled her determination not to allow her imagination too much freedom.

  After Gilda finished with the patron, she turned back to Erin and lowered her voice. “Lachlan worked on his parents’ estate in Scotland. He’s quite rich, you know.”

  Erin didn’t blink over the news. “Lots of people are rich. Am I supposed to be impressed?”

  Gilda gave her a pained look. “Of course not. I just want you to understand him. About a year and a half ago the
estate burned to the ground. All that’s left is rubble. And that’s not the worst of it. His parents were killed in the fire.”

  “Oh, my God.” Erin’s throat tightened as she imagined their horrific fate. Her headache intensified and her heart ached for Lachlan. She rubbed her temples. “That’s terrible.”

  “We can tell it has changed him. You should have seen him before the fire when we first met him. You think he’s dark and mysterious? He was full of life and good humor before his parents were killed. The dark edge you’re talking about only happened after the fire.”

  After that, work became so busy Gilda didn’t get an opportunity to tell her anything more about Lachlan. Erin didn’t think she wanted to know.

  Later that day, on her lunch break in the employee lounge, Erin told Fred about the creaking and groaning noises she’d heard the night before. Fred paced the room, his white hair sticking up like Alfred Einstein’s hairdo.

  He tapped his chin with his index finger and then adjusted his silver rimmed eyeglasses. If anyone fit the stereotype of the brainy but spacey librarian, this man did. “You don’t say. That’s weird.”

  She sighed. “I’m worried about the structural integrity of the place.”

  He stopped halfway across the floor and turned back to her. His skinny frame seemed to hunch, as if the weight of his thoughts burdened him. “It could be the ghosts.”

  Erin groaned. “Not more ghosts. What is it with this town? I’ve never heard anything so ludicrous—”

  He held a hand up for silence. “I know, I know. There are a lot of people out there who claim to have a ghost in residence. They’d feel left out if they couldn’t at least make believe. After all, Pine Forest has a reputation to uphold. We’ve been featured on that program, Mysteries of the Supernatural, and a half dozen fiction authors have written books with our town as a background.”

  “Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard anyone admit that the ghosts are just a big publicity stunt.”

  “No, no.” He shook his head and paced again. “Not a stunt. Many of the ghosts are real. Take this library, for instance. You know the history of the place and the two murders and three suicides that occurred here before the town converted it to a library. We’ve got the genuine article.” He put his hands on his hips. “And the clanking you heard last night is something people have been complaining about for about…oh, I’d say…thirty-four years.”

  “Thirty-four years,” she said in disbelief.

  He sank into a chair at the little table near her. “Since about the time the place was turned in to a library. I think one of the ghosts is in a permanent snit over the whole thing.”

  As she chewed her last bite of roast beef sandwich, she closed her eyes. Just great. The place could be structurally unsound and Fred is going to use ghosts as an excuse?

  As if he could read her mind, he said, “But not to worry. I’ll get Bud to check it out. Talk to you later.”

  With that he left the room and Erin with her conflicted feelings.

  Bud, a reclusive janitor, didn’t often show his face except to clean up the library and do general grunt work. If he were qualified to check the building’s safety, she’d eat her new winter boots.

  She returned to work a short time later, but within fifteen minutes a different interruption occurred. Officer Danny Fortesque, his dull brown uniform military spit-shine pressed, strode into the library and headed straight for her. His rolling gate looked like a bad imitation of John Wayne’s famous strut. Tall and lanky, he had to be at least six four. He kept his blond hair trimmed to crew cut length, and his small blond mustache sat on his upper lip like a bush that didn’t quite fit with the rest of the shrubbery. If she’d been rude and tempted, she might have told him to trim off the mustache. His face tended toward leanness, and somehow the extra hair on his face narrowed his features even more.

  “Hey, Erin,” Danny said, a slight twang to his accent. Kathleen and Danny had grown up in Texas.

  “Officer Fortesque,” she said and nodded. “What can we do for you?”

  His back straight as a poker, he gazed down on her. “Isn’t it about time you called me Danny? We’ve known each other for a month.”

  Too tired to argue, she gave him a weak smile. “Danny. What can I do for you?”

  His answering grin filled with triumph. “I checked out that Lachlan Tavish character.”

  Erin almost groaned. She’d forgotten about Kathleen’s promise. “You didn’t.”

  “He’s clean. No criminal record either in this country or anywhere else that I can ascertain.”

  Relief gave her loose lips. “That’s wonderful.”

  His green eyes narrowed and his mouth thinned. “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful around him.”

  Her cautious nature admitted he might be right. “Thanks, Danny. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and let me know.”

  He glanced from right to left, then lowered his voice. “Say, I know this isn’t exactly the time or the place, but since I’ve got my courage up…” For a moment she thought he’d stalled all together, but then he smiled. “I’m trying to ask you out and I’m messing it up.”

  Previous encounters with Danny didn’t give her a warm fuzzy feeling, but she didn’t know that much about him. Maybe she should give him another chance. At least with Danny there wouldn’t be any danger of immediate sexual energy.

  She smiled. “Where would you like to go out?”

  A big grin stretched his mouth and he almost was handsome for a quick second. “Great!” He looked around. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to speak so loud.”

  No one appeared to have noticed, but his sheepish expression charmed her. “No problem. Would you like to meet up at Betty’s Café sometime for coffee?”

  His face sobered at bit. Maybe he wanted a fancier, more complicated date, but she figured slower would be better. He shifted his feet, his gaze still assessing as any good officer of the law would. “Well, sure. How about tomorrow at noon?”

  “That’ll work.”

  “Great.” He smiled again before turning serious. “I also have some questions to ask you.”

  She swallowed hard and thought about her determination this morning to speak to the police about Lachlan. She was acting wiggy about Lachlan, wavering back and forth from defending him to wanting to tattle like a kid. “Actually, do you have a few minutes right now? I have some information about the…”

  She trailed off, her confidence in what she wanted to say drifting away.

  Danny frowned, concern evident in his eyes. “Information about what?”

  “Maybe this is a bad time.”

  “No, it’s not. If it’s something to do with a crime, I’m here to get the information now.”

  “You’re right. Of course. Let me see if Gilda can cover for me a minute.”

  Nerves tightened her body and an ache started in her forehead. She located Gilda and told her she needed to speak with Danny right away. Looking puzzled, Gilda agreed to cover her position for a few moments. Erin felt guilty for asking, but if she didn’t say something to Danny right now, she’d lose her nerve.

  She took Danny to the employee break room, and he sat down at one of the small round tables. She paced the floor while he wrote in his notebook.

  “Go ahead and sit down,” Danny said.

  “I can’t. Let me just get this out, all right?”

  He nodded and went silent.

  She took a deep, shaky breath. “I’m not even sure if I’m doing the right thing.”

  “Just relax and tell me.”

  Easy for him to say. She felt like she was betraying a lifelong friend, which was idiotic. She didn’t know Lachlan, so why did this feel so wrong?

  She stopped pacing and rubbed her throbbing temples. “Lachlan Tavish was here at the library last night.”

  He nodded. “I know. My sister said she’d seen him here.”

  “Oh.”

  He smiled gently. “Yeah, oh.” He
shrugged. “Kathleen is a reporter, so you can’t blame her for being a gossip sometimes.”

  Erin decided she wouldn’t tell him he’d better not repeat his generalized belief about reporters to Kathleen. “When I heard the report about Mrs. Pickles tonight it got me to thinking about something Lachlan said last night.” She took another deep breath to try and dispel the nervous flutter in her stomach. “He told me that there was someone dangerous wandering Pine Forest and that I should be careful when leaving.”

  Danny scribbled in his small notebook, frown lines starting to form between his eyebrows. “And that made you afraid of him?”

  “No, not exactly.” She shook her head, not wanting Danny to get the wrong idea. “I just wondered if maybe he knows more about what is happening. Maybe he could tell you more.”

  Danny looked at her sharply. “So you’re not saying you suspect him of being the attacker?”

  She hesitated, and a steady throbbing began in her temples. She couldn’t remember the last time she experienced a headache that evolved so fast. “Not necessarily. Innocent until proven guilty, you know.”

  Danny nodded, but suspicion showed in his eyes. He kept her pinned with his gaze. “So you think I should question him?”

  She shrugged, and the movement hurt. Feeling a bit nauseated, she walked to the small table and sank down in a chair across from him. “I don’t know. I figured after I spoke to you that you’d do whatever necessary.” She smiled to ease the tension. “You know. Do the cop thing.”

  His frown eased, and a smile tilted one corner of his mouth for a moment. “Thanks for giving me this lead.”

  “I thought it might be useful.”

  He sighed. “I’m hoping so. We got some angry citizens out there demanding answers.”

  “I’ve heard about the uproar from the reports in the papers. They want vengeance right now.” She shook her head. “Don’t they understand that sometimes these investigations take time?”

  “No, they don’t understand. For example, one of Mrs. Pickle’s nephews is coming in to town late this week. He’s been on the phone with us several times.”