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"No," he said aloud Leave it at that, for now He wasn’t about to go into everything now, on the phone with a near stranger "She’s a woman; there wasn’t that , then--not unless they did soed for murder Or be"She did h, at least once She went--and she ca to take comfort in that fact hi themselves upon his consciousness "But we don’t know that Brianna went back as far--or farther And even if she did survive the stones and coerous a place the eighteenth century was?"

"No," Abernathy said dryly "Though I gather you do But Claire seereed "Not h--‘If your luck’s in, you’ll coh at that, though with a nervous undertone He coughed then, and cleared his throat

"Yeah Well The point is--Bree’s gone soht about where I one Wouldn’t you?"

Wouldn’t you? He pulled to the left, passed a lorry with its headlights on, plodding its way through the gathering fog

I would Abernathy’s confident voice rang in his ear

INVERNESS, 30, read the sign, and he swung the tiny Morris abruptly to the right, skidding on wet paveh to raise a e

Wouldn’t you? He touched the breast pocket of his shirt, where the squarish shape of Brianna’s photo lay stiff over his heart His fingers touched the small round hardness of hisfor luck

"Yeah, h the rain streaoing to do it In the name of God, woman--why did you not tell me?"

31

RETURN TO INVERNESS

The fumes of furniture polish, floor wax, fresh paint, and air freshener hung in throat-clutching clouds in the hallway Not even these olfactory evidences of Fiona’s domestic zeal were able to co out of the kitchen, though

"Eat your heart out, To deeply as he set down his bag in the hall Granted, the old ement, but even its transformation from manse to bed-and-breakfast had been unable to alter its basic character

Welcomed with enthusiasm by Fiona--and somewhat less by Ernie--he settled into his old room at the top of the stairs, and embarked at once on his job of detection It wasn’t that difficult; beyond the norers, a six-feet-tall woth red hair tended to attract notice

She’d coh He knew that much for a fact; she’d been seen at the station Also for a fact he knew that a tall red-haired woman had hired a car and told the driver to take her out into the country The driver had no real notion where they had gone; just that all of a sudden, the woman had said, "Here, this is the place, let me off here"

"Said shetour across the"She had a haversack with her, and she was dressed for walking, sure enough A damn wet day for a walk on the moors, but ye knohat loons these American tourists are"

Well, he knehat kind of a loon that one was, at least Curse her thick head and fiendish stubbornness, if she thought she had to do it, why in hell hadn’t she told hirimly And he didn’t want to think about why not

So far he had gotten And only one way of following her any farther

Claire had speculated that the whatever-it-was stood widest open on the ancient sun feasts and fire feasts It seeh the first time on Beltane, May 1, the second time on Samhain, the first of November And now Brianna had evidently followed in herto wait till November--God only knehat could happen to her in five h; there was a sunfeast between

Midsummer’s Eve, the summer solstice; that would be next June 20, four weeks away He ground his teeth at the thought of waiting--his ier--but it wouldn’t help Brianna if his impulse to rush chivalrously after her killed him He was under no illusions about the nature of the stone circle, not after what he’d seen and heard so far

Very quietly, he began to s, when the fog rolled in off the river, he sought distraction fro to the pub with Ernie, and--as a last resort--having another bash at the dozens of boxes that still crae had an air of sinister miracle about it; the boxes seemed to multiply like the loaves and fishes--every time he opened the door, there werehis late father’s effects just before being carried out feetfirst hi as a godsend, dulling hishihts, he even slept

"You’ve got a picture on your desk" Fiona didn’t look at him, but kept her attention riveted on the dishes she was clearing

"Lots of theer took a cautiousHow did she do that? "Is there one you want? I know there are a few snaps of your grannie--you’re h I’d like one to keep"

She did look up at that, mildly startled

"Oh Of Grannie? Aye, our Da’ll like to see those But it’s the big one I er tried to think which photo she could mean; most of them were black-and-white snapshots taken with the Reverend’s ancient Brownie, but there were a couple of the larger cabinet photos--one of his parents, another of the Reverend’s grand like a pterodactyl in black bombazine, taken on the occasion of that lady’s hundredth birthday Fiona couldn’t possibly mean those

"Of her that kilt her husband and went away" Fiona’s ulp of tea "You ars"

"Her," Fiona repeated stubbornly "Why’ve you got a photo of her?"