I meet her gaze. “That’s not true. You’re going to have nightmares. You’re going to have trauma. Even if he didn’t do any lasting damage to your body, he did up here.” I tap my head.
Her eyes glisten as she drops her gaze. “That was the worst. The pain was minor, but I knew worse was to come, and I was…” She shudders again. “Terrified. If you and Duncan hadn’t shown up…”
“We did. And if we hadn’t, you’d have tricked him and escaped. I’m sure of it.”
“I will tell myself that. For now, we need to discuss your situation. You cannot remain as a housemaid.”
I exhale. “I honestly think it’s best if I do. Sure, if you want to hire a part-time maid to fill in when I’m helping your brother, that’s fine, but I still need an official job, and ‘housemaid’ works best.”
“Youwouldhave an official job. As Duncan’s assistant. You will help him, and through him, help Hugh.”
“Yeah, I’m not so sure Detective McCreadie is going to want my help after this mess. I’m also not convinced anyone would believe that’s a real job for a nineteen-year-old girl.”
Before she can respond, I blurt, “Findlay came back.”
“What?”
“At the end, when his body was dying, he came back to it. That might be my only way home. Killing Catriona. Which I could never do, so…” I swallow. “I’m trapped.”
“Is that how you feel?” she says carefully. “Trapped in this terrible place?”
I hesitate. Then I say, “It depends on the day. On the hour. I can get caught up in things here, and I’m happy, but then I remember my family, my friends. My fear that Catriona is there, hurting the people I love. I couldn’t get that answer from Colin. When I asked where he’d been, he just said ‘gone’ and then hewasgone.”
She nods. “I apologize if I sounded defensive. I enjoy having you here. I would love to visit your time, but if I could not get back? Yes, I would feel trapped, no matter how wondrous it was, no matter who I might meet there.”
“Exactly that. If I could go home any time I wanted, it’d be different.”
“We’ll figure this out. Find a way for you to get home. I have had some ideas—”
A rap at the door cuts her short. She makes a face at the interruption, and she calls a half-hearted welcome. The door swings open, and Gray stands there, his expression unreadable.
“Duncan.” Isla rises. “How did everything go with Hugh?”
“Did you know?” he asks, still in the doorway, half cast in shadow.
“Did I know…?” she says slowly.
“You must have.”
“Do you mean about Constable Findlay? Yes, Catriona and I did discuss the possibility—”
“I was unconscious at first,” he says, as if she wasn’t speaking. “When I came to, I was dazed, and I thought it best to lie there and pretend I was still knocked out. I heard what he said. The man who was not Colin Findlay.”
My gut twists, and I push to my feet. “I can explain.”
“Nowyou will explain?” His gaze turns on me, the light catching it, and it is ice cold. “Now that you have no choice?” He turns back to Isla. “You knew.”
“She—” I begin.
“I am speaking to my sister. Asking a question that does not require an answer, because I could see her face when you were talking to that man. She was neither confused nor surprised. I told myself that I was imagining it. That I was still only partly conscious and hallucinating. That is why I said nothing earlier. I was muddled, still working it through. But when I left to fetch Hugh, my mind cleared, and I could not deny what I had heard. You played me for a fool. Both of you.”
“It was me,” Isla says. “I forbade—”
“No,” I say firmly. “I made a choice.”
She glowers at me, but Gray cuts her off with, “I would like to speak to Catriona alone.” He turns that cold gaze on his sister. “I insist.”
I agree, even as she continues to protest. I give her a look that says I want to do this. He needs to speak to me without his sister coming to my defense.
I follow Gray out the door.