Flight of the Falcon (Byrdes of York #1)

10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Hugh

H ugh gratefully took the cup of tea Imogen handed to him as they sat at the kitchen table in the rented maisonette. He took a few moments to enjoy the aroma of the Red Bush tea he liked, before setting it down beside his plate.

They’d got back late the night before from the Minster. Letting themselves out of the undercroft using John’s keys, they sneaked out the side door, avoiding the cameras. No-one had said much on the way back to Stonegate. He and Gil had split off from the others after agreeing to meet later today at the bookshop.

Imogen had been up waiting for them, and after a quick rundown of what had happened in the tunnels, they’d all gone to bed. Now they sat eating breakfast, again ruminating on last night’s activities.

“Any ideas who might have put the spell traps on the doors?” Gil asked, frowning.

He’d taken Hugh’s and the other men’s possession of psychic powers in his stride. Imogen, of course, having known Hugh longer, already knew about his powers. She had been surprised to learn about Falcon though.

“No clue,” Hugh answered Gil. “Falcon says he knows someone who may be able to help. He’s going to contact them today and see if they’re free to come and have a look with us. I’m more concerned about John at the moment. If it is Ian and his goons who’ve taken him, who knows what’s happening.”

Imogen reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Ian has a lot to answer for.” Just then her phone rang, and she fished it out of her handbag.

“Peter,” she answered, before leaving the kitchen to speak to their analyst from the office.

Hugh drank more of his tea. He wondered if Falcon had had time to reach out to the birds to see if he could find John. Somehow, he didn’t think he would.

“Imogen came back into the kitchen with a frown on her face. “I have to go back to Manchester.”

“Is that safe?” he asked her.

“It’ll have to be,” she replied. “There’s uproar over there. Robert’s wife Virginia has finally put in a missing person’s report for him and the police have been granted a warrant to search the offices. Someone needs to be there to oversee what’s happening. They also need to know about Ian. I’m not sure Virginia knows her brother-in-law has been imitating her husband.”

“I’ll come with you,” Gil said standing up. “Unless you think you need me here?” he asked Hugh.

“No. I’d feel better knowing you’re with Imogen across in Manchester. See what’s happening. If you can though, I’d like it if you both came back here tonight or tomorrow? We don’t know when we might have to go back into the tunnels again.”

“I can go on my own…” Imogen protested. “No.” Hugh and Gil both said at the same time.

Imogen hmphed, then began clearing the table quickly, whipping Hugh’s tea away before he’d even finished drinking it. He watched her as like a whirlwind, she dumped everything in the sink before grabbing her bag and keys and looking at Gil in irritation.

“Well, come on then if you’re coming. There’s a train in half an hour.”

Gil sprang into action and grabbed his jacket before joining her at the door. “I’ll text you when we get there,” he said to Hugh.

“Look after her.”

Gil nodded, then followed Imogen.

Hugh sat at the kitchen table in the now empty room. He got up and flicked the kettle back on. Reaching for his mug, he put another teabag in it and made himself a fresh brew. He wondered why Virginia had gone from not caring what was happening with her husband, or where he was, to reporting him missing.

Seeing the time on the kitchen clock, he swore. He was going to be late at this rate. Taking his tea with him, he headed for his room to finish getting ready for the day.

Being a Saturday, the bookshop was extra busy when he arrived, and all Abbie could do was wave at him and gesture to the back. Taking that as a sign he should go on through, he headed to Falcon’s study and knocked on the door before entering.

Falcon and his father were sitting on the comfy sofas. Both looked rested after their adventures the night before and looked up and smiled at him.

“On your own? I thought Gil and Imogen were coming with you?” Falcon asked. “They were, but Imogen’s had to go back to Manchester and Gil’s gone with her

to be on the safe side. Robert’s wife Virginia has finally reported her husband missing and the police want to search the offices and question the staff. As manager, Imogen felt she had to be on site.”

“That doesn’t sound like Virginia,” Francis answered, frowning. “There must be something or someone who’s prodded her, as she wouldn’t have done this on her own. So long as the money’s still coming in, she couldn’t care less about Robert or what’s happened to him.”

“That’s a bit cynical, Dad. Even for you.” Falcon frowned.

“Sorry. Maybe uncalled for, son. But that woman has always rubbed me up the wrong way.”

Hugh took the seat on the sofa next to Falcon and felt the other man’s heat all along his left side where they met. Soon, he’d have to see about getting Falcon to himself and exploring what was happening between them. Their attraction was definitely mutual.

“Any news”? Hugh asked.

Falcon shook his head, his eyes hooded as he turned to look at him. “I’ve searched as far as I can using the birds’ eyes and unlike when you went missing, there’s no sign of him.”

He sighed. He’d really hoped Falcon would have been able to find John so they would be able to get him back. There were too many questions about what was happening in the tunnels, and Hugh was sure he’d been holding out on them.

“I have, however, spoken to my friends,” Falcon went on. “Percy will come along with one of his partners Andrew on Tuesday to have a look at the spell traps. They can’t come any earlier due to other commitments, but Percy was interested in the photos I sent him and will work with his coterie to help find a solution for us.” “Coterie? You mean like a coven?” asked Hugh.

Falcon laughed. “Something like that.”

Before he could go on, there was a knock on his door and Abbie put her head around it.

“So sorry to interrupt, Uncle Fal, but there’s a policeman here says he needs to talk to you.”

“It’s okay, Abbie.” He sighed. “Why don’t you show him in.”

Abbie nodded, then opened the door wide to show Jack Speight, the policeman who had been at the library after John’s disappearance.

“Jack.” Hugh got up to shake the other man’s hand. Falcon gestured for him to have a seat. He took a chair next to Francis, his eyes taking them all in.

“I’m sorry I don’t have any good news,” he began. “Father John McKenzie’s body was pulled from the River Foss early this morning.”

Francis gasped and put his head in his hands. The others sighed; they’d been expecting the news in one way or another.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Jack turned to Francis. “I know you two were old friends.”

“How did he die?” Hugh asked. “Did he drown?”

“No.” Jack grimaced. “He was already dead when he went in the water. His throat had been cut and he bled out. Our coroner thinks he’d been in the water for several hours before he was found. He was probably killed not long after he was taken.”

Falcon

They were quiet after Jack Speight left, all of them with their own thoughts. Though it had been expected, they were still saddened by the unnecessary death of John McKenzie. As soon as they found out who it was, Falcon didn’t expect them to survive long.

Finally pulling himself out of his spiraling thoughts, he looked across at his father. Francis was pale and he reached across and squeezed his shoulder.

“Alright, Dad?”

Francis looked up before addressing his son. “I’ll admit I’m shaken by this. It seems…” He broke off and shook his head.

Getting up, Falcon went over to the desk in the corner. He opened the bottom drawer and pulled out an almost full bottle of whiskey. If anything called for a tot, this news did. He filled three glasses and brought them back to where the others were seated. Francis took his thankfully and sipped it carefully with his eyes closed.

“Any news from Imogen?” Falcon turned to Hugh and handed him his glass. “Nothing yet,” Hugh replied. “But they’ll not have been in Manchester that long.

I’m sure she’ll contact us when she knows more.”

“Did you know Virginia, Robert’s wife, well?” Hugh asked Francis. “I never met her. She never came to the office, not even for any of the social dos.”

“She always was high maintenance,” Francis replied. “We could never understand why Robert married her. It wasn’t as though they were in love, and he certainly didn’t need her money.”

“Who knows why some people get married,” Falcon replied absently.

The news of John’s death had completely derailed them. It was as though all the interest in what was happening had been sucked out of the room and they were floundering.

“Does John have any family?” Falcon asked his father.

“Not anymore. His wife died a few years ago and he was an only child, so no siblings.” He stretched and stood up. “I’m going to wander down to his office and offer my assistance to his PA Joe, in getting the funeral sorted. I’m sure they’ll have it all organised but… I need to be doing something.”

“What do we do now?” Hugh asked after Francis had left.

“There’s not much we can do until after the weekend.” Falcon replied. “As much as I’d love to go back in the tunnel and try and find out more about what was happening in that inner room, I realise we need to be better prepared.”

“We could do some research and try and find out who was responsible for that room. I can’t believe someone hewed out that area underground for a gentleman’s library. And that inner room…”

Falcon broke off as he remembered the one view he’d got of the room before they’d returned to the surface. It was a room full of weapons. There were swords, spathas from the Roman army, katanas, foils, broadswords, hook swords. Every type of sword you could think of was represented. On one of the other walls there were different types of guns, from the original flintlock through to a gatling gun. There was nothing more modern than the nineteenth century though, which was another question to be answered.

But it had been the sarcophagus in the middle of the room that had made them stop and wonder. It was black marble, highly polished, with an opaque top. A quick look inside had left them with more questions than answers.

“Something is tickling at the back of my mind about that marble sarcophagus,” Hugh said to Falcon as he helped himself to coffee from the jug on the table.

“Any clues?”

“Nope, it was something I read, but where or when I couldn’t tell you.”

Falcon nodded. He knew what it was like when something tickled the back of your mind like that, and it was usually better to leave it until it coalesced than try and force it.

Hugh’s phone rang and he answered it immediately.

“Imogen,” he said. “Hang on a moment. Falcon’s here, I’m putting you on speaker.

Okay, go ahead.”

“Falcon,” Imogen’s voice came through the speaker. “Gil and I are at the office in Manchester and honestly, it’s a mess. Sometime between Peter phoning me and Gil and I arriving, someone has been into the office and trashed it.”

“Is Peter okay?” Hugh asked after his colleague.

“He’s fine. Fortunately for him he’d gone to get coffee and something to eat whilst he waited for us to arrive. He got back just after we got here and was gobsmacked at the state of the place.”

“Have the police been?”

“They’re here now. The Detective Inspector in charge is an old friend of yours Hugh, Deidre Matlock. She’s confirmed that they’re investigating Robert’s disappearance, and it was her who we were supposed to meet when we got here.

Obviously, she’s now looking into this break in as well. Hugh, she’d like to talk to you at some point. She has your number and will probably phone you sometime today.

Anyway, just wanted to bring you up to date.”

“Is there anything missing, Imogen?” Hugh asked.

Falcon kept an eye on him. He was looking more stressed than he had been earlier that morning. It was one thing after another, and Falcon made the decision that they needed a break.

“I’m not sure yet,” Imogen replied to Hugh’s question. “Peter and I are going through everything, and I’ll get back to you when I know more.”

“Okay, give Deidre – DI Matlock – Officer Jack Speight’s name. I’ll text you his number. He’s the one we’ve been talking to here about Father McKenzie. Oh, oh shit! Sorry Imogen, almost forgot to let you know. Jack called here earlier this morning to let us know that John’s body had been found in the River Foss. He was already dead before he went in the water.”

“Damn!” Imogen replied. “It gets worse. I’ll let her know. You all okay?”

“Francis has gone to see if he can help, and Falcon and I are doing a little research to see what we can find out about that room.”

“Okay, be there in a moment.” Imogen’s voice was further away. “Sorry about that. I have to go. I’ll phone you later.”

“Take care, Imogen. Keep us updated.” “Will do.”

“Let’s have a break,” Falcon said, smiling. “I’d love to take you out for dinner and have a proper date, see if this thing between us can go anywhere.”

Hugh looked at him, and for the first time that morning, a small smile was playing around his mouth. “You’ve felt it too?”

“Definitely. You’re a good-looking man Hugh, and I’m definitely attracted to you.” Falcon grinned.

“Then,” Hugh began as he got up and pulled Falcon up with him, until they were standing facing each other, “let’s see where this goes…”

Falcon put his hands on Hugh’s hips and pulled the other man to him until their bodies were touching. Bending slightly so he could reach his lips, Falcon pressed a gentle kiss upon them.

Hugh opened his mouth, welcoming him in, and Falcon set out to explore. God, he tasted good. They stood like that for a few moments, kissing and exploring each other’s mouths, before breaking away to take deep breaths. They grinned at each other.

“Well, dinner?” Falcon asked again. Hugh nodded.