Tuesday (The Days of the Week #2)

Chapter Nine

W alking with William was vastly different from searching the grounds with Alistair. William shortened his stride to walk at my side, so close our hands occasionally brushed. I sent him furtive glances from the corner of my eye, but his gaze was focused on the grounds ahead.

The sky was overcast as it always seemed to be at the estate. Clouds covered the land like a shroud making everything gray and faintly damp. We walked in silence for several minutes, following a narrow path that led deeper into the forest. The scent of wet earth and decaying leaves closed in around us. Despite the chill in the air, I could feel heat radiating off William's body.

I cleared my throat. “Where are we heading?” I asked, more to break the silence than anything else.

William glanced at me, his amber eyes unreadable. “There's an old hunting cabin on the northern edge of the property. It hasn't been used in years, but it's a logical place to check.”

I nodded, ducking under a low-hanging branch. As we walked deeper into the woods, the trees pressed closer, their gnarled branches reaching out like skeletal fingers. The only sound was our footsteps and the occasional rustle of some small creature in the underbrush.

After a few more minutes, the trees began to thin and we stepped into a small clearing. At the center stood a dilapidated cabin, its wood siding gray and weathered. The windows were dark, most of the glass broken or missing altogether.

William paused at the edge of the clearing, his head cocked as if listening for something. After a long moment, he started toward the cabin. Just as I began to follow, a piercing scream split the air. I froze, my heart pounding. The scream had come from the trees behind the cabin.

“What was that?” I whispered. It was a woman’s voice, but it sounded wrong somehow.

William scanned the surrounding trees. After a long moment, he turned to me.

“Stay here,” he ordered. Before I could protest, he was moving, striding toward the forest.

There was another scream, a man’s voice this time. William paused at the tree line and glanced back at me. I took a step forward and he shook his head. More screams rose from the forest. One, two, three, and then too many to count.

Men and women. Screams of horror and a smattering of hollow-sounding laughter. Suddenly, the cacophony was coming closer. William stalked into the clearing, his expression thunderous, just as a dark cloud of birds flew overhead.

The screams faded into the distance as the birds vanished over the treetops. I let out a shaky breath, my heart still pounding. William stopped a few feet away, his expression unreadable as he scanned the surrounding forest.

“What was that?” I asked.

William's jaw clenched. “Crows,” he said shortly. “They sometimes mimic human voices. It's unsettling if you've never heard it before.”

I frowned. Those screams had sounded far too real, the terror too visceral. And there had been so many distinct voices. Where would the crows have heard such sounds?

“I've never heard anything like that,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself.

William met my gaze, his eyes dark and intense. “Nature is full of strange things.”

I got the feeling we were discussing more than just the birds. I looked away, focusing on the dilapidated cabin.

“We should check inside,” I said, taking a step forward.

William's hand closed around my upper arm, stopping me in my tracks. I looked up at him in surprise. Even through my jacket, his hands felt fever-hot.

“Wait,” he said, his voice low and rough. “Let me go first.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he ducked his head to put our faces only inches apart. His breath fanned across my cheek and I shivered.

“Let me be sure it’s safe,” he said.

I nodded mutely, feeling dazed. He was halfway across the clearing before I snapped out of it. What on earth was that? I rubbed my forehead, as I watched William duck into the cabin’s dark interior. All he did was look at me and my knees still felt a little wobbly.

Between the creature I encountered the night before and my growing attraction to William, I was in very real danger at Ashcroft Estate. I waited nervously outside the cabin, straining my ears for any sound of trouble. After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a couple of minutes, William emerged. His expression was grim.

“Anything?” I asked anxiously.

He shook his head. “No sign anyone has been here in years.”

My shoulders sagged, disappointment and frustration warring within me. Another dead end. William must have seen something in my expression because he stepped closer, his hand coming up as if to touch my arm before he let it drop back to his side.

“We'll keep looking,” he said, his deep voice gentle. “There are still a few more places on the estate we haven't checked yet.”

I nodded, trying to muster some optimism. But with each passing hour, I knew the chances of finding Aiden alive were dwindling. William turned to head back the way we had come and I fell into step beside him, my mind churning.

As we walked, I couldn't shake the feeling that William knew more than he was letting on. His behavior had been erratic from the moment I arrived - the intense looks, the mercurial moods, the way he seemed to be holding himself back from...something.

And then there was the creature I had seen the night before. Despite William's denials, I knew what I had witnessed was no dog. Whatever it was, it was connected to the estate, to William, in some way. I was sure of it.

“How well do you know the missing boy?” William suddenly asked.

I glanced at him. “I know him as well as I know any of my patients.”

William hummed. He did not speak again until we reached the edge of the dense trees where we left the ATV. He opened the passenger side door and nodded for me to enter. I watched him walk around the front, wondering at the thoughtful look on his face.

“I only ask because it seems personal to you,” he said, climbing into the driver’s seat.

I looked straight ahead. “He’s one of my patients,” I hedged. I felt William staring at the side of my head.

“There’s more to it,” he stated. He started the ATV and drove along the tree line, clearly intending to wait me out.

I lasted about five minutes before I broke. I sighed heavily. “When I was ten, my next-door neighbor went missing. Charlie. We had grown up together. My older brothers were too old to want to play with me, so Charlie was like a sibling my age.”

I frowned down at my lap. My hands were visibly shaking. I balled them into fists and looked over at William. His eyes were fastened on my hands, his brow creased in concern.

“Was Charlie ever found?” he asked.

I shook my head. A familiar tightness in my throat made me swallow hard. It had been decades and I could still remember the looks on Charlie’s parents’ faces. The same look I saw on Lisa’s and Mark’s.

“I’m sorry,” Willaim said.

I glanced at him. His face was soft in a way I had not seen before. I forced a smile. “Thanks.”

We checked three outbuildings before we headed back for lunch. We emerged from the forest and started across the sprawling lawn toward the manor looming in the distance. The hedges of the maze rose up to our right, the entrance gaping like a dark mouth. I stared as we drove past. When we parked I was still frowning at it.

William climbed out of the ATV and walked around to my side, opening the door. When I did not move, he paused. “Christina? Is something wrong?”

I tore my gaze away from the maze to meet his amber eyes. “Have you searched in there? The maze?”

Something flickered across his face, gone too quickly for me to decipher before his expression smoothed into an unreadable mask. “It's easy to get lost in there,” he said carefully.

I frowned, a prickle of unease running down my spine at his evasive answer. “But it's a logical place to look, isn't it? If Aiden wandered onto the estate, he could have easily ended up in there.”

William's jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his cheek. He stared at the maze entrance for a long moment before dragging his gaze back to me.

“It's old and poorly maintained. There are loose stones, overgrown roots. It would be easy to trip and injure yourself.”

I studied his face, sensing there was more he was not telling me. “I'm willing to take that risk. If there's even a chance Aiden is in there, I have to look.”

“The maze has been searched,” he said shortly. “He's not in there.”

I felt a spark of anger at William's brusque dismissal. “When? When did you search it?”

He looked away, his jaw working. “Last night, after dinner.”

I stared at him incredulously. “You searched the maze in the dark?”

William's eyes snapped back to mine, something dangerous flickering in their amber depths. “I'm quite familiar with the layout. I assure you, Christina, the boy is not in there.”

He was lying. I was sure of it. I just did not know why.

I studied William's face, trying to read between the lines of his evasive answers. He met my gaze steadily, his expression giving nothing away.

“I'd still like to see for myself,” I said, climbing out of the ATV and heading toward the maze entrance. “Just to be thorough.”

William's hand closed around my arm, stopping me in my tracks. “Christina, I must insist you stay out of the maze.”

I stared at William's hand on my arm, then slowly raised my gaze to meet his. His eyes burned into mine with an intensity that made my breath catch.

“Why?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. “What are you hiding in there, William?”

His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his cheek. For a long moment, he said nothing, the silence stretching taut between us. Then, abruptly, he released my arm and took a step back.

“Nothing,” he said, his voice rough. “There's nothing in the maze, Christina. But it's not safe. The ground is uneven, the hedges are overgrown. It would be all too easy for you to get lost or injure yourself. I can’t allow it.”

I searched his face, trying to decide if I believed him. He met my gaze steadily.

“We've been out for hours,” he said. “You must be hungry.”

I wanted to argue, to insist on searching the maze, but my stomach chose that moment to growl loudly. William's lips twitched, the ghost of a smile softening his tense expression for a brief moment.

“Come,” he said, his voice gentling. “Let's head back to the house. We can discuss our next steps over lunch.”

Reluctantly, I fell into step beside him as we made our way down the path. The manor loomed ahead, its Gothic spires and gray stone facade looking even more foreboding in the gloomy afternoon light.

We entered through the back of the house, stepping into the large kitchen. The staff fell silent when we entered, their wary gazes flicking between William and me. Holloway stepped forward, his posture ramrod straight.

“Luncheon will be served in the small dining room, sir,” he said to William. “Shall I have a place set for Dr. Blackwood as well?”

William glanced at me, something unreadable in his amber eyes. “Yes, Holloway. Dr. Blackwood will be joining me.”