“Hey!” she protested.
Kelsey leaned back in Liam’s arms as they idled in the water, laughed and realized she hadn’t had this kind of fun in ages, and she didn’t really know why.
It was Liam, of course.
Her life in California was good. She was going back to it. This kind of…day couldn’t last forever. Real life overtook you wherever you lived. She couldn’t really just pack up and come back here to live.
They remained in the water awhile longer, then one by one trailed out, grabbing the towels from the picnic tables, munching on the snacks and setting up for the barbecue. Apparently, Jonas was the head chef at the portable barbecue pit, and he liked pretending the others were all his sous chefs, making announcements on how the different meat should be cooked and snapping his fingers for plates and other dining paraphernalia.
Finally, the food was cooked, and they all sat around the tables. Kelsey thanked everyone for all the work they had done. Soon after, however, Katie, David, Clarinda and Jonas left, saying that they had to get to O’Hara’s for the night.
The others remained around the picnic tables, watching the sun begin its descent into the horizon.
Sean, straddling the left side of the picnic bench, said, “You know, we were all lucky. We have great places down here, and the property our parents purchased might well be out of reach for us—even now, with property values struggling around the country.” He grimaced. “Katie bought our house from our parents, and now I’m buying it from her, but obviously, we’re keeping it reasonable! Still, not even the Beckett house could possibly be worth as much as this place, Kelsey. What a view! You can’t see a sunset like this even down on Mallory Square, or anywhere else, for that matter. I hope you intend to keep it.”
“With all that Cutter left behind, you should be able to keep it, even if you choose not to live here,” Jaden said.
“I do love the house,” Kelsey said. “Creepy as the world chooses to see it!”
“I think it’s an absolutely beautiful house,” Vanessa said. She grimaced and glanced at Sean. “Actually, right now, it would make an amazing place to film a movie.”
Sean groaned.
“No, no, no,” Liam protested.
“Nothing bloody!” Vanessa protested. “Something psychological.”
“Shades of The Haunting or House on Haunted Hill!” Ted suggested.
“That would be a way for the place to keep itself afloat,” Vanessa said. “Renting out to commercial and movie companies.”
“I really don’t know what I want to do yet,” Kelsey told them. She rose suddenly. “The box, the casket—whatever it is. We need to show it to Jaden and Ted,” she told Liam.
He nodded. “I’ll get it,” he said.
“What—casket?” Jaden asked.
“It’s a box, like a jewelry box, with a gold filigree ball inside it. It’s just big enough to hold the ball. I think it’s some kind of a reliquary, but I’m not sure. I have to go through all of my grandfather’s papers, and I may or may not find out what it is when I’ve gone through them. But he was holding it when he died,” Kelsey explained.
“Cool!” Jaden said. Her eyes were bright. “I love that kind of mystery!”
“I have to admit, I’d love a shower and a nap,” Vanessa said, yawning. “Kelsey, thank you, it was a great day.”
“Thank you—the house is livable.”
“I know,” Vanessa said, grinning. “We should have gotten a lot of footage before we cleaned it!”
“Vanessa,” Sean said.
“Hey, opportunities like that don’t come along so frequently,” Vanessa protested.
Vanessa told Sean that he didn’t need to leave because she was leaving, and he admitted he needed a nap, as well. “Work is easy—this house-cleaning thing is a real chore.”
Sean and Vanessa said goodbye to Liam as he came back out of the house carrying the bag with Cutter’s personal belongings. He waved to them and headed to the table, taking a seat again.
He produced the little casket and handed it to Jaden. Her eyes were instantly alight. “It is a reliquary,” she said. “Fascinating! It’s really delicate workmanship. I’m going to guesstimate Italian, early Renaissance.”
“Beautiful workmanship, absolutely beautiful,” Ted commented.
“Do you know of any special significance it might have?” Kelsey asked.
“Well, the obvious. The Catholic Church always honored saints, and to have a bit of a saint in a reliquary was kind of like…well, you know, nowadays like wearing a cross or a Star of David. Any religious symbol. A reliquary would be an extremely precious belonging to a devout believer,” Jaden said. “Was Cutter very religious?”
Kelsey thought about the question. “Actually, I think my family was originally Catholic. Cutter liked the Episcopal Church here, though. And I don’t think he particularly believed in organized religion. He was a spiritual man. He held the concept that man saw God in different ways, and if you looked at even old pagan religions, things somehow corresponded.”
“Ah,” Jaden said.
Kelsey laughed softly. “What does ‘ah’ mean?” she asked. She noticed that Liam wasn’t laughing. His forehead was knit in a frown, and he seemed to take the concept of the reliquary very seriously.
“Well…I don’t know exactly,” Jaden said. “I’ll start going through books and see if I can find this particular piece. It would be interesting to find out how it came to be in Cutter’s possession.”
“Take it. Let me know what you can about it,” Kelsey said.
“Great. Well, thank you. I guess Ted and I will get going now, too,” Jaden said. They both rose, Jaden carefully putting the little casket in her bag.
“We’ll walk you out,” Liam offered.
They went through the house. In the drive, as they waved goodbye, Kelsey frowned. For a moment—just a moment—she thought she smelled the scent of death again. But it was quickly gone.
“What’s wrong?” Liam asked her sharply.
She had the feeling that he was going to go into his speech on how she shouldn’t be staying at the house—especially if she thought she smelled death.
“Nothing! Nothing.” She slipped her arms around him. “Nothing at all. It was an amazing day.” It had been an amazing day.
She pulled him close to her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the simple feel of her body against his, the natural way it was to be with him. They were both still salt-sticky from the sea; he was shirtless, and she had a throwover on, and his warmth and ever-vibrant energy seemed to spill into her. She was happy just to be with him, happier to be close to him. It was exciting to tease, to touch, and making love was, of course, electrifying. The acuteness of that kind of feeling couldn’t last forever, she knew, and yet she also knew Liam so well, even if it had been years since they’d seen one another. Ecstasy could lead to comfort, but comfort could remain exciting…. The whole thing was actually terrifying. It could be easy to find others attractive, but the excitement of sex could fade so quickly unless there was that incredible something there that made a lover totally unique, his body warm and wonderful in the morning, and his face something that you longed to see. That was Liam. But it was happening too quickly, and she wondered if he also felt they were being swept away like leaves in a whirlwind, that they needed to stop, slow down….
But his arms wound around her. “The day isn’t over,” he said softly.
She looked up at him and smiled. Laughing, he swept her off the ground and headed for the door. He started when they both heard a clanging sound from the back of the house.
Kelsey shimmied to her feet. He grabbed her hand and didn’t rush around but hurried back into the house. His service revolver was in its holster, hidden beneath his jacket, which hung on one of the pegs just inside the door.
“Liam!” she protested.
He shook his head. Still gripping her hand and keeping her behind him, he walked through the house to exit through the back.
Jonas was there, scraping utensils from the barbecue.
He looked at Liam and the gun.
“Jesus, Liam!”
“Sorry,” Liam said, clicking the safety and slipping the gun into his waistband.
“My heart nearly stopped!” Jonas told him.
“How the hell did you get back here?” Liam asked.
Jonas arched a brow. “Walked?” he said.
“We just came through…oh!” Kelsey said, and laughed. “We were walking Ted and Jaden out through the house while you were walking around it.”
“I guess,” Jonas said. “Man, Liam, you are jumpy.”
“People broke in here twice,” Liam said.
Kelsey placed a hand on his arm. “Kids, and the idiots,” she said softly.
“And I’m well-trained,” Liam said, his tone edgy. “I wouldn’t have shot anyone, but this house is set by a nest of pines and mangroves and overgrowth. It doesn’t hurt to be safe now.”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s all right,” Jonas said. “I didn’t mean to startle anyone. Just thought that I’d help pick up.”
“And we didn’t expect you, because you left with Clarinda,” Liam said.
“Well, since the poor girl has to go to work and I don’t, I like to get her there and walk her home, at least,” he said. “But I didn’t want to leave this place a mess, either. Hey, you want to go down to O’Hara’s for a while later?” he asked brightly.
Liam had eased at last, Kelsey knew. She could feel him relax. He smiled. “Maybe,” he said. “But not for a while.”
Jonas laughed. “I hear ya. Okay, I’m really leaving!”
He hefted his bag of utensils over his shoulder and started to roll the barbecue over the lawn. “Give me a call if you’re interested. I may walk on down early anyway.”