Part 18 (1/2)

”They've pulled the plug. Our show's been canceled.”

Heath and I just stood there dumbstruck for several moments while I tried to work through the implications of all that. ”Okay,” I said with a sigh. ”We'll wrap up this bust, find Gopher, and head home.”

John s.h.i.+fted on his feet uncomfortably.

”What?” Heath asked him.

”See, that's where we really really have a problem. I've got student loans, man. And rent. And bills to pay.” have a problem. I've got student loans, man. And rent. And bills to pay.”

I closed my eyes and let my shoulders sag. ”You have to go home and look for another job.”

”Yeah. And so do Meg and Kim.”

I opened my eyes again, and did my best to withhold any judgment that might creep into them as I looked at John. ”I understand,” I told him, reaching for his arm. ”Really.”

John's face registered all the guilt I'm sure he felt. ”I'd stay if I could.”

”We know,” Heath said. ”It's okay, dude. We got this.”

Something occurred to me then and I asked, ”Does Gilley know?”

”Nope. He's been upstairs on his computer since you guys left, and I didn't want to interrupt him.”

And that was when I had an idea. ”Hey!” I brightened. ”Maybe we can send the network bra.s.s the footage we took the other night. Maybe that'll be enough to convince them that we weren't up to anything sneaky.”

But both Heath and John looked skeptically at me. ”There are only maybe three minutes of footage, M. J.,” Heath said. ”By showing them that, you'd risk them thinking we staged it after hearing they'd pulled the plug, or making them even angrier that we've been here six whole days and only have three minutes of footage to show for it.”

I felt my spirits sag. ”In other words, we're screwed.”

”Pretty much,” said Heath.

”Totally,” John agreed.

Oh, boy.

I found Gil stretched out on his bed, eyes closed, listening to something through his headphones. He looked like he might be sleeping, and I didn't have the heart to wake him with bad news, so I went to the other bed and switched on the television, turning the sound down low, and was soon fast asleep myself.

”h.e.l.lo, la.s.s,” said a familiar voice.

”Lord Dunnyvale,” I replied. ”Nice to see you again.”

There was a chuckle, and then Ra.n.a.ld said, ”You haven't seen me yet.”

I looked around. I was sitting under the large tree again on the rock, but this time, Dunlow Castle was looking marvelously new and glorious. There was also a lovely cool breeze whistling through the branches of the tree as the sun warmed the air around me, but there was no sign of Dunnyvale. ”Good point,” I conceded. ”Why don't you join me, though, and we can talk?”

Dunnyvale appeared from behind the tree and sat with a flourish. ” 'Tis a lovely day, now, don't you agree?”

”I do. Too bad there aren't more days like this at the Dunlow I've visited. It's always raining or windy and cold.”

”You must come back in the summer,” Ra.n.a.ld told me. ”We've beautiful weather then.”

”I'll consider it,” I told him, right before getting to the heart of the matter. ”So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this time?”

Dunnyvale picked a long blade of gra.s.s and nibbled at the ends. ”You're a very lovely la.s.s, Miss Holliday, but you're not nearly as clever as I'd hoped.”

Even in my dream I was shocked, but I decided to play it cool. ”Oh?” I said coyly. ”Why's that?”

”Because you should have been much further along in this by now.”

”Finding Alex, you mean?”

”Aye.”

”Well, pardon me pardon me, Lord Dunnyvale, but I believe you gave me precious little to go on. After all, we only know Alexandra's first name.”

But Dunnyvale was unmoved. ”Oh, I expect you know a wee bit more than that.”

I tilted my chin toward the breeze. There was the strong smell of brine mixed with a sweeter flower scent. ”We know that she's Russian, and her last name begins with an N N, and that she has red hair. Even in your day, my lord, that was not a lot to go on.”

”You've enough to locate her,” Dunnyvale insisted. ”She holds the secret to the origins of the phantom, as well as being able to help you to rid it from my keep so that you may then find your friend. You must focus your efforts on reaching her quickly, and you must also be aware that you're running out of time. I've been doing my best to reach her, but she hasn't listened to me in years.”

That last sentence caught me off guard. ”Wait ... what?”

But Dunnyvale refused to explain more. Instead he got up, looked down at me with a meaningful stare, and said, ”Act quickly, now. Before it's too late.”

”Hold on!” I said, leaping to my feet, as he began to turn away. ”I need for you to tell me something, and this time, I need the truth.”

He paused then and turned around, the look on his face clearly insulted. ”I've told you nothing but the truth from the start.”

I took a breath and tipped my chin. ”I apologize,” I told him. ”I didn't mean to imply that you were a liar.”

”What is your question, miss?”

”I need to know if you really did have a treasure hidden away at Dunlow.”

Ra.n.a.ld smiled, but it was filled with melancholy. ”Aye,” he said, as if that was a secret he was weary of. ”And you'll find it exactly where I told Jordan to look.”

I gasped. ”You spoke to Jordan?”

”Aye,” he repeated. ”I visited both him and Alex in their dreams the same way I'm visiting with you. I made the same request to them as well: to rid my castle of the phantom.”

”Where did you tell him to look?”

”I told them what I told my lovely wife, Josephine, on my deathbed,” he said. ”That the treasure was hidden within another treasure, that of my heart's truest love.”

I considered that for a moment. ”That's not much of a clue,” I said honestly.