Page 63 of Pepper, the Biker & the Vanishing Body

I responded to a few more texts before my stomach let me know that tea wasn’t enough to quench my hunger. Ian felt the same. We stopped at B.O.B, Bundles of Burgers in Barnsville, Mo’s favorite place to eat since the owner, Gus, loved Mo and always served him a double burger.

Ian caught me off guard when he said, “I’m planning a trip home to Scotland just before Christmas and I want you to join me.”

My burger never reached my mouth and neither did a response. This was serious stuff which was why it left me speechless.

“I want you to see my home, where I grew up, get to know my family and meet my friends. I thought Beau and Amy might like to join us. Beau has a slew of friends there, mates from his time at Oxford, that I know he’d love Amy to meet. Also, I need to do some Highland photo shoots.” He leaned across the table and tapped my nose with his finger. “Fill that open mouth of yours with a bite of your burger then you can tell me what you think.”

I hurried, my mouth shut, not realizing it had been hanging open and returned my burger to my paper plate while my stomach pleaded for a bite.

“It’s time, Pep. We both know this is a permanent relationship and it’s only logical to move forward with it. Though, if you feel otherwise?—”

“I don’t,” I said without thinking about it or maybe I did. “I would miss you far too much if you weren’t around. Heck, I sometimes find myself missing you during the day, and I have gotten far too comfortable having you in bed with me. You just surprised me that’s all.”

“And?”

He knew when I held back and although I didn’t want to admit it, I owed him the truth. “I worry what your family will think of me.”

“You have met them through video chats, spoken with them on the phone and they already love you. Now they need to meet you in person.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I confessed. “Something is bound to happen that might change their mind about me being with you.”

“It is my decision when it comes to you, Pep, not theirs, and I have already made up my mind. I intend to spend the rest of my life with you, and they know that.”

“They do?” I asked.

“Aye, they do. I made it very clear, which is why they are eager to meet you in person. It will probably be around early November and we’ll be gone for about three weeks. Mo can come with us. He just needs a pet passport to travel overseas.”

“He has one and he loves to travel, and he travels well,” I said with pride.

“Great, then we can talk with Beau and Amy and see what they think about joining us.”

“Are you kidding? Amy will jump at the chance. She’ll have a list of places she’s read about in her historical romance books that she will want to visit the day after we talk with her.”

A grin spread across his handsome face. “Good, then it’s settled, you’re going home to Scotland with me in November to meet my family.”

I sent out an SOS to my deceased Aunt Effie. If there was anyone who could help prepare me for this visit it was her. Having been a top fashion model, she had traveled the world and kept journals about her travels. Somewhere in those journals was wise advice for this occasion and I intended to find it.

Clouds rolledin overhead as we pulled into the cemetery and parked a short walk up a slight incline to the Willow Mausoleum. Mo began sniffing around, though I didn’t worry about him soiling sacred ground since I made sure to walk him in a designated wooded area at B.O.B.’s, Gus being a super dog lover and owner of four dogs from small to large.

Ian pulled up the aerial map of the cemetery on his cell and we zeroed in on the surrounding area of the mausoleum. “It doesn’t make sense that it would be a long escape route since it would have taken a lot of digging. It makes more sense that an escape route would come out somewhere nearby.”

“And naturally it would avoid disturbing any graves,” I said, looking around and noticing there was a clear swath of land behind the mausoleum and one to the right of it. The one to the right held a flower garden with benches where visitors could sit. The space behind the Willow Mausoleum was empty and led to another gated mausoleum with old headstones crowning the graves that flanked it.

We walked to the mausoleum, and Ian and I stared at the name… GIBBONS.

“Do you think these people could be any relation to the groundkeeper’s family at Willow Mansion,” I asked.

Ian appeared perplexed. “If so, how could a groundskeeper afford such a structure?”

“If this place holds Charlie’s family, he could get us entrance to it,” I said excited at the possibility.

Ian walked around to the side. “It’s not as large as the Willow Mausoleum but looks to be built just as sturdy, built to last. I wonder when it was constructed.”

I cast an eye back at the Willow Mausoleum. “It doesn’t make sense to have an escape route that takes you to another mausoleum where you would be seen exiting.”

“Unless it was meant to keep a path clear of graves to the actual escape exit.”

I stepped around the mausoleum, Mo coming to send beside me, and we both looked at what lay beyond… the old section of the church.

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