Page 59 of Fatal Thrill
“Fuck that,” Jon said. “Miles, do what Jaya said, start digging. Colton, keep your scope on our visitors. Shelby, get down here and help cover Jaya.” He grabbed Jaya’s hand. “You and Charlotte come with me. We’re nothing more than some tourists, got it? First sign of anything I don’t like, I want you to stay close to Shelby and Charlotte and get to thecar.”
As Jaya and Charlotte nodded, Miles put his gun away and grabbed the shovel. “I’ll let you know what Ifind.”
Jon hustled Jaya back toward the courtyard, Charlotte on their heels. Shelby met them near the entrance just as the entourage was pullingup.
The RVs were rather old and outdated, one trimmed in a vintage 1970s turquoise, the other a dingy ivory color with a painted symbol on the side that looked Celtic and involved a raven and black bear. The other three were pulled by trucks, not the horses Jaya had seen in pictures. All were made of wood and stained a dark brown. Curtains hung in the windows where a few small faces peeked out and a variety of bicycles, suitcases, and tarps were attached to the back ends. One had a motorized wheelchair on alift.
Jon strutted out in front, signaling Jaya and the other women to stay behind him. Shelby gently guided Jaya in the direction of their car as Jon hailed the driver of the lead RV and waited for the man toexit.
“Hello,” Jon said. The guy squinted at him, lookingnervous.
Jaya ignored Shelby’s urging to keep heading toward the car. Instead she moved closer to Jon, intrigued by the grisly face and long beard of thedriver.
Charlotte spoke in the Gypsy dialect and Jaya assumed she echoed Jon’s greeting. She said something else too, the small man cocking his headsideways.
“You’re not from around here,” he replied in perfect English with a heavy Irish accent, “but you do a goodimpression.”
Charlotte laughed boisterously. “I’m Romanian Gypsy, but grew up in Britain. Is this yourland?”
Nothing like getting right to thepoint.
“What are you doing here?” the man asked, avoiding herquestion.
“We’re tourists,” Jon supplied and motioned at Jaya. “My girlfriend, here, likes oldcastles.”
More of the group disembarked, their gazes guarded but curious. The passenger in the man’s RV rolled down her window. Even through the windshield, Jaya felt her sharp eyes sizing herup.
Jaya took a step forward, returning the woman’s bold stare. Like Charlotte had said, the only way she was going to find out whether or not this group was indeed related to her and could help find Finn was to ask. “I’m related to the family who used to own this castle. The O’Sullivans. I don’t know much about my Irish family or Gypsy grandmother but I’d like to. Don’t suppose you couldhelp?”
She saw the change in the man’s wizened features at the mention of her grandmother. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened and he pivoted to look back at the woman still seated in theRV.
Jaya focused on her too. She was obviously the matron of the clan. The others stayed back, waiting for her okay. Her gray hair had been braided and wrapped on top of her head. At one time, it had probably been dark, maybe red. Age spots dotted her cheeks and her eyes reminded Jaya of herown.
Was this her grandmother’sfamily?
Please help me, Jaya pleaded with her eyes at the matriarch. She gave the woman a tentativesmile.
The old woman worked her lips as if holding back words, then shifted her dark gaze from Jaya to theman.
She shook herhead.
Jaya’s stomachfell.
A younger man approached. “You’re the man from town, the one hanging around Kilroy’sPub.”
Jon nodded, moving to Jaya’s side once again and grabbing her arm as if to stop her from getting closer to the group. “My friends and I are here on holiday. Taking in the sights, youknow?”
Answering without giving anything away. The games they had to play were foreign to Jaya. She liked things out in the open, not this subterfuge that Jon, Shelby, Miles, Colton, and Charlotte all knew how to incorporate into their everydaylives.
“We don’t want trouble,” Jaya said, going for truth again. “I just want to find out about myfamily.”
The young man pushed back his jacket, revealing a gun at this waist. “Best ye move on. Do yer research from a saferplace.”
Jon pulled Jaya behind him. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret. I have a sniper in that tower yonder. Like the lady said, we don’t want trouble, but we know it follows the O’Sullivans just like the curse. We want information, that’sall.”
Jaya saw the old lady’s head snap up and she pierced him with her dark eyes. One gnarled hand reached out and she snapped her fingers at the young man. She said something that made it sound like she had pebbles in her mouth, but the guy went to the back of the RV and started unloading the wheelchair. Then she yelled at the old man still facing themdown
Charlotte’s voice came out low and soft. “She told him she wants to speak to you. Something about thecurse.”
“Jon,” Miles voice came over their earbuds as both the young man and the older one helped the woman from the RV. “I’ve gotsomething.”
The tone of his voice was enough to tell Jaya whatever he’d dug up wasn’t good. But then like Jon had said, itwasa cemetery, an abandoned one at that. Where better to hide a deadbody?
Before she could ask Miles what he’d found, or the Gypsy in her wheelchair what she knew about the O’Sullivan curse, Jaya’s luck nailed her once again. The heavy, sullen clouds overhead opened up and they were caught in an icydownpour.
