Page 44 of Fatal Thrill
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While Colton drove,Jon texted the general address of Blackrock to Jaya and Shelby to let them know where he and Colton were headed andwhy.
‘Up the road’ apparently equaled a good ten mile drive. They’d almost hit the eleven mile marker, when they crested the top of a hill and Colton slowed the truck. “Holy shit. Is thatit?”
Down near a river, two of the four outer walls still stood high in the misty morning sun. The other two were in a bad state of decay, one a gaping mouth of tumbled stones spilling over the ground. Brown grass and vines covered them, the vines having inched their way up the sides of theentrance.
Four defense towers anchored each corner, the river running on the northeast and forming a wintery backdrop. A lazy fog rose from the icy river, mixing with the diluted sunlight and giving the whole place an eerie feel, even at this time of themorning.
They drove down to the ruins, Jon having to get out and open the entrance gate before they could continue inside to the main area that contained an interior building in equal disarray and a four-story tower and keep. As they got out of the truck, the sound of their slamming doors echoed throughout the place, scaring a dozen or so doves from theeaves.
“This place has to be ten-thousand square feet of haunted,” Colton said, looking around at the defense towers and multiple stories. “I don’t do ghosts, by the way. Terrorists, criminals, hell, I’m even up for international art thieves at this point. Notghosts.”
“You don’t believe in ghosts,” Jon said. “Knock itoff.”
“You do, don’t you? All that Indian ancestorshit?”
Jon cuffed him on the back of the head. “Could you be any more stupid? Orrude?”
“Come on, man. Don’t make me go inthere.”
Jon’s phone rang, Cher belting out her song. “Jaya? Youokay?”
“Shelby and I did some digging and got info on the castle. Blackrock sits on an old Viking fortress site dating back to 980 A.D. Changed hands violently several times over its many incarnations between the Vikings, Irish Chieftains, and eventually, English kings. Shelby says it’s not in State care nor looked after by the Office of Public Works, so it has to be privately owned, probably for the land more so than the castle. A lot of local investment groups have been buying and selling land to build tourists attractions on, but she hasn’t been able to track any records on it or the owner at this point. Still waiting on some calls. She found no mention of anyone named Ferris on any of the sites she’s checked in relation to real estate in that area. No ties to anything illegal either with Interpol or theFBI.”
“Okay, thanks. You holdingup?”
“I’m excellent. Don’t worry aboutme.”
Like that was gonna happen. “Bells and I are going to poke around a bit. You might look into any ghost stories and legends that have to do with the castle and the tinkers, whoever they are. The gal at the B&B said something about it being used as a halting station for them for a while. Is she talking aboutGypsies?”
“That she is, although tinkers is a derogatory term.” Jaya sighed. “Halting stations are government subsidized housing, which the castle never was or that would’ve shown up in Shelby’ssearches.”
“They might have used it as a pit stop, but I don’t see evidence that anyone’s here right now, Ferris included. It’s pretty…sad.”
“Snap some pictures and send them to me, would you? I want to seeit.”
A few minutes later, he’d taken a dozen shots, happy he’d caught the gloomy air of the place, thanks to the dappled sunlight and fog providing the only filter heneeded.
He was sending the latest to Jaya when he heard Colton shout from off to his right. “Dude! Shit. You gotta seethis!”
Colton had somehow managed to find a door leading out of the enclosure at the northern end and Jon ducked under hanging vines to emerge into thick fog. “Where the fuck are you,Bells?”
“Overhere.”
Jon stepped over a fallen tree branch and saw a thin path with an iron fence up ahead. Colton waved from thegate.
As Jon closed the distance over the uneven ground, he saw skeletal trees in the distance, and then pulled up short. “Whatthe…?”
Rows and rows of headstones poked up from the ground, most partially broken and deteriorating like thecastle.
“Guess the ghost believes in burying her menfolk,” Colton smirked. “You seriously gonna tell me this place isn’thaunted?”
A graveyard and an abandoned castle. How could this place not have any records other than the history Jaya and Shelby had dug up, and what did it have to do with the O’Sullivan cross and Finn’skidnapping?
Colton brushed past him. “There’s no one here but the dead. Let’s go back to thepub.”
“Give me a minute,” Jon said, snapping a picture of the headstones. “I want to lookinside.”
