Secrets and Lies

Instead of the 'few minutes' Mr. Campbell suggested I ended up waiting alone in the main hall for a good half hour. Fortunately the chairs in there were comfortable, so I passed the time browsing social media on my phone.

The most interesting thing I came across was a few final updates on Morwenna's account, under her Seren Isel alias. They were posted by her sister though, basically an announcement that Seren wouldn't be using the account any longer since she was now 'away with the fairies' like she'd always wanted. After reading that I decided to follow Carys under her own account, and I made a mental note to check in with her later. I wanted to make sure she was doing ok, and I was curious to know if she'd had any further contact with her sister.

My phone ended up back in my hoodie pocket when Phoebe finally joined me in the front hall. She had a sort of distant thoughtful look on her face, which suggested the private conversation with her parents hadn't gone as well as the part I was present for.

"Are you ok?" I asked softly as I stood up and moved to her. "What happened?"

The cute redhead took a deep breath, then let it out as a long sigh. Rather than answer my questions she gestured towards a different door and asked, "Do you mind if we grab something to eat?"

"That sounds perfect," I nodded. "Lead the way."

We hadn't bothered with dinner on the train, so neither of us had eaten since early afternoon when we had lunch. Now it was half past ten and I could definitely go for a light meal before we retired for the evening.

Our bags remained in the hall as the two of us headed towards the back of the big home, and this time we ended up in a kitchen. Phoebe flipped on the lights and I found myself blinking under the bright white lighting in what could have easily passed for a small professional facility. It looked like something right out of a well-appointed little restaurant, with two big ovens, a large cooktop grill, two massive fridges, a warming area for keeping food hot, and loads of counters and storage space.

Feebs quickly found the remains of what was probably the family's Sunday roast in one of the fridges. She also located a loaf of rustic crusty bread, and set about making us some decent sandwiches. Then she found the drinks cupboard, and for a moment she appeared tempted by the bottles of ale in there. She'd already had a few glasses of whisky though, so quickly changed her mind on that.

Before long the two of us were seated across from each other at a small in a corner of the kitchen. I had a feeling it might be for the staff, like it was easy to imagine the chef and assistants taking their meals there. In addition to the bread and roast beef our sandwiches were garnished with some shaved onion, a bit of lettuce, and some fancy mustard. There were also a couple tall glasses of water on the table before us.

At first the two of us ate quietly, focused on the meal. It wasn't until Phoebe was about halfway through her sandwich when she finally broke the silence. She had a sip of water then began, "So the secret family stuff was... I guess I'm not ready to talk about the first thing. The other detail was regarding my father's health. He's not doing well."

Considering his age that wasn't too surprising, but I still winced when she said it. "I'm sorry Phoebe."

She just nodded before continuing with a sigh, "Apparently his doctor doesn't think he's got much time left. That's why he wanted to see me. He said he wanted to reconcile things between us, before it was too late. And he admitted he was worried about me."

She paused there for another sip of her water, and perhaps to collect her thoughts. Or get her emotions under control, before she went on. "It's because they thought I was unskilled, unemployed, or unemployable even. Father said he's not worried about Duncan, he knows my brother will manage just fine after he's gone. Same with Katie, she's made a life for herself in London as a medical specialist. It's just me, I suppose they thought I hadn't outgrown my rebellious teens."

"Probably doesn't help that I look so young again now," she added with a self-deprecating laugh. There wasn't any mirth in her tone though, and she immediately sighed again. "Anyways that's why he was worried, why he wanted to see me. He wanted to tell me in person about his condition, and to try and patch up the relationship between us. And he wanted to make sure I'd be alright after he's gone."

She took another gulp of water there then gave me a weak smile, "He ah, said he was happy to know I'd made something of myself. And that I have such strong capable friends. He um, he said he was proud of me."

It was obvious from the emotion in her voice she had a lot of mixed feelings about the situation, but it seemed like a mostly positive outcome. Bittersweet though, due to the health issues.

I responded with a sad smile, "That's good though, right? In fact from what I saw, both your parents are a lot more accepting and understanding than we were expecting."

She nodded, "Aye. Seems like they've both changed a lot since the last time I had much to do with them."

"Too bad we can't say the same for Duncan," she added with another sigh. "Although I suppose he's under a fair bit of stress, knowing all father's responsibilities will soon be falling on his shoulders."

"Yeah," I agreed. Then after a slight hesitation I added, "From what I know about Cindy's spell, there's a good chance your father could cure just about anything if he was willing to use it. The next full moon isn't until January thirteenth, so I'm pretty sure he's still got time to start using the prep spell."

Feebs frowned, then grimaced. Finally she shrugged, "I suppose we could mention it? No idea how he'll take it. Dunno how mother would handle it either. Same with Duncan and Katie."

"Oh right," she added, "My sister's expected to arrive tomorrow, late afternoon. No idea how things will go with her, but she's never been as much of an arse as my brother. Like I figured, my parents asked if we'd stay so we could all be together for xmas. I hope you don't mind?"

I shook my head, "Not at all."

"We should probably head back to Aberdeen for a few hours tomorrow though?" I added in a teasing tone. "We've only got two more shopping days left, and I haven't even thought about looking for gifts yet."

The cute redhead rolled her eyes, then had another bite of her sandwich. After munching on that for a few moments she looked up at me again and said quietly, "Thank you for being here with me, Trillium. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome Phoebe," I replied with a warm smile.

The two of us finished the rest of our meal in silence, then Feebs rinsed the dishes off before leaving them next to the small commercial dishwasher. We turned the lights out as we left the kitchen, then the cute redhead led me back to the main hall to collect our overnight bags. Finally she took me upstairs, then down a hallway that led off to the left.

There were at least a half dozen doorways leading off that hall, but Phoebe took me past all of them until we got to the very last door on the right. She opened the door then turned on the light, to reveal what could easily have been another huge luxury hotel suite.

The room was dominated by a big king-sized bed, with a sofa and coffee table off to the side beneath another large window. There was an unlit fireplace across from the bed, and two doors on the other side opened to a walk-in closet and a big en-suite bathroom.

"The best guest room in the house," Phoebe commented as she dumped her pack on the coffee table. "Also the most private. The family bedrooms are all in the other wing, so unless something's changed we have this whole side to ourselves."

I couldn't help smiling at that as I closed the door behind us, "Good to know."

• • • • •

It was barely a quarter past eight Monday morning when both Phoebe and I were startled awake by my phone's ringtone. That wouldn't have been a problem any normal weekday, but we were supposed to be on vacation. And more to the point, I'd kept the cute redhead up until at least three in the morning so the two of us could take full advantage of the big bed. And the huge clawfoot bathtub. And the bed again.

Basically after spending a long stressful day on the train, followed by an even more stressful reunion with her parents and brother, I'd done my level best to get her mind off family matters, and tired her out enough to guarantee a long restful sleep for the both of us. Unfortunately I'd forgot to put my phone on silent mode, and now we were both regretting it.

"Sorry cutie," I grimaced as I grabbed the offending technology off the bedside table where I'd left it.

I was about to turn the thing off, but when I saw Dr. Bishop's name on the call display I decided to answer it instead. "Hello Grace. Everything ok?"

At the same time Phoebe groaned into my shoulder while she cuddled herself tight against my side, and I found myself hoping Dr. Bishop hadn't heard that. Fortunately she was polite enough not to mention it if she did hear any unexpected noises in the background.

In fact she sounded all business as she responded, "Good morning Trillium. I'm sorry for calling so early, especially after promising time off over the holidays."

"Unfortunately something's come up," she continued. "I don't suppose you could wake Phoebe and ask her to join us on the call?"

For just a moment I thought that meant the doctor must have heard my partner. Or even if she didn't, she somehow knew the two of us were in bed together.

"I tried calling her too but it went straight to voicemail," Grace added a half second later. "You're still staying at her flat, are you not?"

I let out a little sigh as I realized Grace was referring to Feebs and I being flatmates, rather than somehow knowing I had the cute redhead's naked body pressed up close against my own. "Right. Um, give me a moment to see if she's up."

My plan was to mute the mic for a minute so I could pretend to fetch my partner, but before my thumb reached the screen the little brat let out a very loud and very naughty-sounding giggle.

"G'morning Doctor Grace," she grinned from where her head was still leaning against my shoulder. "I'm awake. What can we do for you, what's the problem?"

Instead of muting the call I put it on speaker so we could both hear the doctor's reply. At least she sounded apologetic as she said, "I hate to ask this as I know you only just got back from North Wales the other day, but how do you two feel about rushing off to the Highlands for the holidays?"

We were both silent for a moment at that point, as we shifted enough to exchange an awkward glance. Then Feebs responded, "We're already here, in Aberdeen right now. Why'd you want us in Scotland, what's the situation?"

"You're in Aberdeen?!" a very surprised-sounding Owen exclaimed. "Are you actually visiting your family?"

On the one hand it was good to know Owen was feeling well enough to join in on a work call. On the other hand hearing his voice was the first indication we might be talking to more than just Grace. Then it dawned on me, if she'd tried calling Phoebe as well she probably meant to get the both of us into a conference call. Or in other words, every last one of our coworkers probably heard my partner groaning and giggling. And they probably guessed we'd answered the work call from bed.

Sure enough the redhead's cheeks looked like they were about to combust, and she had to cough and clear her throat before she was able to answer the question. "Aye, we came up yesterday on the train."

Owen sounded even more surprised, "You took the train? All the way from Cardiff to Aberdeen?!"

Feebs' blush got even brighter at that, so I decided to step in and save her by changing the subject. "It's good to hear your voice again Owen, I'm glad you're feeling well enough to return to work. I take it there's a new case you want us to look into while we're in Scotland?"

Grace responded with a sigh, "It's that business in Inverness. I'm afraid it requires our attention after all."

"How?" I asked with a surprised frown. "I know that sort of thing's very rare here, but wasn't it a distinctly human tragedy?"

It happened just over a week earlier, in fact it was the day before Phoebe and I set off for Anglesey. I hadn't been following the news so I wasn't up to date on the latest information, but from what I'd heard there was a mass shooting in an Inverness church. A half dozen people survived the attack, but about a dozen victims didn't make it. Including the gunman.

I figured the police should have identified the assailant by now, and may have even figured out his motive. Or if not they'd definitely be hard at work looking for those answers. They'd also be tracking down where he got the weapon in the first place, and doing whatever they could to ensure that sort of thing never happened on UK soil again.

Dr. Bishop replied, "I received a call last night from one of my military contacts. General Stuart Walcott was the man in charge of the Anomaly containment regiment, I worked with him extensively while I was there in Abingdon studying the thing. Stuart's people have taken over the investigation in Inverness, and he's formally requested LIES' assistance."

"Why us?" Phoebe asked. "It was a human shooting, so what's the supernatural angle?"

This time it was Owen who answered, and his tone was serious. "The following information has not been released to the public. The shooter was a fifteen year old boy named Gordon MacDonald. He killed eleven churchgoers including his own mother, and wounded five more before turning the gun on himself."

"Gordon's father committed suicide by firearm just two and a half months earlier," Grace took over again. "It happened in the backyard of the family home in Inverness, and Gordon's the one who found his father's body."

A new voice chimed in at that point, so we knew Dr. Ava Goodland was in on the call as well. The ponygirl stated, "That sort of experience can easily cause an overwhelming traumatic response in people, especially younger people. And sadly it's not uncommon for one suicide to lead to another, particularly within families. What is very unusual is for the second party to commit mass-murder first."

Grace took over once again, "Which brings us to the Anomaly connection. Gordon's father was Corporal David MacDonald. He was stationed at Abingdon almost the entire time the Anomaly was active. He was also one of a handful of soldiers to have ventured into the restricted zone, along with myself and a few others."

"I knew David," she added with another sigh, "Not well, but enough to know he wasn't the least bit suicidal. He was a happy man with a positive mental attitude, who loved his wife and his son. It makes absolutely zero sense for him to take his own life, especially during leave while he was visiting those people who meant the most to him."

We were all quiet again for the next few seconds, processing Dr. Bishop's words. Then I asked, "So what's the theory? Two months after the Anomaly vanished something followed Corporal MacDonald all the way from Abingdon to Inverness?"

"Those fairies followed Carys all the way to north Wales," Phoebe pointed out. "So we know it's not impossible."

Owen stated, "Right now it's too early for theories. We need information, we need someone with experience up there, so they can liaise directly with the military personnel and assist in the investigation. I know the timing's not ideal, but if this is Anomaly-related then it's already claimed thirteen lives and ruined a half dozen more. We need to stop it before anyone else is hurt."

Feebs and I exchanged a glance then the redhead grumbled, "It's two days before bloody xmas and I'm visiting my parents for the first time in years. Of course we'd get called away on business."

I gave her a sympathetic look then asked, "Owen, Grace, can you email us the dossier? And whatever contact information we'll need? I can't give you an ETA yet on when we'll be there. I don't think my partner's going to say it so I will on her behalf. There's some extenuating circumstances that brought us to Aberdeen right now, and it may not be practical to drop everything and rush away immediately."

"Understood," Dr. Bishop replied. "I'll forward you the files this morning. Please let me know as soon as possible whether or not you'll be able to handle this. Otherwise I'll have to send someone else."

Phoebe nodded once, "Aye. We'll be in touch."