“Ye cannae mean it. I told ye he was dead. What purpose can be served by digging up his corpse?”
“Do ye fash yourself over some fear of desecrating the dead? This dead was desecrated before he was set into the ground. Dig him up.”
“But why? I looked at him and t’was a sickening sight but I recognized his things. Why do you do this?”
“To be sure. Ye saw a ring, a dagger, and a sword. I wish to see more.” He signaled to the two men with him. “Dig him up. There isnae any need to hesitate as I argue with my son.” He looked back at Leith as the men began to dig. “Who put the flowers on the grave?”
Staring at the withering blooms his father held out to him, Leith shook his head. “I ken of no one who would. Dung, mayhaps. Flowers, nay.”
“Another part of a puzzle.”
“What puzzle save for these flowers?” Leith tossed them aside and scowled at the graves.
“Mayhaps the only puzzle is that he was taken before we who had a right to vengeance could extract it.”
“Weel, digging him up to stare at his corpse willnae ease that.”
“Nay, but t’will ease my mind of worrying that it isnae his corpse.” Lachlan sighed, his gaze fixed upon the men digging. “When ye first told me of his death, I was angry. I felt something had been stolen from me. Then the anger began to ease and I began to think.”
When his father said no more for several moments, Leith finally swore softly in exasperation. “Began to think what?”
“Ah, that t’was all so neat. Too neat. Aye, we hadnae caught him yet, but he was cornered. He couldnae move freely, couldnae even try to get near his quarry. We ken how badly he wished to reach Aimil. I began to think he may have found a way.”
Suddenly understanding what his father meant, Leith swore. “He made it look as if he was dead. I was wrong.”
“Mayhaps not and I wouldnae lash myself with guilt if ye are. Ye saw what ye were meant to see—Rory and Geordie dead.”
“Odd, though I had a doubt or twa about Rory, I had none at all that it was Geordie I saw. I would still swear to it.”
“It could weel be Geordie. T’was no doubt part of why ye believed ye saw Rory. Do ye really think a man like Rory would hesitate to kill what might have been his only friend if it served his purpose?”
“Nay, not for a moment. He would do it without regret.”
“Weel, if I am right, he may have a regret or twa. There are the flowers and they were mostly upon the grave ye said was Geordie’s.”
Leith absently nodded. His attention was upon the shrouded body the men pulled from the grave. Despite his father’s advice about not feeling guilty, Leith knew he would if he proved to be wrong. He knew he would also be afraid, afraid that his error could prove very costly.
With tension knotting his insides, Leith stood by as his father carefully examined the body. He knew Lachlan needed time to be certain but his impatience grew. If he had been wrong, time was not something they had too much of. When his father stood, signaled the men to reinter the body, yet said nothing, Leith gave up being patient.
“Is it him?”
“Nay.”
That one soft word struck Leith to the heart. “Sweet God, I was wrong.”
“Dinnae take it to heart. I too would have thought it him. He chose weel. Aye, and there is damage to the face from what little I could see amongst the ravages and wounds caused by fire. Nay, this was verra nearly perfect.”
“But not perfect and I missed the error that whoreson made. What was it?”
“I kenned something about Rory that ye didnae, something I learned of years ago. He has a mark. T’was there at birth.”
“I never noticed one upon him.”
“Ye wouldnae unless ye had seen him naked and looked verra closely. The body beneath the charred clothes wasnae so ruined as the rest. Rory had a mole, a small dark one, below the curve of his left buttock. T’was hidden by the bend of his body most times, even when he was a bairn. I never would have kenned the mark was there save that his father showed me. He feared t’was the mark of the Devil.”
“He had a right to worry on it.”
“Nay, not over a wee spot upon the skin. Such a simple, innocent mar couldnae cut to the soul to rot it as Rory’s soul is rotted.”
