Myrtle slowly shook her head as she wrapped her arm around Rose’s shoulder. “No, you can’t. I’m sorry, Rose. I know you like all of them.”
“Would you be able to identify the people who you saw running? Was one of them a particularly massive man?” Rose asked.
“I can’t say.” Myrtle shook her head. “They were just shadows moving through the dark. If I hadn’t heard their footsteps, I would havethought it my imagination. I do not even know if they were short or tall, male or female.”
“So it could be anyone,” Rose said glumly as she hurled the shell into the ocean just as she had done on that faraway November night in Florida. This time she reached for a piece of green sea glass.
“I do not believe it was your Viking. The figures were headed away from his croft, and I doubt he would have had time to double back and clean the mud off before I knocked on his door. That, and he clearly was intent on saving you.”
Rose’s heart ached as she realized that even with all the information Myrtle had just given her, she could not completely dismiss Thorfinn as a suspect. He might not have been involved in the plot to literally bury her alive, but if there were agents on the island, he could be one of their contacts. But after last night ... the kiss that they’d shared ... the words that had passed between them. The thought of having to turn him in as a traitor nearly sliced Rose in half.
When her lips had touched his, she’dfeltsomething powerful. She hadn’t had a pleasurable sensation that strong since long before the war. And she wanted more of it ... more ofThorfinn. And that had frightened her even before Myrtle’s revelation about hearing an explosion. Since childhood, Rose had made it a point never to need anybody, and she certainly didn’t like to long for a man. Attraction was one thing; yearning was another—anunwantedother.
“But we cannot be certain about anything, including Mr.Sinclair,” Rose said softly, careful not to use his first name. She didnotwant to discuss what had happened last night on the beach with Myrtle right now, not when they had spies to contend with.
“I suppose we can’t,” Myrtle said softly before her voice firmed. “We need assistance, Rose. There’ve been two attempts on your life now. It’s time we contact the authorities.”
“But we still have the same problem as before.” Rose squeezed the smooth glass so hard that it popped from her hand like a slippery fish.“We don’t know who to tell, and we have no proof. No one will take your observations any more seriously than mine.”
“But there was an explosion!” Myrtle practically shouted the words, and Rose quickly waved for her friend to lower her voice. No one appeared to be around, but they needed to be careful.
“Which everyone thinks was just the sound of a cave-in that they’ll attribute to the clumsiness of two female outsiders and the instability of an old structure,” Rose countered.
“That’s stood for over a thousand years!”
“I was ambushed before, and the authorities dismissed it as an accident and feminine nerves.” Rose crossed her arms over her chest and began to pace in a tight circle. “We are getting close now, but we need something more concrete. All we will accomplish if we tell the British government now is to bring the excisemen down on the islanders’ heads for the illegal distillery.”
“Do you really think it is safe for you here?” Myrtle asked.
“I don’t know wherewouldbe safe, especially since they know I’ve unraveled this much of the mystery. They’ve already attacked me on both sides of the Atlantic!” Rose pivoted sharply. “We don’t even know for certain it is an islander who is involved. The earl could have sent the men or even his land agent. I thought Mr.White did not seem the sort to be a spy, but it is rather suspicious that the attack comes only a few days after I met him. Perhaps I was hasty to discount him.”
“I don’t like the current plan. It’s getting too dangerous.” Myrtle shook her head worriedly.
Rose tamped down on her own concerns. “It’s the only viable one we have short of giving up, and I’mnotdoing that. I will see that the viscount’s mission is completed.”
“And what then, Rose?”
Myrtle’s question shredded through Rose like sharp steel shrapnel. She knew her friend wasn’t referring to the logistics of informing the proper officials about the spy ring but what Rose herself would do.She’d been devoted to fulfilling the goals of a dead man. And when that purpose had dried up, what would Rose have?
It was something she did not wish to consider. But one day she would have no choice. Fortunately, this was not that moment of reckoning.
“Rose! Myrtle!” Astrid’s voice carried over the sound of the surf.
Rose, along with her best friend, glanced in the direction of the friendly call. Sure enough, Astrid was strolling up the beach with her grandmother beside her. Little Alexander ran in loops in front of them, his round cheeks red with excitement.
“I hope you don’t mind us popping in for breakfast,” Astrid added when she was in closer range for a conversation. “Freya sent Alexander over to our croft to invite us. His explanation of how you two came to spend the night was a bit jumbled, but it sounds like you had an adventure.”
“Of course they are glad to see us.” Mrs.Flett fairly stabbed her cane into the sand. “I brought some of my whiskey for the tea.”
Exceedingly glad for the distraction, Rose laughed as she headed over to offer the older woman her arm. “An addition that is always welcome, Mrs.Flett, and I do believe I now know the source of your wonderful drink. And before you fret, neither I nor Myrtle will be turning any of the islanders over to the excisemen.”
“So you were at Fornhowe last night?” Astrid asked, her green eyes wide.
“I told you so!” Alexander dashed up to say the words before he flitted away again. “And it collapsed too!”
“Is that true? I did wake up in the middle of the night thinking I heard something.”
“Pfft. That howe has been there for years.” Mrs.Flett sniffed. “It isn’t just going to fold up like a fan.”
