Free The Witch of Stonecliff by Dawn Brown Page B

even before The Devil’s Eye.
    “What about us?” she asked in a small voice. “What about you and me, Jack?”
    Before he could even register just what he was doing, his pen scratched quickly over the paper.
    Jack’s dead
.

Chapter Six
    Watery sunlight cut between the thick trees, casting long shadows over the narrow path which, despite the brilliant blue sky overhead, couldn’t quite penetrate the forest’s overall gloom. Eleri’s footfalls crunched the carpet of dead leaves, mingling with the soft titter of birds fluttering between the budding branches.
    Normally the woods filled her with anxiety, an invisible pressure pushing at the base of her skull and a gnawing sense she was being watched. All these years and she was never sure if someone was tracking her from the shadows or the sensation was merely a result of her growing paranoia.
    This morning, though, she was oblivious, too wrapped up in her own anger to pay much attention.
    Kyle Peirs had lied to her.
    Heat crept into her face when she thought of kissing him last night. What a fool she’d made of herself. He must have gone back to the lodge congratulating himself on how easily he’d wrapped her around his finger, pathetic cow that she was.
    A faint tingle burned at the back her nose, but she hardened herself against the sensation. Not a chance she’d let a man like him get under her skin. Besides, he hadn’t managed to fool her for long. She knew exactly what he was about. Well, not
exactly
. She didn’t know what he was after, but when she finished with him, she’d have every detail.
    The wind kicked up, whispering through the trees. She drew the corduroy coat tighter around her.
    Last night, she’d been so concerned with what to wear. Today, the only the item of clothing she’d put any consideration into at all was the oversized coat hanging heavily from her shoulders.
    She could hardly wait for Kyle to get a look at it, to see his face once he realized.
    The trees fell behind her as the path gave way to the clearing at the side of the lodge. Kyle’s car wasn’t parked out front.
    All her righteous fury deflated like an old balloon.
    “Now what?” she muttered.
    She stared at the silent house and nipped the corner of her lip. Just because the tenant wasn’t about didn’t mean she couldn’t get the answers she wanted. In fact, she may have a better chance with him not at home.
    Eleri marched to the front door and pressed the latch. Locked, of course. She needed the spare key Warlow kept in the study’s desk.
    It took her less than fifteen minutes to retrieve the key from Stonecliff and return to the lodge. Still no sign of Kyle.
    She entered the house and closed the door behind her, shutting out the midmorning sun and turning the small foyer dark and shadowy. Eleri blinked, giving her eyes a chance to adjust to the low light. The smell of freshly brewed coffee lingered in the air.
    Wherever Kyle had gone, he hadn’t left long ago. Who knew when he’d be back? She needed to move.
    Eleri breezed through the rooms on the first floor. Besides the kitchen, there was no evidence he used any of them. The lounge and dining room were exactly as they had been two days ago, but with a thin layer of dust forming on the furniture. While the kitchen showed slightly more evidence of Kyle—a mug in the sink, a tin of biscuits and loaf of bread on the counter—there was nothing to give any more insight into the man than she already knew.
    Upstairs, there were two bedrooms and a small bathroom, the master only two feet square larger than the other. The furniture was sparse: a sagging, unmade double bed, an old chest of drawers and a night table with a chipped porcelain lamp.
    She made quick work of searching through his dresser drawers, but aside from discovering he had a taste for designer names on his clothes—which she’d already suspected—there was little else to learn about the man.
    With a sigh, she dropped onto the edge of the bed. What had