Loch

Chapter 35

Maddock sat at a rickety picnic table outside the Boathouse Lochside Restaurant. It was a small, quaint-looking establishment, its green walls blending in with the trees that shaded its white roof. A purple sign that read The Boathouse hung from the wall just to the left of two tall picture windows.

Grizzly, his arm in a sling, stood nearby, chatting with an elderly couple who had recognized him from his investigative work. The cryptid hunter’s words drifted over to where Maddock sat.

“I can’t say for certain that I’ll be studying the Loch,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t believe in Nessie. It’s just that it’s been done so many times. Maybe the old girl could use a break.”

Smiling wistfully, Maddock looked out across the dark waters of Loch Ness. In the distance, a boat loaded with tourists sliced through the water. Its occupants leaned on the rails, clutching cameras and smartphones, all eager for a glimpse of the legendary beast of the lake. He smiled. If they only knew the truth.

“You coming?” Bones said. “Food. Ale. Babes.” He frowned. “Well, babes for me; maybe one for Grizzly if we can find a chick with low expectations.”

“As opposed to the low self-esteem girls for you?” Maddock asked. He shifted around in his seat, his wounded leg throbbing.

“Don’t get snippy with me, Maddock. It’s not my fault your side ho joined up with some Celtic terrorists.”

“I was just kidding.” Maddock took out his phone. “I’ll be along in a minute. I need to call your sister. She ought to be awake by now.”

Bones nodded slowly. “Depending on how that conversation goes, there might be some babes inside for you, too.” He reached out and put a hand on Maddock’s shoulder. “I know this is weird because it’s my sister, but no matter what happens, you and I will always be brothers.” He snatched his hand back as if he’d touched a hot stove. “And that’s the only wussy thing I’m going to say to you for the rest of the week, unless I get stupid and get into the tequila tonight.”

“You realize you exist in a perpetual state of halfway to stupid, don’t you?”

“Screw you, Maddock.” Bones turned on his heel and headed back toward the restaurant.

Maddock hesitated, then punched up Angel’s number. Her drowsy voice answered after the first ring.

“Hey, you.”

“Hey, yourself.”

Another of the long, uncomfortable pauses.

“You’ve been out of touch for a couple of days,” she said. “That usually means you’ve been doing something interesting.”

“Well, if you call almost getting eaten by the Loch Ness monster interesting, then yes.”

The couple who’d been chatting with Grizzly looked sharply at him as they passed by, but kept moving.

“Don’t lie to me, you assclown.”

“I’m serious. We found the treasure of the Tuatha de Dannan, got attacked by their modern descendants, I got shot, and then…”

“Whoa!” Angel interrupted. “Back up! You don’t just drop a bomb like that on me and keep going.”

“It’s not that bad,” he assured her. “Besides, the monster was a lot worse than the bullets. She almost took us out.”

“You didn’t hurt Nessie, did you?” she asked.

“Angel, she tore a guy’s throat out, turned another man to jelly, and ripped one of their partners into bite-sized snacks.”

“But she didn’t eat you, did she?”

Maddock let out a long sigh of exaggerated patience. “I managed to distract her so we could get away. She’s only a little worse for the wear.”

“Good. I love Nessie.”

Maddock grinned. “Only because you’ve never met her.”

Angel laughed. “What happened after all the carnage?”

“The treasures weren’t the sort you can sell. Two of them we brought out and arranged for them to be delivered to the National Museum of Scotland, along with directions to the shrine where we left the other treasures. We told our contact about the monster, too, but I doubt anyone will believe him.” Alban Calderwood, the professor who’d helped them in their search for the Stone of Destiny, was well-connected, and had proved useful for passing along information without naming too many names. Maddock trusted he’d do the right thing in regard to information concerning the monster.

“You didn’t bring the other treasures with you?” Angel asked.

“The monster was sort of in the way. Anyway, once we crossed the Is and dotted the Ts, we had to get cleaned up and stitched up. Now we’re going to drink the pain away.”

Angel didn’t miss the word “we,” so Maddock described the injuries they had suffered and assured here they would all be fine.

She let out a long, exasperated sigh. “You and I had better never have sons. I’ve got enough to worry about with you and Bones.”

“Are we having kids? Are we even getting married?” He probably should have handled that more smoothly but he was tired and in pain. Anyway, it was out there now, for better or worse.

Angel fell quiet.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to talk to you about this. My life is changing fast.”

A cold feeling hung heavy in Maddock’s gut. This was the talk he’d been dreading.

“I think I’ve been in love with you since the first time my idiot brother brought you home for a visit. I was just a teenager and I worshiped you. And then when you said you had feelings for me, well, things went awfully fast. I went awfully fast, pushing you to set a date.”

“What are you saying?” Maddock’s voice sounded strange, distant.

“I want to figure out our new normal before we get married, and definitely before we talk about kids. Maybe take a break. Is that okay with you?”

Maddock frowned. “Are we breaking up?”

“No, you freaking asshat. I mean, that’s not what I want.Let’s just give each other a break.” She paused. “Look, I know I’ve been distant, and maybe I’ve screwed things up between us. If it’s over, you can tell me.”

Maddock reached into his pocket and took out a folded sheet of paper. He’d found it stuck beneath the windshield wiper of their vehicle when they’d left the Well of the Seven Heads. He unfolded it and read, for what must have been the twentieth time, the message contained within.

Please give me a chance to explain.

Isla.

A telephone number and email address were scribbled at the bottom.

“I hear you. You’re right. Let’s cool things down for a bit.”

Strangely, although this hadn’t been what he thought he wanted, he felt relief. They talked a little while longer, more relaxed and upbeat than they had in weeks, maybe months. After they’d hung up, he made his slow, aching way into the restaurant.

Bones and Grizzly had ordered up a pitcher of ale. Grizzly pushed a mug into Maddock’s hands and urged him to “catch up.” Maddock grinned. The cryptid hunter would never be a friend, at least, not a close one, but he had guts and hadn’t flinched in the face of danger. That had to count for something.

“To a mystery solved,” Grizzly said, raising his mug. “Even if no one else ever learns the truth.”

“Cheers.” As he raised his mug, Maddock locked eyes with Bones, saw his friends questioning gaze. He shrugged and forced a half-smile.

Bones seemed to understand. He took a long swig of ale, belched loudly, and set his mug back down.

“Got a question for you, Maddock.”

“We’re not breaking up, exactly. Just taking a break. Neither of us is in any hurry to get married.”

Bones waved the reply away. “Save that for my mom and your sister. They’re the ones who care about that crap. I’ve got a much more important question.”

“And that would be?”

“What treasure are we going to hunt for next?”

Maddock grinned.

“Oh, I’ve got a couple of ideas.”