Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(32)

She raised her gaze. “I had three brothers. I was the youngest by twelve years. But I don’t remember any of them.”

“Did the kidnappers work with your father?”

“They didn’t say that specifically. I thought, from their questioning, that they were looking for someone who had betrayed them. That betrayal caused the death of my brothers and father. There was also mention of money, as if they didn’t get their share of the loot, but I don’t know what that means,” she said. “It was decades ago. They should have just moved on, like I did. But the one thing you need to know about the Irish is that they never forget. And these men, … my family included, lived on the edge of the law. They were smugglers. They didn’t believe the law applied to them. We all lived a secret life.”

“A lot of people in the world are like that.” He snorted. “But, if the kidnappers were cheated out of their share of a deal, it could be what they are looking for. But why now? Maybe they were looking for your mother, and, when they realized she was gone, they went after you.”

“They kept asking for answers,” she said, puzzled. “They wanted to know why I didn’t know what was going on. They wanted to know why I hadn’t seen it coming.” She shook her head at his confused look. “I was six at the time. My mother was around somewhere, but I had no idea what was happening that night. I didn’t even understand the logistics of what they were doing. I understood my parents and brothers were doing something illegal. But what illegal means to a child, well …” She raised her shoulders in a shrug. “How much of any event can a young child understand?”

“But your mother was a lookout too?”

“She was. But she always stayed inside the house.” Issa didn’t know how much to tell him. Why did any of this matter? But still he needed to know enough to get a clearer picture of these men and what they might have been after.

“Alone?”

She nodded. “Of course my mother would say she was with me all the time, and my father believed her. At the time, I thought that’s what her being with me meant. I would stay outside. She would go inside and wait. I didn’t realize until later that ‘being with me’ didn’t mean the same thing to everybody.”

“She went inside, and you were left outside? And this is how your family operated?”

“We’d do that every month,” she said. “Until that one fated night when everything blew up, and I have no idea what happened.” She shook her head. “I just know there was a huge fight down below. There were gunshots. There were multiple men involved, not just my brothers and father and those who worked with them. And, no, I don’t know who they were or how many there were. You have to remember, I was only six.”

“Your mother never said anything about it?”

Issa gave him a hard look. “I went through hell trying to get information from her. But she would never talk.”

“And what upset you in your mother’s belongings?”

She frowned. “Something in one of boxes I opened.”

“What was in it?”

She shrugged. “Envelopes. Lots and lots of envelopes. Along with that was a leather keepsake box from my mother. I didn’t get a chance to look at any of it clearly.” She stopped, then realized there was no point in keeping the information from him. It had all happened a long time ago. “I caught a quick glance of one of the documents about my father having a criminal record or criminal charges pending, but I didn’t read it so don’t know the details. At the time I didn’t think I was up to dealing with the loss of my mother and my memory of who my father was.”

“We need to look at those.”

“That was the plan all along. Escape, find the boxes, get revenge.”

“Revenge?” he asked carefully.

Her lips quirked. “At the time I thought the kidnappers had killed Roash and Humbug. The men took great delight in telling me how they’d tortured and killed all my birds.” She sighed. “And, if I’m honest, it was the thought of getting revenge that kept me going. I wanted to make them pay for what they did.”

“This might be a good time to tell you that I got a phone call last night from a woman saying she runs an animal reserve called Exotic Landscape.”

Issa tilted her head and studied his face. “Interesting. Do you know her?”

“No. Her name is Tabitha. She said something about Stefan. She had been in contact with Humbug herself.”

Issa stared at him. “That’s the second person who’s said they’ve spoken to Humbug. Is that possible?”

“You tell me. Stefan appeared to be almost resigned. So we have somebody who called himself a psychic, and someone who runs an animal shelter and called herself a sensitive, both talking to Humbug.”

“What did they say about Humbug?”

“He’s in trouble, and he needs you.”

She straightened, wanted to race outside to find Humbug, but she’d barely make it to the doorway. “We have to go help him.”

“That’s a nice thought. Any idea where he is?”

She turned to stare at him. “No. But, if you could drive me home, we could get those boxes and look for him too.” A frown whispered across her face. “That is, if anything is left of my cabin. It could be all burned to the ground. If so, it’s all gone.”