Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(79)

The older man stepped forward. “Do you remember me?”

She moved closer so the flashlight would give her more light to discern his face. Then she said, “I’m sorry, no.”

He nodded. “It’s okay, lass. You were young, just a little thing when you left. I’m actually your uncle. Your father was my brother.”

She gasped. “I have family?”

A pained look crossed his features. “Didn’t you know?”

She shook her head. “No. My mother said nobody was left. It was just her and me.”

He scratched his forehead as if perplexed. “I don’t know why she’d do that. You have plenty of family here. Your father was my eldest brother. We have two sisters. You’ve got cousins galore.”

She stared at him. “Then why would my mother tell me they were all gone?”

“She probably just didn’t want you to remember the old country,” the other man said. “It was a painful time for her. It was probably much easier for her to walk away and forget it all.”

Issa nodded.

Eagle watched the exchange, and, although he had worried when he saw the men with the rifles, there was nothing aggressive about their stances. In fact, they looked delighted to see her. “Have other people been hanging around the house?” he asked.

The men shook their heads. “No one’s been here since. After my brother died, everything went to your mother. But she’d lost three sons and her husband, then disappeared.”

Eagle could understand that. So many people put credence in a house being a home, but home was being where your family was. And after Issa’s mom had lost most of her family, she likely felt nothing was left for her here. He put an arm around Issa and told the men, “We’re staying above the pub. We’re only here for a couple days.”

Her uncle chuckled. “That should make you happy. It was your favorite place.”

Hearing the phrase from the letters again, she asked slowly, “It was?”

He nodded. “There’s a little alcove at the top of the stairs. You used to sit in there all the time and wait for your brothers and your father to be done. Your mother was never there. At least not often.”

They slowly wandered back to the vehicle. Her uncle stopped and said, “It would be nice if you could stop by our house to see the rest of the family, although we’re often at the pub too. We never knew what happened to you.”

She smiled at him warmly. “Absolutely. I had no idea anybody was left.”

He nodded bashfully. “Now that you know, it would be nice if you would not be such a stranger.”

Eagle considered himself a good judge of character. But these two men left him cold. He couldn’t decide if they were truly happy to see her or if they had ulterior motives. Their explanation for checking out the property made sense. In any small town anywhere in the world, you’d find a similar attitude with the locals. Strangers poking around on a property that had been empty for a long time usually meant trouble.

Maybe there really was no treasure here. The area was quite depressed. It was hard to say what the economic times were like back then, but he doubted they were any better. Had the smuggling stopped? Maybe a new leader had stepped forward.

The men nodded their heads and slowly started back. But the behavior of the younger man concerned Eagle more. Tall, strong, physically active, almost like a farmhand would be built, there’d been a speculative interest in his gaze. Whether that was at Issa herself for being a beautiful young woman or for her interest in whatever was going on here, there was no doubt her arrival had caused a stir.

And would become that much more when they went to the pub. There was still no sign of Hawk. He’d stepped into the shadows and stayed there. He was very good at that.

Issa walked toward him, looped her arm through his, and said, “We can leave now.”

He slanted her a sideways look. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” In a low voice she said, “I thought for sure they would have something to say about Panther and Tiger.”

“I’m not sure those men are involved.”

“I hope not. They’re family.”

“But are they?” He squeezed her hand against his body and walked back to the car.

The men were down the road, and they’d have to drive past them. And Eagle didn’t want them to see Hawk. On the other hand, Hawk may have already walked to the pub.

At the car she stopped and asked, “What about Hawk?”

“You never have to worry about Hawk,” Hawk said from behind her. He glanced at Eagle. “You drive. I’ll crouch down in the back as we pass them.”

Eagle nodded.

With him and Issa in the front, and Hawk stretched out in the back, Eagle slowly drove down the road, passing the two men with a hand wave, and carried on to the pub. He didn’t know whether the word had already passed around that Issa was here or if it was normal for the pub to already be bustling by the time they walked in. A staircase going up led to their rooms, letting them avoid the center of activity.

Upstairs Eagle said to her, “Does any of this seem familiar?”

She shrugged. “Not this part. But the alcove is. I remember sitting here, while my dad drank.”

“Was it big enough to hide anything inside it?” Hawk asked.

“I wouldn’t have thought so. Yet it was big enough to hide me most of the time.”