“Bella! Where are you?”
She did not wander far from the cliff steps, not only because she wished to keep a safe distance from the caves. Her reason was practical, for she could not afford to ruin her walking boots if caught by an errant wave.
“Bella!”
Silence.
The mist continued to hover over the patchwork of caves. In the next moment, several of its smoky tendrils began to swirl. “Bella? Is that you?”
A girl with golden hair and a plaid frock emerged and began skipping toward her. “Did you come to see me?”
Dear heaven.
Heather stared into green eyes reminiscent of her own. “I would like to talk to you. Will you sit beside me on the sand?”
Bella nodded and did a somersault before settling close. “No one ever plays with me anymore.”
“Who were you playing with when you…” Heather did not want to be the one to tell the girl she was dead. “Who was with you when you last went into these caves?”
Bella shrugged. “My sister. But then my head hurt so badly, and I couldn’t get up to find her.”
It was disconcerting to hear her speak.
“What is your sister’s name, Bella?”
“She played a mean trick on me and hurt me,” she said, now frowning and breathing heavily as she began to seethe.
Heather said nothing for the stretch of a minute, but shivers ran through her as the girl only seemed to grow angrier. “How exactly did she hurt you, Bella?”
By hitting her over the head? Leaving her to drown? Was this the mean trick Bella spoke of? But who would do such a thing to one’s own sister?
“Do you want to see my pretty locket?” Bella said, her anger suddenly disappearing as though it was nothing more than a wisp.
Heather nodded. “Yes, are you wearing it?”
Bella shook her head. “It is my treasure, and I keep it in the Singing Caves.”
“Will you bring it out to show me?”
The girl shook her head again. “Give me your hand and I’ll take you to it.”
“I cannot.” Heather drew her hand back when Bella suddenly reached for it.
Perhaps coming here had not been too clever. The girl was getting upset again, this time at her. Heather quickly sought to mollify her before she threw a tantrum. “Bella, please understand. I am not allowed in the caves or anywhere near them.”
“But that is where I always methim.”
“Him? In the cave?” Whom had she met? A sweetheart? Did he have any involvement in her death? “Was he a boy, Bella? Or older? A man? Was he the one with you when you hurt your head?”
“No! James loves me. He gave me the locket. I told you! It was my sister, Millicent.”
There, she had accused her sister again.
But it still seemed implausible to Heather that one sibling could ever hurt another. No, she wanted to know more aboutthis secret sweetheart of Bella’s. “Dear…tell me more about this boy who gave you the locket. You said his name was James?”
“His father did not want us to be together.” Bella smiled slyly and put a finger to her lips as though about to reveal a secret. “Shh, don’t tell anyone. Come into my cave and I’ll show you. James put his portrait inside my locket so I could look upon him whenever I wished.”
“Oh, I would love to see it. But Bella, I’ve told you I cannot go into the caves. The Duke of Arran has forbidden it, and I dare not disobey him.”
