CHAPTER:3 THE FIRST SIGHTING The holiday got off to a good start. Shelley lightened up a bit and Jimmy and Jackie seemed closer than ever. But was it going to last? Lindsey had a strange feeling that it wouldn't and it was on a day out sight-seeing that this feeling was proved correct when things took a very sharp and nasty turn for the worse. The foursome were taking a slow stroll along the coast and everyone was laughing and happy, then Lindsey went quiet. The coast was beginning to look strangely familiar, then she saw it, the mansion just on the coast. Lindsey studied for a moment trying to prove her initial thoughts wrong, but she couldn't she was right, it was the mansion from Callum's pictures. She watched as a car pulled up outside and a man in a pinstripe suit climbed out. She stood and watched as he climbed the steps to the door. Jimmy, Jackie and Shelley had stopped too, but only Jimmy understood what was wrong. He tried to coax her away but she stood with baited breath as the man in the suit knocked on the door. Jimmy held his breath as they waited. " What’s wrong love?" Jackie asked, but no one answered. " Are we going to get moving or what?" Shelley asked next but she too was ignored as the door began to open. Everything happened in slow motion, or so it seemed to Lindsey, it was like a dream. To Lindsey it seemed to take forever for the door to open wide enough for her to see who was behind it. Lindsey gasped as her stomach churned, Jimmy had to grab her as her legs gave way beneath her, she seemed to crumple up and Jimmy struggled to support her. Jackie looked up at the massive house and finally realized what was wrong. " Oh God no, not this time, not on our holiday" she was on the verge of tears as she saw him, Callum Finnegan standing in the doorway of his mansion. Lindsey clung to Jimmy for support. " No he's dead, Dave shot him, he's dead dad you know he is" Lindsey tried to convince herself that she wasn't seeing him, that he wasn't there, but every time she looked up from her Jimmy's chest where she had buried her head he was still there and getting closer as he descended the steps with the man. Lindsey watched as if in a dream then she saw it, two men approaching Callum from behind as he stood by the man's Mercedes unaware that he was about to be attacked. Her mind racing and confused as she was, Lindsey didn't think twice as she called out. " Callum look out!" But it was too late as he swung round the club struck him across the side of the head. As the men turned to see who had warned him Lindsey reached behind her as if she were reaching for a gun. The men dropped the bat and jumped into the car, speeding off, not wanting anyone to be able to identify them. Jimmy and Jackie stood in shock as they watched Lindsey run to Callum who lay on the pavement. After two attempts to get up which resulted in him collapsing again Callum gave up and lay still. He was unaware that Lindsey was running across the road to him. Shelley stood confused, she knew Callum and what he had done to Lindsey and she didn't understand why Lindsey was helping him to his feet. His head was bleeding, but not seriously after being helped up Callum looked at Lindsey in shock, he flinched away from her. Why was she helping him? He didn't understand. Lindsey looked back but not for long, she began to realize what she had done and stepped back from him. He looked her up and down, she hadn't changed, her hair was still short with red tints, her figure a perfect ten, the only difference noticeable to Callum in that moment was her eyes, they were dull, they had lost that sparkle which had drawn him to her in the first place. He sighed regretfully, he'd made a lot of mistakes but Lindsey was the worst one, he wished they had met under different circumstances, he wanted to speak but didn't know what to say, so after one last look at her he turned and walked back to his house without a word. Lindsey watched him go with a mixed expression on her face she didn't understand why she had just done what she'd done, but one thing she knew for sure, she had to know how he'd survived, how he was still alive. CHAPTER: 4 THE NIGHT THEY CAME CLOSE That night Lindsey lay awake, she could hear Shelley's breathing and it was irritating her. Her breathing was heavy and sounded as though it was been drawn in long gasps. Lindsey tried to ignore it so that she could get to sleep but she couldn't. She looked at the clock it was 12:43. She thought quietly to herself 'Nearly eight hours since I saw Callum'. She sighed why was it that it didn't matter what she thought about he came into it. She remembered how he had looked earlier, black jeans and black shirt with a small dragon on one side that was also black. He hadn't changed his hair still dark the first signs of grey barely noticeable and his eyes, hazel brown. She sighed again and jumped out of bed. She quickly pulled some clothes on, ran a brush through her hair before leaving the room. There was a lot of questions that she wanted answers to, all she needed was the courage to ask for them. Callum stood at the doors that lead out onto the balcony, in all the time he had lived in this house he had never dared venture out onto the massive balcony that spanned nearly the full width of the mansion. He loved the view but would go no further than the doors. He held an empty whiskey glass in his hand. It had been empty for nearly half and hour but he had forgotten to fill it. He kept on getting side-tracked by the thoughts of having seen Lindsey again. She had looked gorgeous as usual and he had walked away from her. He cursed himself, he should've spoke to her, he should've thanked her for trying to warn him of the oncoming attack, but he had been dumbfounded by the sight of her, he had been confused. He smiled to himself, if he had tried to speak he probably would have stuttered he was in that much shock. Lindsey stood at the foot of the steps leading to Callum's mansion. Now that she was there she wasn't feeling so confidant, she wasn't so sure that she wanted to start asking him questions. She shook her head firmly, she had to know how he was still alive, how he had survived been shot and buried by Dave. Slowly but surely she began to make her way up the steps to his house. Callum was still thinking about how Lindsey had looked today, he was thinking about what she might have been thinking at seeing him again. His thoughts were interrupted by a rather timid sounding knock at the door. He placed the empty glass on his desk and took his gun from the drawer. He slowly made his way through the house to the front door listening all the time for any warning sound of a possible attack, the loading of guns, the cocking of triggers, anything, but he heard nothing. Lindsey stood in front of the door waiting for it to be opened, half of her was hoping for an answer the other half wanted to run for it now and get away as quickly as possible. But something held her there, something held her rooted to the spot, something made her wait patiently for him. Callum slowly and cautiously unlocked the door. Lindsey heard the door been unlocked, her stomach began to churn, all her plans of what she was going to say disappeared. Callum slowly opened the door his gun at the ready his finger almost on the trigger. Then he saw her, he almost dropped the gun, yet again he was stunned into silence and threw off guard, she could have been there to kill him, she had reason to do it, but he didn't think he just stared at her. Lindsey too was thrown she hadn't even noticed the gun in his hand, he could've killed her, he had reason to do it. It was Lindsey who recovered first and spoke. " Eh hello Callum, I-I haven't woke you have I?" Callum quickly recovered himself and spoke back. " Eh no, no I was....I was still up, eh come in please" He stepped back and made way for her to enter. Lindsey hesitated for a second, what if he had some plan, then she thought of how he had been thrown off guard at the sight of her and decided that it was unlikely he had anything planned. She immediately noticed the white plaster, clearly covering his head wound caused by the baseball bat from that afternoon. Lindsey stepped in and immediately froze as she looked round, her breath was taken away by the sheer beauty of the interior. Callum watched her reaction, he could tell that she was impressed. As Lindsey looked round she was stunned, she had immediately noticed Callum's impressive collection of antiques and weaponry that were clearly everywhere. Callum began to lead her through the house to the back room where he had been relaxing. As she followed him she looked around curiously, it was not what she had expected to see. He had Samurai swords displayed on the walls along the corridor, spears and shields and medieval swords. There was one room she passed and her attention was turned by a brief glance of what appeared to be plumage. " Callum" he turned to face her " Eh not to be nosy or anything but whats in there?" he smiled at her and lead her into the room. She was surprisingly calm in his company, he wondered if she was up to anything. He quickly shook the thought away,'Probably not.' " Oh my god" she exclaimed as she followed Callum in. The room was completely dedicated to the middle ages. There were suits of amour, shields that represented different armies, helmets, some with plumage on them, there were dozens of different designs of swords light, thin ones, bulky, heavy ones. One that Lindsey particularly liked was a massive, bulky one with jagged edges. Add to that it was very thick and she marvelled at how he ever got it up on the wall. " You like that one?" he asked her, she hadn't realized that he was near her. But now she knew he was there she could feel how close he was behind her. She stepped to the side of him, getting away without making it obvious she pretended that she had moved so that she could speak to him. " Yeah, its huge, I was wondering about how you had lifted it to get it up there" " Oh easy, I may look little but I've got a lot more strength behind me than you'd think" " You're not little" Lindsey smiled. She marveled at how relaxed she suddenly felt around him, ‘It’s not natural!’ she exclaimed to herself. Then she stopped it was better than feeling terrified and cautious of him. " No, but I'm not tall either" he replied as he moved over the room to get some steps. He brought them back and took the sword down for her. He had to hold it with both hands but he still managed to make it look light. " You know something its no wonder these guys lost so many battles, they probably collapsed with exhaustion" Lindsey couldn't help giving him a smile, she wondered if it was the fact that she wasn't used to having casual conversation with him. As he replaced the sword she noticed the gun at his back. " Expecting someone?" " What do you mean?" he asked putting the steps back in the corner of the room. " You're carrying a gun Callum" " Oh, I was a little wary after today’s attack so when I heard someone knocking at twenty past one in the morning I was a little cautious" He made his way towards the door then stopped. His excuse had been good enough for Lindsey and she was about to follow him when he asked " You like guns?" " Yeah, why?" She replied suddenly feeling a little unnerved by his question. " Follow me" He lead her to a door that adjoined the next room. As she stepped in behind Callum she was greeted by dozens of glass cases that lead from the floor to the ceiling. " Wow" it was all Lindsey could manage to say as she noticed that every gun had a date beneath it and they went right back to the sixteenth century. " Callum all this must have cost you a fortune" " Yeah well I think its worth it" he replied as he followed her round. " Oh my god are all these original?" she looked up at him and he was smiling, it was half past one in the morning and he was giving the woman who wanted him dead a guided tour of his house. " Everyone of them, everything in this house is original" She stopped when she spotted a Kerr revolver, it was a black model with a pattern scrawled down the butt in sterling silver. " You like that one?" Callum asked in almost a whisper. " I've always wanted a Kerr revolver ever since I saw a picture of one when I was fourteen" Lindsey explained. " Have you ever held one?" " I've never even seen a real one let alone held one, that picture was the only time I ever saw one" Lindsey remembered it well, it was the middle of English but instead of following what the teacher was saying she was looking through a book about revolvers. Callum had left her side for a brief second and when he returned he had a bunch of keys in his hand, they were all little gold Yale keys. He immediately found the one he was looking for and used it to open the glass case. He stepped back and signalled for Lindsey to remove the gun from its place on the red velvet. She took the gun slowly and carefully, she knew it was valuable. She studied it carefully, opened the barrel, closed the barrel, cocked the trigger then turned to Callum. " Is it okay if I fire it?" " Yeah, its not loaded" With that she fired. As she placed the gun back in amongst the others she began to wonder what time it was. She glanced at her watch it was quarter to two in the morning. She had been there 25 minutes and she still hadn't asked him any of her questions. " Do you want a drink?" Callum asked as he walked towards the door. " Yeah thanks" " Come on then" It seemed to take forever to walk through the house. When they did eventually reach the back room, in which Callum had been before she arrived, she was greeted by both a dog and a cat. The cat went straight to Callum and stayed with him but the dog was suspicious and wary of her. She wondered if it sensed her hatred for his master, so far she had managed to mask her contempt from Callum but there was no fooling the dog. Lindsey though fell instantly in love with the dog. It was an Alaskan malamute and only young, she would have said about two or three. She knelt down to pet him and have a look at his collar. Spitz. Lindsey instantly remembered the story 'Call of the wild'. She began to wonder if that was where Callum got the name from, she looked at him, she couldn't picture him reading such books, in fact she couldn't picture him reading at all. Callum poured the drinks and when he turned round Lindsey was kneeling on the floor stroking Spitz and talking to him in a silly, baby voice. He smiled a little at the sight before interrupting it. " Here’s your drink" Lindsey looked up, Spitz disappeared to his master's side in a second of hearing his voice. Callum handed Lindsey her drink before acknowledging his faithful pet. He crouched down in front of him. " How’s my boy then?" The dog responded by covering Callum's face with his tongue, licking him affectionately. Callum was laughing and playfully pushing the dog back. Then he realized Lindsey was looking at him. She wanted to laugh deep down but could remember her thoughts at the airport when she had wanted to laugh at Shelley. Callum though read her face. " What’s wrong? you afraid to laugh at the sight of a forty year old man playing with a daft dog" as he said this he playfully gave the dog another push before rising. Lindsey shook her head and grinned. " God you even know what I'm thinking now" " No, I could tell by your eyes, they were laughing but your face wasn't" Callum slumped into a black leather chair, the dog immediately appeared at his feet and the cat as if from nowhere jumped onto his knee. Callum instantly began to stroke the cat. " You look like something from the Godfather" Lindsey remarked in a bitter voice. Callum laughed. " Sit down please" he indicated the seat near his. Lindsey sat but didn't face him. " So what did you come here for? I'm pretty sure it wasn't for a look around my collection of guns and armor" " No, as you can imagine I'm a little curious as to how you got here after Dave shot and buried you" Lindsey replied coldly. " Ha, is that what he told you, he shot me and then buried me in my brothers grave, am I right?" Lindsey looked at Callum, she hadn't mentioned Alasdair's grave. " Yeah that’s what he told me. Why what really happened that night Callum?.... Please tell me I need to know, I have to know" " No" he replied simply. " Callum!” Lindsey’s tone rose sharply, she immediately regretted it, but still continued “ Tell me, I have a right to know" Lindsey felt herself getting irritated with him. " And what rights that, you did ask me to marry you that gives me some rights, does it hell" Callum had placed the cat on the floor and stood up " Lindsey you don't want to know, and even if you did I wouldn't tell you" he refilled his glass. Lindsey now rose too. " That’s the thing Callum, I do want to know" " And I told you I wouldn't tell you" Lindsey approached him and he backed away, that wasn't like him he always stood and faced her. " What’s going on Callum? Why won't you tell me?" " Because....because you wouldn't believe me anyway" he looked up at her, he looked into her eyes. Something there told him to tell her, something told him that she would believe him. " Try me" she challenged him. Callum sat back down and the cat returned, the dog moved to let his master sit then returned to his position of lying over Callum's feet. Lindsey too sat down. " After you ran out Dave pulled the trigger, I fell to the ground and stayed there. The body he buried was the one from the trunk of the car I'm guessing" Callum finally answered. " Yeah but you're still here" " Yeah only because the stupid prat didn't notice that I wasn't bleeding" Callum chuckled a little at the thought of Dave panicking when he wasn't even shot. " I don't get it" Lindsey shook her head and looked up at him. " The gun Lindsey, the gun that I gave him to shoot you with, it was loaded with blanks.... I never had any intention of killing you that night" he leant towards her "I've never had any intention of killing you" " Huh is that so now?" Lindsey jumped up to go she didn't want to listen to his excuses. Callum jumped up too forgetting for a second about the cat. " Yes that is so! You never noticed Lindsey!" " Never noticed what Callum? What was there to notice?" " That everyone else who got in my way disappeared like that" he snapped his fingers and moved close to her, she didn't back down from him " You never did though, you’re still standing here in front of me now! I never had any intention of killing you! Never! But you never noticed did you" he turned his back to her and returned to his chair. Lindsey was shocked as she thought about what he had said, it was true. She now returned to her seat. Callum carried on talking to her about the night he proposed, but now his voice was calm again, there was no hint of anger at all. " I know that night went wrong and I knew all along you weren't going to say yes" he quietly admitted. " So why did you do it?" Lindsey asked him quietly, she was afraid that she might spark his anger but she didn't. She was curious about his supposive 'feelings' for her. " I had to be able to say I tried. I'll die a lot happier knowing that I tried. It would've killed me lying on my death bed thinking 'what if?'. I had to rule out any possibility. If there had been even the slightest chance of you saying yes then I was willing to take it. I couldn't go thinking that there was a chance, I had to get that out of my head. Anyway at least one good thing came of it. I got one kiss off you" He smiled almost softly at her, she forced herself to look away casually she could feel the atmosphere changing. " I hardly kissed back" " Shut up!" he exclaimed laughing, Lindsey marveled at the fact that he didn't say in a nasty way " I'm trying to make it better. I'm trying to make some good of it and you're making it worse. Anyway at least we had 'some' civilized conversation without holding each other at gunpoint" " Yeah until you started raving about whether or not my 'little blue uniform' turned Shelley on" Lindsey said this grinning, she didn't realize that she had told Callum her girlfriends name. " Ah, so that’s her name" he said smiling. Lindsey sighed and Callum thought he heard her mutter something under her breath. He knew she hadn't meant to tell him. " Relax it's not like I'm going to run around telling everyone" " Everyone knows anyway" Lindsey mumbled as she looked at her glass she still hadn't drank the fifteen year old malt Callum had gave her. " Oh, did they take it badly?" Callum asked sounding genuinely concerned for her. " Oh yeah," she replied downing her drink " The gossips had a bloody field day. So anyway changing subject......" " Yeah maybe we should. So how do you like Portugal?" Callum asked agreeing with Lindsey only because he didn't like the idea of talking about her girlfriend, Shelley. " Oh its lovely" Lindsey spoke truthfully then decided that maybe she shouldn't have, if he knew she liked it here he might try and persuade her to stay, but it was too late now. " How long have you been here?" he asked pleased that she liked the country but decided not to talk about the fact that she could have been living there with him. " Eh three days now" Lindsey replied having to think about it first. " How long are you here for?" he asked then regretted it, he didn't want her to get the wrong idea about why he was asking so many questions " I don't mean anything by it, I'm just...." " Just making 'nice' conversation......keeping off the more 'sensitive' subjects" Lindsey finished for him. " Well I could've thought of better ways to put it, but yes that’s pretty much it" Callum admitted, a little uncomfortably Lindsey thought, but forgot about it, Callum wasn't the 'sensitive type' she thought to herself. But even as she looked at him she knew deep down that she couldn't be more wrong, there was a story to this man, there was a lot more to this man than she thought and she had to admit that she was tempted to find out just what his story was, she wanted to know what it was that made him the way he was, what had made him so cold and cruel. Suddenly an idea came to Lindsey, she didn't know what triggered it, maybe it was the thought of Shelley and their ever-lasting stormy patch, maybe it was the desperation to feel loved, even if only for a moment. As she considered the thought her face turned serious but it also softened as she looked into Callum's eyes trying to work out his feelings and what he was thinking " One kiss from me would make you die happy then would it?" she tried to sound as if she was joking with him but she failed, she couldn't hide her sudden desire to test this man's feelings for her. Callum though looked at her a little cautiously, she had mentioned him dying,...... but then again it was the perfect opportunity for him to prove just how serious he was when he asked her to marry him. " Yes" she looked into his eyes and they said everything to her she had leaned towards him a little and now he leaned towards her. Lindsey hesitantly ran her hand down Callum's jaw line. As she did this she realized that she was shaking. Callum though didn't notice as he closed his eyes, savoring her touch. Her touch burned like a hot brandishing iron fresh from the fire been thrust among dry leaves. She had leaned forward a little more and Callum could feel the closeness of her and it was driving him wild. All the pent up passion and desire that had been rejected for so long was choking the air around him. " Callum I'm frightened, I don't know what I'm doing" she whispered. Callum put his warm hand to her face very tenderly and as he leaned closer he spoke. " Don't be" This sounded very soft to Lindsey and she knew in that second that he was a different man, she found herself having to fight to remember just who this man was. But as she looked up and realized how close they were to each other she backed away, suddenly realizing what she was doing. " What’s wrong?" Callum asked as she rose to her feet. " Nothing, its just...its late and if Shelley wakes up and I'm not there she'll panic" Lindsey was panicking herself now, she was terrified that he was going to burst into a rage as he dropped his head into his hands and sighed. He lifted his head out of his hands a little and looked up at her. He knew she wanted to go and he knew she was frightened of what he might do. " Okay then, I'll show you out" he rose and walked past her without looking at her. She followed him slowly. The walk to the front door was intensely silent. Neither spoke until they reached the door. He opened the door for her, then as she was about to walk out he pushed it almost shut again, she stopped and looked at him. He looked almost pitiful she thought to herself. " Will I be able to see you again while you're over here?" she was silent " Just friendly if that’s what you're worried about" he quickly added. She looked down then looked back up at him. She stood considering for a moment as she gazed into his eyes she turned sharply, she couldn’t, she couldn’t kiss him, not him. " Goodbye Callum" With that she walked out. Callum closed the door behind her dropping his head against it, he clenched his fists tight and fought to refrain himself from hitting out at the door. When Lindsey reached the bottom of the steps she looked back up at Callum's home and found herself fighting back tears and wondering why she had gone there in the first place and then wondering why she had left. What was she going back to? Probably the third degree and a good screaming at from Shelley. She looked back up at the house, sighed and shook her head as she began to make her way towards the car they had hired. As she drove she began to realize how tired she was. Callum collapsed into his leather chair, as he sat stroking Linz, his cat, he began to yawn. It wasn't long before he fell asleep with thoughts of Lindsey flying around his head. Continued Next week.......

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