By the time they reached the foyer, Annabel had come downstairs again, this time in her purple velour tracksuit, and both Michael and a portly man Evan hadn’t seen before were there, the latter looking decidedly grumpy.
“I know you believe in this psychic stuff, Annabel dear,” the man was saying, “but couldn’t it wait at least until dawn. Couldn’t we send someone out on a preliminary recky? Michael could go with the young woman for you.”
“I want to be there myself,” Annabel said. “He’s my husband. I want to rescue him.”
“But why the caves? What on earth would he have been doing there?”
“I suppose he might have been meditating in a cave. He chose the most unlikely places to meditate,” Annabel said, as if the idea had just struck her. “He told me once he picked up incredible vibes in caves. I had completely forgotten we had those caves on the property. I’ve no idea how Randy found out about them.” She took the offered cup of tea. “You are a gem, Mrs. Roberts.”
“I do my best, Miss Annabel,” Mrs. Roberts said gruffly.
Evan drained his own cup gratefully.
“If you want to get to the caves, we should be going then,” Michael said. “We might not be able to reach them if the tide’s in.”
“It’s not.” Mrs. Roberts said. “Low tide at six, isn’t it? You’ll be able to get around all right.”
It was a silent procession that made its way down the many steps, past the meditation center. The copper pyramid seemed to shiver with an energy of its own and the sandy estuary below glowed ghostly gray in the dying moon. The tide was still far out and water channels made streaks of silver across the sand. Michael led with a large torch. Annabel and Betsy were right behind him, then Emmy and Ben, whoever he was, with Evan bringing up the rear. Down the last steps onto the sand. It was fine and soft and squeaked under their feet, making walking difficult. As they passed the last of the buildings, looming like a great black shadow perched above them, Evan saw that the land rose into a headland at the end of the bay. There was a line of dark cliffs on their right, and the sand on the beach was dotted with large rocks and rock pools, around which they had to skirt.
“There.” Michael shone the torch on the cliff face. Just before the rocky headland were two black slits in the cliff face. One of them was almost down at beach level, one a little higher.
“My father always maintained that smugglers used to use them,” Lady Annabel said. “I thought there ought to be a secret passage to one of the buildings. But I never found it.”
“Are these the caves you saw in your dream, Betsy?” Emmy asked.
“I don’t know,” Betsy said. “I only remember being at the mouth of the cave.”
“Watch your step,” Michael said. “We have to sort of scramble here. Are you all right, Mother?”
“I’ll manage,” Annabel said. “You go ahead with the torch. I think I’ll wait down here until you find …” She shuddered. “Oh, I hope he’s there. I hope he’s all right. He might have fallen and injured himself and not have been able to walk. That’s probably what happened, don’t you think? And he had to seek shelter in the cave … .”
Michael had begun to scramble up the boulders that formed a ramp to the caves. Evan went to join him. “Here, let me.” He took the torch so that the boy could use two hands to find his way up. “There must be a huge tide here,” Evan said. “These rocks are quite slippery even up here.”
“There is a big tide,” Michael said. “The lower of these caves is almost flooded at high tide.”
“So someone could be trapped in there.”
“And the upper one too,” Michael said. “You can’t climb up the cliff right here and your way back along the beach would be cut off at high tide. You’d just have to find a spot to sit it out. Of course, the upper cave stays pretty dry.”
Evan didn’t add that there had been at least a couple of low tides since Randy went missing when anyone could have reached safety again.
Betsy and Emmy scrambled up to join Evan and Michael.
“Come on, Betsy.” Emmy held out her hand. “I’ll go in with you, so that you’re not too spooked.” She went to drag Betsy to the upper cave.
Betsy froze. “No, not that one. The other.”
“Surely not.” Emmy gave a nervous laugh. “Why would anyone want to go into that cave? If he was hiding out with a broken ankle, he’d go up to the dry one, wouldn’t he? Come up to the entrance and see what vibes you’re feeling.”
“It’s this one.” Betsy stood before the entrance to the sea cave. It was a narrow, diagonal slit in the rock, not quite as high as a person, and the opening was piled with seaweed-covered rocks. Betsy started clambering over them, slithering and sliding as she tried to make her way inside.
“I’m sure you’ve got it wrong, Betsy,” Emmy called after her. “Do wait a minute. Wait for the light.”
“He’s in here, I know it,” Betsy said. “Look. There.” Evan had climbed down to her and shone the torch into the cave. Inside, the cave widened out, but the debris-strewn floor rose upward to meet the roof at the rear of the cave. The light cast grotesque shadows from rocky outcrops. The back of the cave was strewn with boulders and behind one of these they could make out a pale hand and blond hair.
Betsy was shivering again. “It’s him, isn’t it? Is he trapped? Is he okay?”
Evan had pushed past her to where Randy lay. He didn’t need to feel for a pulse to know that the man was dead. He looked up at the horrified faces, all of them like white death masks in the torchlight.
“I’m afraid we’re too late … .”
Annabel let out a wail and Emmy hurled herself forward. “No, that can’t be right. He’s not dead. He can’t be dead!”
Chapter 12
“Just when I thought I could sleep in for once,” Watkins muttered as Evan scrambled over the rocks to meet him. “Do you know I had to be at those training sessions in Colwyn Bay at eight in the morning? Today I thought I wouldn’t have to show up until nine and what happens? I get called out at bloody four-thirty.”
“You got an hour’s more sleep than I did,” Evan said, returning Glynis’s friendly smile.
“I bet you didn’t expect we’d be back here again so soon, and on a completely different matter too, did you?” Glynis accepted his hand to help her up onto a large, seaweed-draped boulder. “How very bizarre. Did you say you found him?”
“I was in the party that found him,” Evan said. “We came to this cave because young Betsy from our village dreamed he was here.”
“Wow, and it turned out to be true.” Glynis looked impressed.
“Looks that way,” Evan said. He switched on the torch he had kept with him. “The body’s in this cave, Sarge.”
Sergeant Watkins ducked as he followed Evan into the cave. “Been dead long, do you think?”
“I can’t say. I’d imagine the body has been covered with water more than once.”
“So it might have been washed in from the outside?”
“I wouldn’t think so. The opening’s too narrow for one thing and I don’t see how the waves would have been strong enough.”
“Then what the devil was he doing in a place like this? Not exactly where you’d come for comfort, is it?” Watkins shivered.