Page 251 of The Defiant Curse

“Oh, my God! That means that Duncan killed Catherine’s child so there could be no one else to claim his money or lands, even though he knew the child wasn’t his. He might have cared about Callum!”

Elizabeth nodded.

“PLUS, he took his own life to go be with Ciarán, instead of staying to see him continue the ‘bloodline’, so to speak. I’m sure that all those years ago, no one thought anyone would be any the wiser. That’s why she didn’t kill her child by jumping, like that fatal pact between lovers.”

She pointed at Romeo and Juliet, the horses, named after the fated lovers.

“On top of that, she cursed the bloodline, knowing it wasn’t tied to her, but Duncan made Callum his. He raised him, and he left him everything. Sometimes, family isn’t born to you, but you find them along the way. Look at my son Michael. He’s mine, even if I didn’t have him.”

The man smiled.

“Yeah, Mom. Exactly like that.”

Graham sighed.

“And here Ian was so proud of those letters. We thought we solved this. He’s going to be crushed that we were WAY off.”

Elizabeth shrugged.

The psychic had proved she’d been right, and those letters were all lies.

“I love Ian, but he’s not an investigator. There were too many little flags that said they couldn’t be real. First and foremost, the fact that they were ripped from a journal. Who sends a journal to the battlefield, and not just a letter?”

There was that.

“And the fact that Duncan had been with Ciarán for years. There was no way he was dipping his Lord stick in the girl from Ireland when he was all about the guy. How many ladies did you sleep with, Graham?”

He actually looked grossed out that she even brought that up.

“Uh, none. I’m not bisexual. I’m full-on gay.”

That was her point.

“It’s crazy how we missed that,” Michael said. “You know, since Gryphen, Ian, and Graham have never been with women—only men.”

Elizabeth reassured them.

“Again, it’s my job to see the things that don’t fit. You guys did solve some of the mystery, so don’t write yourself off. You found out that Duncan was gay, Ciarán was his lover, and who was in the lake. You found Oison’s bones, and you pieced it all together. Ceit wasn’t at rest. She was waiting for someone to figure this out, and here I am.”

Michael was honest, as he kept digging.

“I wish she was at rest. I feel bad for Ceit. As someone who lost his heart, I know how she feels.”

Graham stopped him from digging and kissed him.

“But you found it again. It all worked out, and we’re together like Duncan and Ciarán now.”

And that was the point.

Finding yourself and someone to love was a big part of living.

“I think we need to find Ceit’s for her, and finding the necklace will be a big piece of that.”

They all hoped.

When Ethan’s shovel hit something hard, they all paused. It sounded like metal on wood.

“I think we’re at his box.”