Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,54

before he could cross the threshold, the point end of a poker pressed against his throat and stopped him rudely. His eyes wide, Austin back-pedalled quickly, but Dana kept pace with him, never losing contact with his flesh. They crossed the hall together that way until Austin's back touched the wall, effectively pinned there by the poker in her hand.

With a deadly calm she told him, "If you move a muscle, I will beat the holy living crap out of you with this thing, I swear to God I will."

Austin believed her. The look on her face left him with no doubts.

Hearing the screaming and shouting from the dining room, Jack had raced for upstairs, Noah close behind him. Oscar and Henry followed as rapidly as their age would permit. A bizarre tableau awaited them.

Mark was on the floor, leaning against the wall, looking battered yet triumphant. Austin was pressed against the wall in terror looking bloody and defeated. But the most impressive of all was Dana. Her hair was wild, and her eyes were fierce. It was like watching an avenging Valkyrie standing guard over a vanquished foe. The air fairly crackled around her.

" I could have told you," Noah said to Austin in awe, taking in the scene, "You don't want to piss her off."

Chapter 13

"I was in the bathroom,”Mark told everyone with an almost apologetic shrug. "When I came out, I heard Austin's voice. I knew he was supposed to be gone, so I decided to check it out. He was looking the other way, holding onto Miss Dana. He didn't see me. He…he sounded like he wanted to kill her." He shrugged again, as if to say‘The rest you know’.

It had taken both Jack and Noah to convince Dana to lay down her poker. Reluctantly, she allowed them to take it from her, never once taking her eyes off of Austin. Oscar had yelled to Josie to call the police and had magically produced a rope from somewhere. Austin had been quickly restrained with little effort and shepherded downstairs. The fight had gone out of him, completely demoralized from being bested by a woman and a fourteen-year-old boy.

Now everyone was back in the dining room, and the breakfast items had been cleaned away. They had been giving their statements to the inspector himself. Mark was the last.

Jack had been leaning against the wall watching Dana watch Mark tell his story. She was nibbling on a leftover sausage patty wrapped in a pancake, having rather missed breakfast. Jack still hadn't calmed down from their fight upstairs when they all heard a new fight complete with screaming. He was sure every hair in his head had turned white from the horrors his mind had conjured up before he reached the top of the stairs.

What he hadn't expected was to find Dana playing G.I. Jane with a fireplace tool. His nervous system was still vibrating from the emotional cocktail of adrenaline, fear and relief. He wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled. Then he wanted to make love to her until they rattled again.

But it didn't seem as if he'd get his chance to do either anytime soon. Despite his casual words upstairs, Noah had been severely shaken by what had almost happened to his sister. Noah hovered protectively behind her chair. He frequently reached out and touched her arm, shoulder or hair as if to reassure himself that she was really there.

"What I want to know," Rose said, "is how he has been getting into the castle."

Grace clutched her throat. "To think that pervert has been wandering these halls at night while we slept! Do you think he's been peeking at us?"

Rose's eyes twinkled. "Well,”she drawled, "you can always hope."

"Ladies, please," the inspector interrupted tiredly. "Let's get back on the subject."

"Mark has already told you all he knows about it, Inspector Wilcox." Henry, his face a strange mixture of fear and pride, patted his grandson's arm reassuringly. "He only came in at the ass end of this whole thing."

The inspector turned once again to Dana. "Miss Parker, maybe you can clarify some things for me."

"I'll try."

"Fine, fine. Now according to your statement, Austin had rigged the widow's walk to fall."

"That's what he said. He was trying to get everyone out of the castle so he could look for the treasure that he believed to be here."

Inspector Wilcox cast a dirty look at Oscar. "Well, you run that risk when you tell people you have treasure in your