Part 7

Ewen hesitates at the door to the main gallery, it's where he found Cassandra this morning. He looks back at Elizabeth, "I guess I can call the servants I hired and tell them their services are no longer necessary."

"Will you be leaving Wyndemere then?"

"No, I don't know. I only need a place to paint and sleep, my needs are few. There is no need for servants."

"If only they had arrived earlier, they might help your defense."

"Or they could have been killed too."

"Or that," says Elizabeth, a little disheartened. She puts her hand on his back and reminds him again, "We don't have to do this. You don't have to stay here tonight."

Ewen's response is to push the door open. The room is cold and empty. Fingerprinting dust covers every surface, revealing very few prints. The fireplace is unlighted and books are strewn across the floor, just as they were this morning. He walks into the room and picks up an old leather bound copy.

"Yeats," he says, putting it back on the book shelf. He indicates where the bookcase has been pushed away from the wall a few inches, revealing an open space. "It looks like the police found at least one of the secret passageways.'

Elizabeth turns on a couple of floor lamps and moves further into the room. Her eyes are caught by the blood stained Aubusson Rug. "That will have to get cleaned, unless Nikolas just wants to throw it out."

"Perhaps it should be burned. It might do the world good if this house went up in one large funeral pyre."

"It's true many strange things happen here, but good things happen too. If Nikolas didn't burn the place after Emily was killed here, I doubt he'd want it done now."

Ewen seems to let what she's saying sink in and replies, "Forgive me. I've no right to make judgments about this place. I'm only renting it and besides, it's just a house. Anything evil in it is human born."

"Ewen, as you've told me, you are allowed your emotions. Only a few hours ago you found your patient, dead, in this very room. You are also a possible suspect in her murder. You get to feel angry or sad, or whatever you want."

He moves closer to her. "Do I? Because right now," he stops speaking and moves away. "I need that walk, I'm restless."

They leave the house and walk towards the cliffs. For a long time neither speak. Near the cliff edge, Ewen stops and asks Elizabeth, "Why do you believe in me? You've only known me a short time. As a mother with young children, shouldn't you be running far from me?"

Elizabeth puts her hands in her coat pocket and shrugs her shoulders. She decides to take his question at face value and not as a judgment against her parenting. "I don't know, I just do. I meant what I said when we first met, that you seem familiar. I've known crazies in my life and that's not you. You get angry but it's never very deep, you pull yourself out of it quickly. Some people with that skill have cold dead eyes. It's like, without the anger they are nothing. That's not you. You care and it shows in your eyes."

She decides to tell him a bit more about herself. "I've been kidnapped, locked up and left to die, I've been held at gun point and a very long time ago, I was raped. I've misjudged people and it's come back to bite me. I could be misjudging you, absolutely. I know you have secrets, we all do." She holds up a hand. "I'm not saying you have to tell me all of them now. As for the children, Cameron likes you. He doesn't like everyone. I've learned to trust my kids' reactions to people far more than my own."

He says, "Well then, I hope I don't let Cameron or you down." He takes the hand she holds out and tucks it into his arm as they followed the path to where it forks. One fork goes up to the the top of the cliffs and the other heads down.

She replies, "It's easy, choose not to."

He laughs, a little deprecatingly, before looking into her eyes, "You're right I do have secrets and killing Cassandra is not one of them."

"Good. Now tell me about this attorney of yours because you might want to consider Alexis Davis. She is one of the best defense attorneys around. If not her than Diane Miller, both of them manage to frequently keep Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan out of prison.

"I'm sure they are wonderful. Mine is just as good, I swear," he says, stopping at the fork. He turns her toward him and says reassuringly, "I am not about to go to prison."

His hands frame her face and he says, "God, look at you. You're so beautiful, you make me laugh and if I don't watch it, you could make me cry."

She smiles at him, "Excellent, then I have some power over you. That's a good way to start a relationship."

"You are a fascinating minx," he says bending his head to give her a kiss. Just then the cliff path gives way and they begin to fall. Elizabeth clutches at him as he throws his arms around her and pulls her on top of him as they slide down a good ten or twenty feet.

"Are you alright?" He asks as they lay assessing injuries.

"I think so. You?"

"I'm good, except for your knee."

Elizabeth realizes where her knee is and quickly tries to scramble off him. "Oh God, I'm sorry," she says as he grunts in pain.

"Be careful," he warns. "We don't know if this part of the path is any more stable than the other."

"Now I remember why Nikolas always said to stay away from this side of the island."

Elizabeth stands up and offers Ewen her hand. He pulls himself up and they assess the stability of ground around them.

"I don't think we should try walking back up the cliff," he says. "We could start another small avalanche."

"Well then, we have to go down. Hopefully there is a path around the island down or we'll need to call for a rescue."

Ewen curses and reaches into his blazer pocket, "Damn, I don't have my cell. Do you?"

Elizabeth searches her pockets, "I did, I can't seem to find it now."

Ewen looks among the rocks and finds it. "There, it's about ten feet down off the path."

He starts to head down, when Elizabeth grabs his hand. "No offense but don't you think you might be to heavy? I'm smaller, I'll go. Here hold my coat."

He smiles and says, "Yes mam," but can't help adding, "Be careful."

"Always."

Elizabeth tries walking down but finds it a bit steep. She turns and tries crawling, that works better. Occasionally, small rocks break loose and she loses her grip. She looks up and sees Ewen leaning down as far as he safely can, looking ready to leap after and grab her if necessary. She calls up to him, "I'm alright."

She clings to the side of the cliff, sweat breaks out on her forehead and after one tricky maneuver she stops and rests her forehead against the rock wall. She finds herself saying a quick prayer and talking to the rock, "Look, I just want to get my phone and get out of here. If you could hold together until Ewen and I are away, I'd really appreciate. OK?"

She takes a deep breath and shimmies her way down to her phone. "Eureka," she calls up to Ewen. "I've got it and it has a single."

She begins the slow climb back up to Ewen but he points to her right. "See if you can make your way over there to the path. I'll walk down and meet you."

"Alright." In a short time they are reunited. Elizabeth looks down at her hands. "I'm going to have a hard time getting my nails surgery ready and I think I ripped my jeans ..."

Ewen laughs, "You are marvelous." He pulls her towards him and stops her litany of wounds with a kiss.

When he let her up for air she stops him from kissing her again to say, "I'll tell you another reason why I don't believe you killed Cassandra, because when I was hanging off the side of this cliff I saw you above me ready to pounce if I should fall. Ewen, you are protective to your core. That I know."

He hugs her close, "You're pretty fierce on your own, but yes, I will take care of you. Speaking of, lets get you back to the warmth of the house."

Getting back to Wyndemere isn't as easy as they hope. The path ends before they reach the shore.

Ewen says, "We may need to make that call for help."

Elizabeth points to an opening in the cliff wall. "Or we could see where that leads. You never know, it could end somewhere on top of the cliff, or even in Wyndemere's crazy catacombs."

Ewen says, "If the walls appear sturdy, why not?"

Elizabeth smiles, "OK, let's continue this adventure."