The sound that came back from Archie's cries differed greatly from every previous attempt. Instead of an empty echo, the whole place started to rattle, dirt falling from the ceiling up ahead. A large rumble came from further down the tunnel, coming in patches, a small roar then a long groan. He knew what he had done. 

   The Laird bolted down the tunnel, lamp held ahead, jumping over the fallen timber, clambering over the dirt that use to be the ceiling, piled halfway towards the roof. The grumbling had stopped but that didn’t make him feel any better. Pausing for a breath, he faced a large mountain of dirt, beams and rocks blocking his path apart from a small gap between the apex and the ceiling. Pushing up his shirt sleeves, he began to climb the structure, sitting the lamp just ahead of him and peering over the top. Down below he could see a figure, mostly in shadow, covered in dirt and lying on the muddy ground.
   It was who he feared. His voice came out like a whisper. "Evie?"
   She didn’t squirm.
   Cursing himself as his expensive business shirt ripped, he grabbed the lamp and rolled down the mud, landing steadily on his backside.
   The first thing he could think about was that she was dead. She lay completely still as he made his way over to her, but when he knelt and found a pulse, relief was an understatement.

   "Evie?" he pushed her hair and dirt off her face, rolling her over onto her back. She had a large cut on her head, the surrounds going purple with nice bruising which he guessed was from hitting the plank which was beneath her. Looking down at her he spoke firmly, shaking her, willing her to wake up. "Evelyn!"

   Evie coughed, stirring up the dust and dirt that remained n the air.

   The Laird shook her again, this time harder, voice firm, grip tight. "Evie! Wake up!"

   Evie’s eyes opened a little, a small groan coming from her mouth as she tried to focus on what was above her. The voice above her was blurred, but as her vision focused on the dark haired man above her, so did his voice.

   "What on earth…?"

   "Evie, it’s Archie." he exclaimed, shock painting his face. "Are you alright?"

   Evie nodded, sitting up and pushing his hand from her. "I’m fine." she stopped and looked around as she touched her aching head. The whole tunnel was filled with dirt. She turned quickly to the Laird, wincing as her head ached. "You! it was your voice I heard!"

   Archie nodded, sitting back onto the ground and leaning his arms on is knees. "I couldn’t very well let you come down here alone."

   "You made the tunnel collapse you … you…" she stopped searching for an appropriate word but falling short. Her face was screwed up in a painful mess, annoyed that she was in this position. "Why on earth can’t you let me on my own? Everytime you have to go and stuff things up."

   "Me? I beg your pardon, you’re the one who broke into my office, stole my plans so you can go wandering around in an area that hasn’t been touched for fifty years."

   "And you were going to let tourists in here."

   Archie shook his head angrily. "No I wasn’t. We were thinking of setting up a ghost tour like this one, but it stopped at the dungeon!"

   "But what about the tunnel. Duncan said the ghost tour went down here… and the plans. they included this."

   "That was just a guide so we knew where we could put the haunted camping site for the kids."

   Evie looked embarrassed, but tried not to for long. Her gaze drifted down to her boots as she curled her legs up beneath her and started to stand. "Mr McDonald! I can’t believe this!"

   Archie stood with her, helping her keep her balance with a light touch of the arm which she promptly shook off. "If you had helped me with this tour in the first place than none of this would have happened."

   "If you could have been patient instead of gallivanting off and playing Indiana Jones!"

   Evie didn’t bother to look at him, instead, she picked up his lamp, starting ahead with wobbly steps.

   "Where are you going?"

   "To finish this tour."

   Archie started after her, grabbing her arm and twisting her back to him. "With my lamp, I don’t think so."

   "Oh well I can’t very well finish this without one."

   ‘You’re not going to finish it at all! We’re going home, back to the dungeon. If your that interested in where this tunnel leads, I’ll take you to the spot tomorrow."

   Evie opened her mouth but nothing came out as Archie grabbed his lamp. "Plus…" he added more kindly. "You’ve most likely got a concussion. That was quite a knock."

   "As I said Mr McDonald," she replied strongly. "I never do things half-arsed."

   She watched as Archie started back to where he came from, stopping at the mountain of dirt and looking back at her. "You coming?"

   Nodding she started towards him, climbing up first, squeezing through the gap at the top and sliding back down with the Laird in tow.

   _{The  trip  back was filled with silence. Climbing over mountains of dirt, fallen beams and unstable rocks, the Laird led the way, shining the orange lamp ahead, only stopped to look back at his guest when an obstacle came into view.} 

   _{It was Evie that broke the silence, along a straight, virtually undamaged part of the tunnel, as she looked at the Laird's back, his beautiful, white business shirt ruined, his jeans containing multiple rips in the legs.} 

   _{"What is it you don’t like about me Mr McDonald?" she asked suddenly, her voice sounding out of place within the silence.}

   _{The Laird stopped but didn’t turn. He waited till her footsteps stopped before replying. "What gives you that idea?"}

   _{"It’s not just a lack of trust Mr McDonald." she continued, her own ideas overtaking his answer. "I can understand that. This is a very close knit household. But you literally can’t stand the sight of me."}

   _{Archie took a breath. She sounded genuinely hurt by this, the cool professional front of a journalist gone. Now all that was left were the soft insides of a woman out of her depth. She was still she was upfront, but now she didn't care whether her questions were uncomfotrable for the Laird.}

   _{He turned now, looking back at her shadow in the dark. "It’s not that I don’t like you…" he started. "I just expected more…"}

   _{Archie stopped then, realising that sounded harsher than he meant it to be. "I mean, I expected more people to do this article… not a girl looking for a childhood friend."}

   _{"My friendship with Lexie will not effect this project, as I have explained more than once."}

   _{Archie nodded. "And it hasn’t." he swallowed a little. "And I apologise for doubting you."}

   _{She didn’t seem satisfied, she looked at him, through the dust and grime, expecting more.}

   _{He raised his eyebrows, a little annoyed. "Now, can we get on?  It’s getting late and the others will be wondering where we are."}

   _{She didn’t move, but this didn’t stop Archie as he turned on his heel and started back down the broken tunnel, footsteps sounding of smooshed mud.}

   _{"I can’t believe you." Evie started, crossing her hands over her chest and shaking her head at him.}

   _{Archie gave a large sigh and turned around, throwing his arms into the air in exasperation. "What now!"}

   _{"I make a genuine attempt to maybe try and find out what’s going on with my host, the man who I must get on with in order to do this job the best I can, and all I get is ‘can we get on’ and some bullshit apology."}

   _{Archie was somewhat taken aback. "Well, I’m sorry if I don’t feel I have to open up to my journalist who, by the way, hasn’t been totally honest with me!"}

   _{"What do you mean by that?"}

   _{Archie started towards her, lamp in hand. "You, looking all over my accounts and making assumptions about the state of this estate! You, sizing up this place as if it were your own."}

   _{Evie’s face morphed for shock to anger in the space of those three sentences. "So you think I’m here to take your money!" a hysterical laugh escaped from her lips, causing Archie to be a little hurt. He wasn’t going to be played like she probably did to everyone else. Evie covered her mouth with her hand to subside the laugher. "What money!"}

   _{"The estate is worth a lot."}

   _{Evie shook her head. "At the moment it’s worth shit all."}

   _{"What about you taking that whole farm from your husband and then selling it back to him for double the price! After you'd taken all the rest of his assets." Archie put in, looking her in the eye, lamp in between their two bodies so that the orange hue heated their faces.}

   _{The journalist's laughter stopped, her voice going quiet. It took a moment for her to reply, instead she looked at the defiant Laird, her waited for her to spit something back. Her voice was quiet.  "What did you say?"}

   _{"You heard me." Archie replied, chest out in superiority.}

   _{"Where did you hear that from?"}

   _{"I have my sources."}

   _{Evie’s eyes widened, realising what was going on. "You were spying on me? You got someone to spy!"}

   _{"Never! Accidental overhearing is not my fault!"} 

   _{Evie reached out and snatched the lamp from him, her eyes not meeting his as she started off towards home, leaving Archie standing in the middle of the tunnel.}

_{Turn the page >}