November by Gabrielle Lord Page B

and continued. ‘I feel like Tom had uncovered something in Ireland. Not to do with the conference, necessarily, but more to do with your family. I think he knew it had the capacity to attract the forces of evil. I don’t know why, but I feel like the Queen had something to do with it.’
    ‘Yes,’ I said, starting to get excited. ‘Queen Elizabeth the First!’
    ‘Something to do with her and Ireland,’ he added. ‘But that’s it.’
    I sat on the chair under the window, frustrated . I glanced at the yellow daisies, wilting in their vase.
    Eric heaved himself back off the desk and walked around, restlessly pacing, hands behind his back, head bowed.
    ‘As sick as I was, I couldn’t shake the sense of impending doom—not mine, but yours . The Ormond Singularity rings a distant bell.’ He shook his head regretfully. ‘Unfortunately, I don’t know why—I don’t know what it is or what it means. This viral infection destroyed a lot of the connectors in my brain. I became even more ill in the new year. I could no longer speak. My thoughts were scrambled …’
    ‘That’s what happened to my dad,’ I said. ‘Except he didn’t recover. He must have been suffering from a worse case of the virus than you. But,’ I reminded him, ‘on New Year’s Eve, you told me Dad had been murdered, and that I’d be next.’ I closed my eyes and tried to remember his words exactly. ‘They killed your father. They’re killing me!’ I said. ‘That’s what you said to me. You thought they were killing you, too. Who were you talking about? Who were they ?’
    ‘All the doctors said it was some unknown viral infection. Something mysterious your dad and I had picked up overseas. I don’t understand .’
    Eric paused in his pacing, raised his head and gave me a piercing look. ‘What if it wasn’t an infection, Cal?’
    He’d practically taken the words out of my mouth, but it was shocking to hear him say it.
    ‘Are you suggesting something deliberate?’
    ‘Maybe I’ve spoken out of place,’ Eric said. ‘Without proof, I probably should remain silent. Forget it, Cal. I really don’t know. All I know is that I was very distressed when I realised Tom had died. He was a great photographer and an even better journalist. He was meticulous about what he wrote. He stood for everything that is good and true. There are not many like him any more.’
    It was good to hear that. ‘I know,’ I said. ‘And despite everything you might hear about me, I haven’t done anything bad either—I mean, nothing that’s harmed another person—not deliberately, anyway. I’ve just done what I had to. To survive.’
    ‘I believe you, Cal. The frightening thing is,’ Eric continued, ‘even though I’ve forgotten everything else, I sense that his illness and mine were somehow connected to the Ormond Singularity.’
    ‘So is that what you meant had killed my dad? That the Ormond Singularity was killing you, too?’
    ‘Possibly. Obviously, with the Ormond name, it’s something tied to your family, but maybe I got in the way. Maybe I knew too much. Not that I can remember anything now.’
    I thought for a moment and a shiver wentthrough every cell of my body. ‘Someone tried to kill me and my uncle, way back in January,’ I said slowly. ‘Our fishing boat was sabotaged. Then someone shot Rafe, too, and attacked my sister. The crime that I was blamed for. People have been trying to kill me all year. Then there was the sniper at the chapel … My family’s cursed.’
    An awkward half-smile appeared on Eric’s lips.
    ‘Hey,’ I said, suddenly thinking of something. ‘Did you go to college with Dad?’
    ‘That’s right, we did. I didn’t know him very well. Just knew his name was Tom and that he had a twin brother who was always by his side. I couldn’t tell them apart. I didn’t meet Tom again until we started working together, many years later.’
    Rafe was ‘always by his side’? I couldn’t imagine it.
    ‘Can you tell