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“Oh, yes, I did read about that. I’ll see you tomorrow—in the meantime, I’ll look through my emails from Dan. Maybe he mentioned this gardener…and you’ll have something worth taking to the police.”
Theo returned to the tower and her notebook quietly excited. With all the craziness going on, she had thought little of Underneath—there had been no time for dreams of publication. Perhaps the last few days were payment to the universe for the karmic debt that that much happiness would incur.
She allowed herself to fantasize briefly about covers and launch parties, even reviews in the New York Times before she drifted back into her ghost story via a memory of sitting cross-legged on the floor of some house in Hobart, listening to the sermon of a visiting monk. Her parents had been Buddhists from time to time, and when they were, she and Gus had been dragged to makeshift suburban temples. To her recollection, Buddhists considered nirvana the point at which one was enlightened enough not to be reincarnated, when one had no more to learn and was therefore no longer condemned to the suffering brought about by life. Perhaps she could use that to understand the fear her ghosts had of the living… Perhaps they considered life a regression to suffering and lack of understanding. In the end she fell asleep as she often had during those sermons.
Theo was aware of someone else being in the room before she opened her eyes, though she couldn’t recall any sound or movement that alerted her to the fact.
“Don’t fuckin’ move.” The voice was low and male, and entirely unfamiliar. He was a blur behind the muzzle of a gun, and Theo could not refocus her gaze to see him. She couldn’t seem to breathe properly.
CHAPTER 20
“Caleb!” The blur with the gun called down the stairs. “Call Mac and tell him we found someone in his house.”
A second man ran up the spiral staircase, arriving out of breath and wheezing. “Mom says there’s someone staying in her room, Sam. Could be she didn’t break in.”
Theo began to come out of the mute terror of waking to a gun. And in its place outrage. “I’d hardly break in to have a nap, would I, you fool! Put that bloody gun down and call Mac.”
Caleb hooted. “Dang, she sounds like a Brit.” He squinted at her. “Who woulda thought…? Mom ain’t gonna be happy.”
The one called Sam lowered the gun and pulled out his phone. “Mac? It’s Sam.” He announced that he and Caleb had apprehended an intruder. A pause and he pulled the phone away from his ear, grimacing. “Yeah, all right. Keep your shirt on…Yeah, okay.”
Sam thrust the phone at Theo.
Mac was brief. “Theo, I apologize. These are my brothers, Sam and Caleb. I’m on my way… Hopefully I’ll arrive before the dowager queen comes up the stairs.”
Theo gave the phone back to Sam. Caleb watched her, grinning.
“Where’s Mom?” Sam asked.
“She was doing something about that fuckin’ dog.”
Instantly, Theo was on her feet. “Horse! What have you done to Horse?”
“I have fed him.” The woman who appeared at the top of the stairs was small and slight. An older version of the matriarch who had presided over the family portraits below. She fixed sharp blue eyes on Theo. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure.”
Theo swallowed, wrong-footed. “I…I’m Theodosia Benton.” It felt idiotic to introduce herself to people who a couple of minutes ago had held her at gunpoint. “How…how did you get in?”
“Dear girl, I have a key. Cormac didn’t mention he’d put a…someone in my room.”
Theo began to apologize. She wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for, but Nancy Etheridge made her feel like she should.
“It’s not your fault, Theodosia—my, that is a mouthful! Cormac should have let me know… Good heavens, one of us might have shot you!”
“What are you doing here?” Theo said almost to herself.
“I should be asking you that, don’t you think?”
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean…”
“Jesus!” Caleb squinted at her. “You’re that girl in the papers.”
“Yes,” Theo said. There seemed no point in denying it.
“So…you and Mac…” Sam smirked.
Theo glared at him. What was the gun-toting idiot suggesting? For a time, nobody said anything. They all just stared at one another. And then a call from downstairs. Mac’s voice. Theo took a breath. Thank God!
Nancy Etheridge began down the stairs. “Shall we go ask Cormac to explain?” She motioned and her sons fell into step behind her.
