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“No.” She stamped her foot on the rug. “This is not good enough—”
“Plattsburgh is not my jurisdiction.” Eastwind paused in the process of getting up, his broad palms planted on the padded sides of the chair, his arms bowed out at the elbows. “I have no power there in the big city. And before you point out that Gus St. Claire works here in Walters, the crime happened at his home, not Ms. Phalen’s lab. Now I’m going to say goodnight. Goodnight.”
Finishing the job with the vertical stuff, he nodded at Daniel. “Hope you still do okay.”
Then he nodded at Lydia, and went to the stairs like he didn’t care if they camped out underneath him, or left without closing things behind themselves. As the sound of his footfalls ascended and then crossed above, all she could do was look to the farmhouse’s ceiling and track the progress in disbelief.
“Are you kidding me,” she muttered as bedsprings squeaked under a heavy weight. “And he didn’t even show us to the door.”
From above, a muffled voice: “If you can’t find it, you need more help than you asked for.”
Daniel eased his way up to his feet, catching himself on the arm of the couch as he wobbled. “Let’s go.”
Lydia looked around one more time. “I hate this.”
The state of being out of control felt like it had consumed her life, and she missed the sense that she could make decisions, take action, effect change. Lately, everything had been about adapting to situations she despised and was trapped in, iron bars everywhere.
Daniel touched her shoulder. “There’s nothing for us here.”
Even though she wanted to argue with that, she let herself be led over to the door—and as shestepped out into the night, she had the urge to slam the thing. Like a dozen times.
Instead, she drifted over to the SUV on a cloud of distraction, the cold, damp air tingling in her sinuses, her body shivering, even though she wouldn’t have said she had a chill. As she hauled herself into the vehicle, she glanced back at the house—and a strange premonition crept up her spine.
She was going to see this place again, she thought.
Then again, of course she would. She was damn well coming back in two frickin’ days.
The intention resonated all the way through her as she drew the seatbelt across her heart and clicked it into place. Starting the engine, she put her hands on the wheel, fully intending to get herself and Daniel into reverse and take them back up to the county road.
Except she just sat there, staring out over the dashboard at Eastwind’s garage.
On the other side of the Suburban, Daniel opened the passenger door and got in with the help of his cane. “You okay?”
“No, I’m not. But I just need to take us home.” She glanced back at the farmhouse. “I mean, to Phalen’s.”
She and Daniel didn’t have a home.
“I want to go to the FBI,” she heard herself say asshe K-turned and then hit the gas. “The CIA. Every newspaper and TV channel. I want… all kinds of things.”
“This timing just sucks.”
She glanced over. “Is it ever good to get kidnapped?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
She intended to ask him to clarify, but her mind got tangled in frustration and she let it go. Meanwhile, the trip back to the Phalen property took a hundred years, but also seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, and after she piloted them under the porte cochere, Daniel was the one who turned off the engine. He also had to come around and open her door.
“It’s bad timing because we need to go talk to Phalen,” he said.
She blinked stupidly. Then made the connection. “Oh, God. No, not after what happened to her—”
“What choice do we have? We’re running out of time. Maybe she knows about this Kurtis Joel guy.”
Lydia wanted to argue. But in the same way no-control had become her standard operating procedure, balancing two bad options was her perennial crossroads.
So she just followed him into the foyer and up the stairs to the second floor. As they reached the open area at the top, she glanced to the right. WhenDaniel had been injured and first diagnosed, they had been given a bedroom here on the upper level. Chemo had knocked him hard, however, and to keep him from having to deal with the steps, they’d moved into the suite they were in now.
A lifetime ago, she thought as they went over to a set of double doors that were closed. Just as Daniel curled up a fist and went to knock, the entryway opened on its own.
