“I don’t know. It feels wrong to work from an active contract.”
“It’s not breaking confidentiality if I give it to you myself. What if I wanted another lawyer to look at it to see if there’s any way to get out of it?”
“Is that what you want?”
“No, I’m just saying you’d be analysing it in a professional capacity. Keep it anonymous in your report or whatever. It’s not breaking the NDA to show you the NDA, right? It’s just a suggestion.”
Yeah, a good suggestion. Marty wants me to look for flaws, but I’m working with templates. Like Ben said, there were likely to be gaps left wide open for the contract to be tailored to the individual. How could I assess if I didn’t have a list of clauses?
“Okay. Thank you.”
“I’ll send you the files.” Ben stares at me for a moment or two longer than is comfortable, then nods to himself and wakes his screen. This time my phone beeps with an email notification. “There.”
“Oh. That was…” Fast? Eager? Unexpectedly on hand? In the end, I don’t voice my thoughts. “Uh, thanks. You’re sure?”
“Of course. I trust you, Honeybee, and this will give you a heads up…”
But I don’t get to know why I’d need a heads up because I slip into work mode reading the minutia of his contract and wondering what it is Ben actually does at the Trevainne compound. As expected, it seems air-tight. It’s only when Ben shifts, his eyes flicking up to glance at the stairs, do I notice Cas watching us, arms are laden with brown paper bags.
He stares at Ben and me for a second and then grins. “Food’s here.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Turns out I really like Vietnamese food, but I love cheesecake more. Cas joins us; a colleague taking his security watch during his break, and we talk utter nonsense while stuffing our faces. The novelty of it hits me hard at the end of the meal. My brain just disconnects from the moment and shows me the wonder of it. Companionship. Socialising. Normality. Things that others take for granted, but for me, this is a core memory burned into my heart. There’s a smile on my lips, and from the ache of my cheeks, it’s been there a while. I’m happy.
“I saw the two of you take a tour of the manor the other day. Did Ben show you all his secrets?” Cas asks, giving Ben the wiggly-brow treatment.
“Ephraim’s secrets,” Ben emphasises. “Yeah. This place is a treasure box, if only for the puzzles.”
“Did you find anything new?” Cas asks Ben, betraying his own interest in the subject.
“Not really, though Jules figured out the grapes clue inEphraim’s office.”
Cas leans forward. “You’re kidding? What was it hiding?”
Ben shrugs. “Not sure yet. It revealed eight keyholes. They look like different-sized hex keys.”
“There’s a hex key in the orb at the top of the grand staircase. On the left side towards the business suites.” Cas offers.
“I forgot about that!”
Cas smirks. “Suggests they’ll be hidden in other puzzle boxes too.”
“The finials are puzzle balls too?” I interrupt.
“Only the left one on the main stairs,” Cas confirms. “I’ve tested the other staircases, but they don’t come off.”
“The upper floors have egg-shaped newel caps that are too small for keys.” Ben points at the stairway, and sure enough, there’s a small egg on top of the newel post
“I’m telling you; there’s one in the ballroom floor.” Cas proposes. “That pattern is too obvious not to be one of Ephraim’s games.
“We’ve sat for hours with that. If you figure it out and I’ll take your night shifts for a month,” Ben offers, suggesting a hopeless cause.
“Nah, shit deal. When am I going to get the time to check it out now that…uh…I’m on a full-time schedule?”
“Now that you’re babysitting me, you mean?” I laugh at his deer-in-the-headlights expression. “How about you babysit me in the ballroom tomorrow afternoon? I can bring my laptop down and work from there,” I suggest, altruism hiding my real plan to solve the puzzle with them.
Ben scrunches up his napkin and throws it at me, missing by inches. “You just want to see the puzzle. Admit it, Honeybee, you’re as into this as we are.”
