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He held out his hand once more and, finally, I took it. His skin was cool to the touch, but not unpleasant.
“Thank you, Calla. Perhaps I’ll be leaving tomorrow night and you can go back to your little life. Until then, I’d appreciate cooperation.”
We walked hand in hand to the guesthouse where he opened the door for me, ushering me in again like such the gentleman. We sat on the couch and I saw that he had a tray of hot tea, milk and sugar and teacups all ready.
“Tea?” he said and held up the old flowered teapot that my grandmother used for her afternoon tea.
I nodded, not wanting to appear ungrateful.
“Sugar and milk?”
“Please,” I said, watching him pour and stir. He handed me the cup and poured himself one and then we each took a sip. The tea was good and like my grandmother used to make. Proper British tea.
Then Kier put down his cup, and turned to face me once more, his arm on the back of the sofa.
“So, Calla,” he said, his eyes moving over me. “I spent quite a long time watching news, but it was confusing. Please tell me about the government and the election. The US is at war?”
“Civics was never my thing,” I said but did my best to explain the current state of the nation, including all the wars, past and current from the time of the San Francisco earthquake and fire. For the next hour or so, we touched on so many subjects, going on tangents when he had a question. He had a b
right mind. That, even I could tell. He understood politics far better than I did.
“I bet you never thought you’d get a history lesson from a teenager,” I said with a laugh when we finished our tea.
“Certainly not,” he said and smiled. Then, his expression changed from amused to serious, and he moved a bit closer.
“Now, Calla, I want you to contact someone for me using your internets. It’s my brother, who was living in the City the last time I was free. I have absolutely no idea how to do it. We didn’t have telephones or internets when I was captured, so I don’t know how to use them.”
“Tell me his name and I’ll Google it.”
“Google?” he said, frowning.
“It’s a way of searching all the information in the world using very powerful computers.”
He nodded. I’d told him in detail about the development of computers and how amazing they now were.
“I need to go back to the cottage and get my computer first,” I said.
“I’ll escort you.”
We left the guesthouse and went to the cottage, where I found my MacBook Air. We passed Chelsea’s room and I peeked in and saw that she was fast asleep.
I didn’t feel any real threat from Kier, so at that moment, I wasn’t too worried. He really did want to find his family and leave. He had only one small taste of my blood and seemed intent on not drinking any more.
I relaxed for a moment and it was a relief.
We returned to the guesthouse and I sat down on the couch and opened the laptop and a browser.
“What’s your brother’s name?”
“Evan MacLaughlan. MacLauchlan Investments.”
I Googled both terms and came up with dozens of hits. One was a LinkedIn profile for Evan MacLaughlan, Investment Banker with a firm called MacLaughlan Tyerman Investment Services. Another was a link to a website for the company.
“Is this him?” I asked and showed Kier the page. On it was an image of a man in his twenties with short dark hair, blue eyes and a sober navy suit smiling at the camera. There was a resemblance to Kier, but Kier was so much more attractive.
His eyes widened. “Yes, I think so,” he said and took the laptop, his fingers touching the screen. “His hair is much much shorter and he’s shaved, but I’m sure it’s him.”
“Short hair is the fashion,” I said. “Except for hipsters and bikers.”
