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s wife, Agatha. “Oh no . . .” She held her hand to her mouth as she took in the damage. “Percy. You didn’t light a fire, did you?”
“Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I left a note to call the chimney sweep. I told—” She gave a deep sigh. “Never mind,” she said, her gaze lighting on Sam, Remi, then Professor Aldridge. “I see you have guests.” She walked over, took Percy by the arm, and Sam was certain the sparkle in her eyes was from being near tears. “Let’s all go into the kitchen where it’s cleaner, shall we?”
“Yes,” Percy said. “Good idea.”
The look that passed between Agatha and Professor Aldridge told Sam that today’s fire was not totally unexpected. Aldridge eyed the wet floor. “I’ll go see if I can find a mop and broom and start sweeping out some of this water. First, I’ll introduce you to Percy’s wife.”
They followed him into the kitchen. Percy was seated at the table. Agatha smiled at them as they walked in. “How frightfully rude of me for leaving you standing there. And with guests. I’m not normally this inconsiderate.”
“Nonsense, Agatha,” Aldridge said. He turned toward Sam and Remi. “Percy’s wife Agatha.” As they shook hands with her, he said, “Agatha, this is Sam and Remi Fargo. They’re here looking for information on some archaeological artifacts, and, well, Percy was supposed to meet us. He never made it.”
“Understandable,” she said, glancing toward her husband. “Normally, Percy’s very good with lists. Perhaps I should have written ‘Don’t light the fire’ and called the chimney sweep myself.”
“I simply forgot,” Percy said.
Agatha gave a tired smile. “I know.”
“Maybe,” Aldridge said in a quiet voice, “it’s time for live-in help?”
Agatha’s eyes glistened and she turned away, busying herself with the dishes in the sink. Eventually she took a seat at the table, giving another tired smile. “Rather like sitting around a campfire, what with the smoky scent all about.”
Percy looked at his wife. “I forgot to call the chimney sweep.”
“I see,” Agatha said, patting his hand and smiling at him. “So what sort of artifacts are you discussing, Percy?”
“Artifacts?” Percy eyed Sam and Remi. “I . . . Aldridge? Are these the people?”
“The couple I told you about.”
“Right . . . We were supposed to meet. Slipped my mind. Almost burning down one’s house will do that.”
“Indeed,” Aldridge replied. “But they’re here now.”
“Yes,” Percy said to Sam and Remi. “I expect you’ll want to have a look for yourself.”
Sam felt Remi tapping his foot with her own. “Maybe,” he said, “we should reschedule.”
Remi gave a sympathetic smile. “You probably have enough on your plate right now.”
“Actually,” Agatha said, “it’ll be best if he’s out from underfoot. I expect I’ll have a lot of calls to make while you’re all off doing whatever it is you’re doing.”
“Very good,” Aldridge said. “It’s settled, then.”
As they left the house and walked through the park toward their car, Sam told Remi quietly, “We’ll catch up to you,” then slowed his pace, signaling for Professor Aldridge to follow suit. Sam waited until Remi and Percy were out of earshot. “In light of Percy’s memory issues, maybe we should go with this other expert?”
“Normally, I’d say yes,” Aldridge replied. “This is beyond his usual forgetfulness. But he seems to have more trouble when he is out of his element. When something happens to throw him off his game. Like starting a chimney fire.”
“But if this other expert is willing to help . . .”
“Maybe give Percy a chance. He lives for this sort of thing. And I know Agatha agrees with me. I ran it by her first. She’s the one who insisted. He’s happiest when he’s in his element, and the tunnels below Nottingham, well, are definitely his element.”
“Is it possible he can just point us to the cavern entrance?”
“I suppose so. Though he does enjoy walking through them. I’m sure that’ll be fine. In fact, I believe he’s mapped most of them out on some chart, if that’ll work.”
“That’ll work perfectly.” Sam watched as Percy pointed something out to Remi in the hedge, some bird, as both started laughing when it flew off. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake. “Let’s go find this chart.”
