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“I knew I picked the right person to ask.” She tugged at the sleeve of my jacket. “Come on. Lizzie made waffles.”
“Waffles?” My stomach growled. “I love waffles.”
“Doesn’t everyone? Well, if there’s syrup. Do you like syrup?”
“Who doesn’t?”
She slipped her small and surprisingly warm hand into mine, and we headed into the dining room. Lord Barnes and Mrs. Barnes looked much improved from the night before. Addie was at the table eating eggs and ham. There was no sign of Josephine and Phillip. Had they left already?
“Good morning, Viktor,” Mrs. Barnes said.
“Good morning, all. I apologize for my untidy appearance.” Despite our shared harrowing night, I seemed to be the only one showing any signs of it. The rest were clean, shiny, and bright-eyed.
“Not to worry,” Lord Barnes said. “You weren’t in your own home last night, and we’re grateful to you for keeping watch over the house and our girls.”
“It was my pleasure, sir,” I said.
“You’ve just missed Theo,” Mrs. Barnes said. “Flynn’s awake.”
“Delphia told me. I’m relieved, as I’m sure you all are.”
“Help yourself to some breakfast, son,” Lord Barnes said. “You’re probably half-starved after being up most of the night.”
“I could eat,” I said before heading over to the buffet to scoop up eggs, ham, and toast.
“Sit next to me,” Delphia said.
I did as commanded. Daisy came by with a pot of coffee and poured me a cup. Nothing had ever smelled better. I ate with gusto while they told me more of what Theo had said.
“Around seven this morning, Flynn opened his eyes and asked for a sandwich,” Lord Barnes said.
“A sandwich?” I chuckled under my breath. “He must not have known what time of day it was.”
“He really likes sandwiches,” Addie said.
“Theo said his color was back and there’s no fever. Thank God,” Mrs. Barnes said.
“Which means there are no infections in his body,” Addie said, sounding grown up.
“I’m glad,” I said. “He gave us a fright, didn’t he?”
We talked for a few more minutes about the status of the rest of the family. Jo and Phillip had indeed taken their little girls home. “They wanted to get the children back to their routines,” Mrs. Barnes said. “Jo doesn’t like them to be out of sorts for long.”
“And Phillip needed to go to the lodge,” Lord Barnes said. “To take care of things.”
That hung in the air for a moment.
“Addie and Delphia, you may be excused now,” Mrs. Barnes said.
“Can we feed the animals?” Delphia asked. “Even though it’s not Saturday, there’s no school.”
Lord Barnes made eye contact with his wife. The weight of that exchange seemed to suck the air from the room. He didn’t know if it was safe for the girls to roam their own property. As fond as I was of Flynn, I couldn’t help but think disparagingly of his decision to unleash darkness into our community.
“If you wait for a few minutes, your papa will take you out to the barn,” Mrs. Barnes said. “First, we need to talk to Viktor alone. Go upstairs and read for a bit.”
“Yes, Mama.” A slight frown turned down the corners of Delphia’s mouth, but she knew better than to contradict.
After the girls left, I finished my piece of toast but it tasted suddenly of wood chips. The reality of our conundrum was still with us, even though Flynn had made it through the night. Usually, if I thought about a problem long enough, I could figure a way out, but not this one. None of us were equipped to do anything about ruthless criminals. Not even our Sheriff Lancaster, who as far as I could tell was worthless.
“The sheriff’s been informed of what happened,” Lord Barnes said, as if he knew my thoughts. “He said he’d look into this, but we all know that’s not true.”
“Parents cannot be afraid to let their children play outside or in their very own barns,” Mrs. Barnes said.
“What do we do?” I asked.
“We could burn the distillery down,” Lord Barnes said. “Without it, the problems go away.” He didn’t sound at all sure that was true.
I wasn’t either. “What about the inventory that would burn with it?” I asked. “Would that anger them further?”
“I’ve no idea.” Lord Barnes pushed away his breakfast plate. “This is why we don’t let mobsters into our town.”
“Couldn’t we ask them to take whatever they want and leave us be?” Mrs. Barnes asked.
“They want to be the distributors,” Lord Barnes said. “That might be more important to them than the stock already made. However, it would be logical to assume they would take whatever inventory was available.”
“The equipment too,” I said. “I’m assuming there’s equipment?”
“I know nothing of making gin, but one would assume so.” Lord Barnes looked toward the windows that lined one wall of the dining room. “The distillery has to be shut down. That’s all there is to it. If I could get past my anger at Flynn, I might be able to think straight.”
