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I recognized Jonathan’s voice. He grunted and huffed for a bit, and then called out, “If anyone’s in there, it’s safe for ye to come out. I’ve got hold of him.”
Tentatively, I reached forward and pulled the door open. Oscar barked with happiness and dragged me outside.
Jonathan stood in the hallway, holding back an enormous, excitable dog with a black and white coat who was frantically trying to break away to lick me to death. Oscar stayed with me, as he was trained to do, but I could tell from the way that he pulled on the harness that he wanted to meet his new friend.
“I’m sorry, love.” Jonathan grappled with the dog’s lead. “This is Fergus. He usually stays in the staff quarters while I’m on duty, but he escaped while my back was turned. I bet he frightened ye something terrible!”
“A little bit.” I smiled at the dog as he slobbered excitedly all over Jonathan’s hand. He was at least twice the size of Oscar and made purely of muscle, with an enormous head and a mouth filled with sharp teeth, but up close it was clear Fergus was a giant teddy bear. I realized that the bangs and thumps I’d heard were Fergus throwing himself against the wooden door to try and get inside. “I think he wanted to make friends with Oscar.”
“Aye. He’s an Irish wolfhound, great to have with me while I’m working on the estate. Fergus and I’ve been together since he was a wee pup.” Jonathan patted Angus’ head affectionately. “He didn’t mean to do that to the door – he always wants to be in the room where I am, and he probably smelled your Oscar and wanted to play. He thinks that if he throws himself against the door, he’ll be able to break it down and get inside.”
“I think he may be right,” I laughed. “And it’s fine. I’m familiar with this behavior. I’ll often hear Oscar’s paws scrabbling at a locked door if he thinks I’m somewhere having fun without him.”
We brought the dogs together and let them sniff and lick each other. Fergus was so happy to make a new friend that he wound his lead around Jonathan’s legs and nearly tripped him up.
Jonathan untangled himself. “I’ll best be getting Fergus back to his room and locking him in with a pig’s ear for the night. If Donna catches him in here where the guests are, we’ll both be out on our arses, won’t we, boy?”
“Woof!” Fergus declared.
“Arf,” Oscar agreed.
“If Oscar wants some exercise while you’re here, you’re welcome to walk with me and Fergus on our morning rounds,” Jonathan said. “Or, I’m happy to walk him for you while you’re at the retreat. There’s plenty on the grounds for him to enjoy.”
“I may just take you up on that.” I touched my hair, which thankfully had survived my terrifying bathroom encounter. “I’d better get back out there. The famous Hugh has arrived.”
“Aye, that he has. Holding court out there like he’s God’s gift,” Jonathan muttered.
“You’re not the biggest Hugh Briston fan?” I asked.
“Aye, but that’s only an old codger talking. Never you mind me,” Jonathan patted Fergus’ head. “Hugh’s been coming to the castle for years to hold his retreats. The Bollsteads adored him, but he’s got no respect for the history of this place. This castle and the grounds are so beautiful. They’ve been my home for my entire life, and I don’t like to see people take advantage of them. You’re a sweet girl, Mina. Watch yourself around Hugh, that’s all I have to say about that.”
Jonathan started dragging an excited Fergus down the hallway. As I followed them back toward the music room, Heathcliff, Morrie, and a freshly showered and dressed Quoth raced around the corner, nearly skidding into us.
“What happened?” Heathcliff demanded, waving his phone about. “This infernal device sent me an SOS message.”
“We thought Charlie might have come back to get his revenge.” Morrie’s words were casual, but his voice trembled with panic.
I laughed. “Thank you all for coming to my rescue. Oscar and I were trapped in the bathroom by Fergus here, but it turns out that he just wanted some new friends.”
“Oooh, he does want some friends, doesn’t he?” Heathcliff dropped to his knee to rub Fergus’ ears. The dog whined with happiness and nuzzled into Heathcliff, who was getting dog hair all over his suit but didn’t care.
My heart did that flip-flop thing it does whenever grumpy, growly Heathcliff went all gooey over an animal. We all had to take turns petting Fergus before Jonathan hurried him away. Morrie had to grab Heathcliff’s arm to stop him from going after Fergus.
“Not so fast, big guy. You’re needed here. Mina’s got to get back out there and speak to Hugh, and judging by the level of crazy we’ve already seen tonight, she needs protection.”
“She doesn’t need protection. She just needs to stop being cornered by crazy writers and adorable doggos so she can work up the courage to walk up to the guy and introduce herself—”
“Um, guys,” Quoth piped up, his voice nervous. “Mina might get her chance sooner than you think. Hugh Briston’s walking down the hallway toward us now.”
I whirled around, and could just make out a dark figure striding purposefully down the long, narrow hallway toward the restrooms. I immediately flattened myself against the wall.
“I can’t harass him on the way to the bathroom!”
“We’re completely blocking his path,” Morrie pointed out. “Not saying anything is even weirder. Go.”
Morrie gave me a gentle shove toward the hallway, and Oscar trotted off in that direction.I guess I’m doing this.
As I got nearer to Hugh, I could make out a few details about him. I’d had Quoth describe his picture to me before we came, so I knew he had dark hair that he had cut short and neat, and a small goatee. He wore a dark suit that looked well-tailored from the silhouette. He wasn’t quite as tall as Morrie or as broad as Heathcliff, but he was definitely imposing. We’d have to squash to get past each other.
