“And watch for wee on the floor,” Christian added from the doorway, now dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. “Have you seen Viktor?”
No one answered.
Christian leaned against the doorjamb. “I’m eager to get back in there and question the little shite.”
“Hey, you got a minute?” I heard my father say.
I got up and approached the door. It wasn’t until I peered into the hall that I realized he wasn’t talking to me.
Crush had his hands in his pockets and looked like a man who had wandered into the women’s lingerie section of the store by accident. “I heard what you did for my boy. I just wanted to let you know I appreciate it.”
Christian flashed me a sideways glance before folding his arms. “Maybe you should feed that fleabag and he wouldn’t go around chewing on people.”
“You saved his life.”
Christian rubbed the back of his neck. “I tripped over him. He got in the way of things.”
Only that wasn’t how it all went down. I had replayed that moment in my head a few times. Christian had used his entire body to shield that dog from a fatal blow when he could have chosen to attack Lenore and take his chances. That was a split-second decision, and usually those decisions came from the heart.
Crush gave him a stony look, the one I’d seen a million times when I told him a lie. “Yeah. Uh-huh. All the same,” he said, clapping Christian’s shoulder. “You get a point in the old man’s book.”
“Does that bring me out of the negative?” Christian quipped.
Crush ambled back to the stairwell. “Not yet.”
I stood next to Christian and said, “He’s not supposed to be down here.”
“You can’t control that man any more than he can control you.”
As soon as Crush reach the end of the hall and turned, we heard a sharp whistle. Harley bounded by, huffing and hacking out a cough before he disappeared out of sight. We listened to the sound of his toenails clicking against the stone floor and my father singing “Born to be Wild.”
“Jaysus wept,” Christian muttered.
I leaned into him. “Thatwasa nice thing you did. I thought you were about to tackle Lenore. That might have been your one big chance of subduing her.”
Christian put his arm around me, and we strolled down the inner hall. Despite the hall’s lack of windows, light had a way of reflecting from distant halls and bouncing off the stone. “Your da would have never forgiven me for not saving his dog, and he’s the only way to your heart. If I have to choose between you and Lenore, I’ll always choose you.”
“I want to be there when you question Ronald.”
“So long as Viktor agrees. Poor Kira. The lass is downstairs mopping my blood off the dining room floor.”
“I guess Harley didn’t appreciate you saving his life?”
Christian grumbled while he reached in his pocket and pulled out a butterscotch. After popping the candy in his mouth, he tucked the wrapper back in his pocket. “I hear Viktor downstairs. Let’s catch him before he runs off.”
When we located Viktor, he was returning from the east wing.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, noticing the way he scratched the back of his head like a confused man.
He pulled up the sleeves of his cotton shirt. “Our secret passageway. You do not think it would be easy to find?”
Christian and I shared a look. We’d wiped Viktor’s memory of Lenore being here, and it dawned on us that Lenore knew all about that passageway because it was how she’d escaped.
“I think it’s worth sealing off for good,” Christian said, his hand on the stone newel. “Secret escapes are an archaic tradition, but if you wish to have one, we can always contract private workers. Perhaps something similar to what Lenore had with the hatch that lifts up. We could route it to a different room or even the courtyard. Connecting a tunnel to the garage seems unnecessary.”
Viktor nodded. “Perhaps another day.”
I took my phone out of my pocket and sent a text message. “I’ll tell Wyatt to make sure the alarm system is activated in the garage. He has something that’s triggered by movement. His cameras have night vision, and don’t ask me how I found that out.” After hitting Send, I put the phone back in my pocket. “So… where’s Ronald?”
