Neds walked over to the couch, Right Ned throwing me a startled look. He obviously felt as out of place as I did here on top of the world.
“Miss Case?” Oscar Gray said.
“Yes?” I moved away from the window.
“You could rest your weapon here, if you’d like.” He pointed to the coffee table in the middle of the couches and chairs. His eyes were the twinkly kind that made one think he laughed a lot.
“Thank you.” I did just that and sat on the couch across from Neds. Oscar Gray took the chair with his back to the windows.
“I would like to apologize for my manner of invitation,” he said.
“What invitation?” I asked.
“Abraham. I sent him, rather abruptly I’m afraid, to get ahead of other forces zeroing in on you. It is certainly not an official way of conducting business, but time was of the essence. I hoped he would convince you and your father to come and meet with me so we could speak in person. Perhaps your father had second thoughts and stayed behind?”
“My father is dead,” I said.
“Ah,” he said. “I’m sorry for your loss. We had thought he was with you.”
“Abraham said his enemies are looking for him,” I said. “Do you know who those enemies are?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Abraham strolled into the room. Behind him was a short, brisk woman in a gray turtleneck and slacks, her black hair slicked back into a severe bun. She carried a tray with thin, beautiful glasses of iced tea and a platter of perfectly round butter-brown cookies.
Her curious eyes missed nothing.
“Thank you, Elwa,” Oscar said as he took a glass of tea and a cookie. He slurped the top inch or so off the tea and then popped an entire cookie in his mouth.
Elwa carried the tray over to Neds and finally me.
I took the remaining glass of tea but not a cookie. I was too worried to eat.
“You are safe,” Elwa said so quietly, I almost didn’t hear her.
I gave her a brief smile.
My safe was so far away from here.
Abraham moved over and stood behind Oscar, his hands folded loosely at his back in the stance of a man long used to standing guard. I wondered if that wound was bothering him.
“I would like to know who would want to hurt my father,” I said. “And I wonder if I might see the message my mother sent.”
“We can show you the message. Abraham, be sure that happens, please. As for your father’s enemies, it is a complicated answer,” Oscar said. “Do you know what kind of work your father used to do?”
Neds glanced at me. He didn’t like when I offered up my name to people. I knew he didn’t want me to tell a head of a House anything about my father’s past.
“He didn’t leave many records behind about it,” I said truthfully.
“He was claimed by House White—Medical.” Oscar took a drink of tea, thinking. “A brilliant man, your father. He had a degree in experimental physics, although he spent his career in Medical. It was a quiet career. Unremarkable in nearly every way. Until he quit and tradeddownfor House Green. Suddenly, his career was remarkable.”
“Remarkable?” I asked.
“No person of his status trades down, Matilda. No one. That”—he lifted his eyebrows—“made it a remarkable thing. A remarkable thing that drew notice.”
“Didn’t he serve out his contract with House White?” I asked.
“Yes, he served his time. But when a man who has the kind of information your father had and the mind your father had leaves to another House, it is a concern. Foremost to Kiana White of House White. She was not amused that one of her premier physicists jumped houses to go farming, then dropped out of sight for years. She was even less amused when rumor of his continued research—research that should have belonged to White—surfaced.”
