“It is now,” Leslie said. “But surely you didn’t walk here fromtown?”
“No. This nice man gave me a ride— Don’t worry, Dad,geez. I’m notdumb. Trib knows him, and he just got back from the Amazon jungle. He even climbed a mountain inTibet. He says he knows you too,” she added, looking at Cherry, whose cheeks were suddenly turning becomingly pink. “And that your niece lives here, and he thought maybe you might all need somehelp.”
“I hope that’s all right,” said a deep voice as a tall, lanky figure stepped around into the doorway. He was wiry and tanned, with short-cropped white hair—and Leslie was pretty sure her aunt just about had an orgasm rightthere.
“Well, if it isn’t William Reckless,” Cherry said, rising casually from her seat. Her voice was low and throaty, but Leslie could hear the depths of emotion in it. “It’s been a longtime.”
“It certainly has,” he said, his eyes never leaving her as she stood there staring athim.
As if they were the only two in the room, perhaps even the world, Cherry moved toward him. He took her hand and, without a word, led her from theroom.
Everyone stared after them for a moment, partly in shock and partly in pure enjoyment. A moment later, they heard the sound of a car engine starting and a vehicle drivingaway.
Stephanie was the one to break the ice. “Well. That was…interesting.”
“It sure was. Anyway, everything is fine here, Steph. I guess I’d better get you home—since it appears your ride just left.” The regret in Declan’s voice was noticeable to Leslie, and she privately agreed with both the regret and the sentiment. They wouldn’t have any quality time alone until Helga, Joe Cap, and the rest of the authorities were gone, so he and Stephanie might as wellleave.
“Well, aren’t you coming?” Stephanie asked, pausing at the door. She was looking atLeslie.
She shook her head regretfully. “I should probably stay here until they’re finished—in case they need anything. Your dad can fill you in on whathappened.”
“Well, all right, then. Maybe Dad can come back later…and, uh, check on you,” she said, looking back and forth betweenthem.
“Well, it’s almost nine o’clock—it’s getting pretty late,” he said, looking sadly atLeslie.
“If you let me have a sleepover at Katie’s, then you can have a sleepover here,” Stephanie saidcheekily.
Declan’s face turned red. “I don’tthink—”
Leslie jumped in. “I think that’s a great idea—especially since my car, my purse, and my keys are still in town. Maybe you could come back later, Declan. And bring them tome.”
He smiled, the color receding from his face. “Sounds good to me.” He turned to Steph. “Ready?”
Once Stephanie and Declan were out of earshot, Orbra stood. “Well, I guess that leaves me and my old, dried-up parts to go home by myself and wait for my old man to get home. Should be sometime tonight. Maybe we’llallget lucky beforetomorrow.”
Epilogue
Leslie woketo the most delicious smell ever. Cinnamon, cardamom, honey…andman.
She opened her eyes to find Declan sliding onto the bed next to her, holding a small tray with a cup of what could only be a chai latte. Also on the tray was a small bouquet of the last few mums that decorated her porch in pots, and a piece of thick toast with a pot ofjam.
“What a wonderful breakfast,” she murmured, sitting up back against her pillow. “And the serving boy as well,” she added, her eyes skimming over his bare muscular chest and ridgedabs.
“So now I’ve been demoted from scout to serving boy?” he asked, leaning forward to kiss her gently before releasing the cup of tea into herhands.
“Apparently so. Maybe you better get back to work and try to get reinstated,” she joked. His eyes darkened with lustful speculation, and she laughed. “Maybe after breakfast, so I can get my energy back up. It’s been a rough fewdays.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He was still looking at her with heat in his eyes, but he eased back and reached for his own drink, which he’d set on the table next toher.
“So, I’ve been thinking about something John Fischer told me—about the fake windows they often put on the houses that were really there to hide liquor cabinets duringProhibition.”
“Right,” Declansaid.
“You know I never use the front door of the house, but last night when I brought Regina and Gilda in here, I took them through the front door. They didn’t know any better, of course, but I knew that was where Kristen might be…and I was definitely hoping for her help in resolving this haunted status. Anyway, since I never come in that way at night, I never noticed before how one of the windows isn’t lit up when the lights are on. Strange things you notice sometimes, you know, even in the midst of all that stress? But even though things were tense, I was starting to relax. Because I was pretty certain Kristen would be more than happy to make an appearance. So anyway, I noticed that one of the windows was dark…and it shouldn’t havebeen.”
Declan straightened. “Do you mean you think there might be a secret liquor cabinet in thefoyer?”
“Yes. See, they would put two windows next to each other—on the outside, anyway. But inside, there’d be only one actual window. The other window would be the backside of the liquor cabinet. There was probably a light that was on inside the cupboard, so from the outside it looked like both windows were lit up…but inside, there’s only one. No one would really notice that, especially if it were two windows together—inside you probably wouldn’t notice if it was more narrow than what you saw from theoutside.”
