Heathcliff’s foot came down on my boot. “What are you staring at?”
“Morrie. Something’s up with him.”
Heathcliff peered at our friend as he and Lydia switched places. As he skipped past her, he pinched her bum. She squealed in delight and chased after Morrie to get him back, causing two dancers to lose their time and crash into each other. “True. He’s a bigger wanker than usual.”
“That’s not it.” I squinted at Morrie as he came around to do the twirl and swap again. His eyes fell on mine. He plastered his usual sublime grin on his face, but too late – I’d seen the darkness lurking there. “I mean, you’re right. He’s been a massive wanker lately, but I think something else is going on. There was that weird letter he got the other day, and some things he’s said and done.”
Like the way he ran away from me after that threesome—
At the thought of that night – of being sandwiched between Morrie and Quoth while they did delicious things to my body, of surrendering my senses to dwell in the dark places beneath their hands and lips – a delicious shiver ran through my body.By Aphrodite, not now. I’m trying to figure out Morrie, not relive one of the hottest moments of my entire life so that I become a puddle of mush on the ballroom floor—
“From MENSA,” Heathcliff cut into my memories.
“What?”
“I saw the envelope in the rubbish bin,” Heathcliff shrugged. “It was from some organization called MENSA. I assumed Morrie was blackmailing them.”
MENSA?I wasn’t surprised that Morrie was a member. He liked people to know exactly how clever he was. But Iwassurprised that he kept the letter secret. Morrie wouldn’t waste a moment telling everyone in Argleton that he’d been accepted into MENSA.So then why did he hide the letter? And what does it have to do with the weird way he’d been acting?
“What if he took an IQ test, and hefailed.” My mind whirred. Yes, it could explain why Morrie was so snappy, especially when one of us implied he didn’t have the answer to something. “Maybe he’s worried he’s not as clever as he thinks he is, and he’s taking it out on us?”
“But this weirdness started well before that letter arrived,” Heathcliff pointed out.
“True. Do you think he—”
“Do you want a drink?” Heathcliff growled in my ear.
“Hell yes.”
He gripped my hand and dragged me off the dance floor. Cynthia yelled after us to come back and dance in the next set, but my shins hurt so much I no longer cared. Heathcliff tugged me into the Uppercross antechamber, now empty of people, unless you counted the two staff members clearing away the discarded napkins and cocktail sticks. Heathcliff steadied himself against the gilded fireplace and jammed his hands down the front of his breeches. A moment later, he produced a silver flask, popped the cork, and offered it to me.
“I’m not drinking that. It’s been against your testicles.”
“Suit yourself.” Heathcliff knocked back a shot. “There’s barely any room to hide booze in these ridiculous clothes. Give me a greatcoat and some proper trousers and I could mix you a right posh cocktail.”
“By the end ofWuthering Heightsyou were quite the gentleman,” I teased him. “You’d have worn clothes like this all the time.”
“Luckily I got out before my life became so dire.” Heathcliff took another sip. I paused, wondering if I should ask him about his odd moment earlier, but then he said, “I’ve been thinking about your letter.”
“You have?” Instinctively, my hand flew to my chest, where my father’s letter pinched between my breasts. Between all the costumes and warring academics and running around after Lydia, I’d barely thought about it or the fight with my mother all day. At that moment, it all came rushing back to me – that I was at Baddesley Hall dressed in this ridiculous outfit and forcing Heathcliff through the ordeal of a Regency ball because I was desperate to avoid the subject.
I still hadn’t told Heathcliff, Morrie, or my mother about the fireworks and what Dr. Clements had said. I hadn’t even tried to research the letter beyond Morrie’s examination of the paper. I’d been so distracted by balls and bonnets that I hadn’t given any more thought to my father and the time-travelling room and Victoria’s comment about me being covered in blood. For someone who’d faced down three murderers, I sure was running away from a hell of a lot.
Examining my behavior from the outside, I made about as much sense to myself as Morrie did right now. All my life I’d wanted to know who my father was. The only thing holding me back from hunting him down in earnest was knowing how much it would hurt my mother and how disappointed I’d be that I’d find a criminal.
But if my fatherwasHerman Strepel, the time-traveling bookseller, and whatever disguise he’d presented for my mother had been designed to help hide him from the nameless enemy, then the next move was obvious to me – Ihadto find him.
Heathcliff snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Now it was you who went off somewhere.”
“Yes, sorry. You were saying?”
“Your father and Mr. Simson both spoke about you being in danger. Victoria also said your father purchased occult volumes from her. Mr. Simson acquired a large occult book collection in the shop. It stands to reason that they knew each other.”
“You’re right.” I hadn’t made that connection. Another coincidence that couldn’t possibly be a coincidence at all. I patted Heathcliff’s arm. “That’s very wise.Toowise for someone as ungentlemanly as you. Did you and Morrie somehow swap bodies in the time-travel bedroom? It would explain why you’re being all clever and he’s being a mega grump.”
“Iamclever,” Heathcliff growled.
“Yes, but your cleverness is hidden behind your surly and arseholeish exterior.”
