“She loved orange and has been showing me a book with a dog on the cover. Also, she’s insistent about the treacle. She has been trying to make contact for days. I just wasn’t sure why. I understand now, as she was gifted as we are.” He pointed from himself to Leo and then to Ellen.
“You too?” Gray rasped; his throat was thick as he stared at Leo.
“He denies it, but yes,” Ellen said. “It is a lot to take in.”
“I don’t deny it. I’m just not like you two.” Leo glared at his siblings.
“You keep telling yourself that,” Ellen said, which had her brother’s teeth snapping together.
Gray looked at Bram, who was smiling.
“Not me, unfortunately. Apparently, after some research into our family, it comes down from an uncle who everyone thought was eccentric. He and his three sisters were gifted. All have unfortunately passed now. But I found a diary in my family’s attic. It talked about what they could do, and I wondered with this lot after living with them for a while. There was definitely something going on, so I asked and found out that I have very talented nieces and nephews.”
He didn’t know what to say about that.
“We will talk more later,” Alex said to him. “Just you and me. There are a few of your relatives who would like to chat to you.”
Nodding was the best Gray could manage. When the door burst open and in galloped Chester, he thought the madness was complete.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
Ellen was seated between her brothers at the table and across from the detective, who now was called Gray by her family. He’d been uncomfortable when they’d first sat down to eat, after she and Leo had argued over her leaving the house. Then Fred had spoken about what Alex could do, and he’d looked ready to flee.
But he’d relaxed as the three youngest Nightingales charmed him. She’d even heard him laugh at something Matilda said.
“He’s a cold fish, and I don’t want you wandering off with him again,” Leo whispered in her ear. Of course, Alex leaned in, so he was listening too. “And I speak only from a place of love and concern, Ellen.”
“Which warms my cold heart. But he is a detective, and one I doubt knows how to break the rules. He is rigid and proper and the complete opposite of us… well, when we’re at home, that is. I was safe with him, Leo, which you would understand if you’d calmed down enough to rationally think about it.”
Alex snorted. “Leo? Rational?”
“You can talk, you’re entirely irrational,” Leo muttered. “And it’s because I worry about you that I may seem to behave irrationally.”
“I know that, but you are being silly in this instance,” Ellen added.
Leo exhaled. “All right, I’ll concede if I must. That he is likely not a bad man.”
“Who told you he wasn’t? As clearly you’ve been digging up information about him?”
“Plummy.”
“What did he say?”
“That our Detective Fletcher is highly respected. He’s thorough and kind. He always has time to speak to anyone who wants his ear.”
“That must have chafed on you, brother, seeing as you want to dislike him,” Alex said.
“Shut up. What if those people, the Nicholsons, had known who you were and ridiculed you for your change in circumstance, Ellen?” Leo said.
“Then I would have coped, as you have taught me to. Now, one day, Leo, some woman will probably have you, and I will need to live on my wits alone, as you will not be at my side every second,” Ellen said with a large dose of sarcasm. “So stop fussing.”
“I’m not fussing, and I will never marry,” Leo vowed.
Ellen did not comment on that, as she felt the same. Instead, she talked about what she’d seen earlier to her uncle.
“I had two visions while at the Nicholsons, Uncle Bram. One of George and his sister arguing, both were upset, and the second was of a man. He was…” How did she explain he was naked?
“She saw his back view,” Gray added.
