I sighed. “They need my bedroom for filming.”
The folly was the one cool thing the ninth baron had built. It was an Italianate tower on the eastern side of Buckford Hall, rising two floors above the rest of the house. It had been my father’s study. It was, in fact, a bit of a bachelor pad. Over three floors, it had all the essentials—a bed, a library, a kettle, and an oak desk with a genuine secret drawer. The top floor was a belvedere with a spectacular view. “Has anyone seen Bramley?”
The kitchen lights flickered and stuttered again.
“Why don’t you move into the Dower House with me? Think of the fun we could have! We could stay up all night playing whist, charades, Scrabble?—”
“I think you’ve answered your own question, Mother dearest.”
“Dungeons and Dragons, then? We never did finish our last campaign?—”
“Bramley!”
Mum reached across to muss my hair. “Golly, I must have been such a terrible mother.”
I shrugged her off.
“It’s vital everything goes smoothly,” I said, and caught myself glancing over at the stack of mail, trying not to imagine the vast sums of money the letter said I needed to find and the consequences if I didn’t. “We need this show to be a success. If I’m living on-site, I can make sure everything’s working exactly as it should. No clogged plumbing, dicky electrics, or falling masonry.”
Mum wasn’t giving up. “Why not move into the old servants’ quarters instead? You’d have a lot more space.”
“They need it for filming. The cast who are playing servants will be living in it.Bramley!”
I knew why Mum didn’t want me moving into the folly. It had been my father’s lair, and we’d left it untouched these past three years. For my mother, I think it was a kind of memorial.For me, there simply hadn’t been much reason to go in there. It stirred up too many emotions I didn’t want to feel. But now, needs must.
“You bellowed, my lord.” Bramley stood in the kitchen doorway, covered in cobwebs and dust.
“Good God, man, have you been wrestling the ghosts?”
“I’ve been in the cellar, my lord. I fear the television equipment might be overloading the circuitry.”
As he spoke, the lights flickered off, then on, then off again—which was how they stayed. This was not good news.
“Oh dear,” Mum said.
I stood, my breakfast apparently over. “Well, at least you can stop worrying about the cameras, Aunty Karma.”
Bramley cleared his throat. “Shall I get the electrician up from the village, my lord?”
“Why are you soobsessedwith calling the local tradesmen?” I muttered, heading for the cellar and certain electrocution. “Are you on commission or something?”
Chapter 3
Petey
The DJ at Hades, London’s iconic gay nightclub, had the bass cranked so high my sphincter was pulsing in time with the subwoofers. The boys and I were up the far end of the ground floor bar—the quietest part of the venue we could find that was wheelchair accessible for Nick. Hades was not my favourite venue. The glasses were plastic, the drinks were mostly ice, and the crowd always looked like they’d somehow given their babysitter the slip. But it was my last Saturday night in London for a month, and the Brent Boys—Jumaane, Dav, Nick, Sunny, Ludo, and Stav—had organised an impromptu leaving party. I looked at my watch. It was gone half one. Jumaane was buying another round of drinks. I thought about everything I had to do later that day and suddenly felt incredibly tired. I was catching the 3:00 p.m. train up to Leicester, but I had Sunday lunch with my family to get through first. Jumaane passed around our drinks, and when we all had something in our hands, he raised his cup of vodka and soda into the air.
“Congratulations to our incredibly talented friend. You are living your dream, and we are allsoproud of you!”
“Absolutely!” Ludo said, lifting his plastic flute of champagne.
“Chuffed for you, mate,” Stav added, raising his red wine.
“Well done, pal,” Nick said.
I felt a warm glow and for a moment I thought I might cry, but it would have ruined my tough-as-Mrs-Thatcher-in-a-tank image, so I raised my glass instead.
“Cheers, fam!” I said, and everyone clinked their unclinkable drinking vessels together.
