So I did hear him right the first time.
“Did Mr. Edgewood say this?” I ask, stopping him with a raised hand. “Someone’s justdecidedthis? That I’m going to move into the Edgewood Manor?”
Mr. Castle gives me a truly perplexed look. “Where else would you go? You were living in your car when I found you. But now, you won’t have to. Mr. Edgewood wants you to be safe.”
Safe. The word rolls around my head. I don’t feel particularly safe right now, with a strange man demanding I move into his house, no questions allowed. I know nothing about him, and I’ve never even met him!
Everything about working here has been strange, but this takes the cake.
“You don’t have a home,” Mr. Castle says in a much quieter voice than before. He comes down the steps to stand before me in a way that reminds me distinctly of my father before we stopped speaking. “And Mr. Edgewood is offering you one, no costs, no strings attached. I dare say…” He lowers his volume even further. “He has taken a liking to you, and was very upset to learn that you’ve been sleeping in the woods because you have no other choice. Mr. Edgewood has a sympathetic heart and means no ill will.” He straightens again and adjusts his collar. “I live here, as well, in the east wing. You will be in the west wing, far separate, with your own living space that neither of us will encroach upon.”
I think this over. It is rather appealing when he presents it that way—that I’ll have a whole half of the manor to myself. But can I really trust Mr. Edgewood not to come into my bedroom in the middle of the night?
He did give me that cash advance, and now he wants to give me housing. I’d thought he was just an arrogant prick who considered himself above me, but I think instead there is something amiss with him, and not in a bad way. He’s just odd, and perhaps shy. To a concerning degree.
But I don’t think he’ll try to hurt me.
“I will install a new lock on your door and give you both of the keys,” Mr. Castle says, as if he knows the very thoughts passing through my mind. “But I promise you that Mr. Edgewood will not venture out of the east wing. You will never see him, just as you have not until now.”
“That’s almost more worrisome,” I say, twisting my hands together. “The fact that he hides, it makes me wonder all sorts of things.”
Mr. Castle’s lips harden in a thin line. “His story is his to tell,” he says. “Do you accept? Or are you going to go back to living in your car as fall turns to winter?”
I grit my teeth. He’s right. This really is the best option I have, as crazy as it seems.
Finally, I give in. I open the car door and grab my pillow and purse first.
“Fine,” I say. “Tell Mr. Edgewood thank you for me.” Mr. Castle nods. But before he can go, I add, “But he’s going to have to meet me sometime. It’s just too weird. I want to know what he’s hiding before I can actually feelsafehere.”
He bows his head in understanding before helping me gather my things.
Mr. Castle carries a blanket under one arm, my duffel bag in his other hand as we reach the middle of the second floor in the west wing.
“Here,” he says, nodding to the door. “I set it up for you this morning.”
“Wait, what?” I drop my things to the floor. “What do you mean, this morning? You only found me this morning.”
He shakes his head. “Mr. Edgewood is the one who found you.”
“Are there cameras?” I ask.
But he doesn’t elaborate as I push open the door.
This is one of the rooms I just finished cleaning, but now there are new, white curtains hanging from the windows, and a fresh duvet with bright sheets on the bed in the bedroom.
“Thank you,” I say as he deposits my belongings on the closest table. “You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted you to feel welcome.” Mr. Castle offers a tentative smile. “Mr. Edgewood may be difficult at times, but I assure you that he means well. I have known him for many years, and he is a good man who only wants the best for you.”
Hmm. I don’t know how I feel about that. The last time a manwanted what was bestfor me, I quit my job and threw away years of my life as his prisoner.
“Thank you.” I stand up straight. “But I should probably get to work now.”
Mr. Castle gives me a searching look, then nods and steps out, leaving me alone.
Once I have my few meager clothes tucked away in a dresser drawer and my book sitting on the nightstand, I grab my vacuum and get started on the day.
I thought things would be different working in the manor now that I theoretically live here, but this sprawling building is just as mysterious to me today as it was yesterday. Why does one man need all this?
