“The Chief Architect wants to talk to me. In half an hour at her house.”
“Have you been there before?”
“No, the first time I’ve even seen her was at the podium during the funeral.”
“So, with traffic, you need to go now.” The roll-ups disappear and the paper plate crumples as Daniel claps his hands. “Can I come with?”
“Sure.”
“Really?”
The surprise on Daniel’s face is a guilty pleasure that Ellie enjoys a little too much. Very little catches Daniel off guard. Or if something does, he rarely shows it. She half wishes Daniel had been drinking something. The spit take would have been epic.
“Yeah, she says to bring you along if you ask without me prompting you.”
She shows him the note. The disdain is obvious on Daniel’s face.
“Why is ‘big lunk’ in scare quotes?”
Ellie sighs. The big lunk can be so predictable.
CHAPTER 6
Ellie knocks, and the front door opens. The Chief Architect is shorter than Ellie expected. After seeing her on the platform eulogizing Mom, Ellie expected someone taller. Maybe watching Daniel fold himself into and unfold himself out of the driver’s seat of his ramshackle subcompact has warped her sense of scale.
“Ellie.” The Chief Architect offers her hand. “My condolences about your mother.”
“Thank you, Chief Architect.” Ellie shakes her hand.
“Oh, please. Call me Mary.”
Daniel steps out from behind Ellie. The Chief Architect’s gaze grows wide, and she takes an involuntary half step back. He leans in and offers his hand.
“Hi, I’m—”
“Oh, I know who you are, Daniel.” The Chief Architect’s hand is swallowed in his. “Your reputation precedes you.”
She knows him well enough to call him “Daniel” rather than “Dan” or, even worse, “Danny.” He can be rather particular about some things.
“You have a reputation?” Ellie looks up at him. “For what?”
At first, Daniel looks befuddled and shrugs. Not that this means anything. Befuddled is his go-to facial expression. Maybe it’s a resting expression, but he seems to do it a lot, especially around people he doesn’t know. If he’s trying to play dumb, though, he’s pretty bad at it. His insatiable urge to be helpful inevitably kicks in. Elliequestions whether anyone truly believes Daniel is as dumb as the expression on his face misleads you into thinking.
“Why is ‘big lunk’ in scare quotes?” Daniel crosses his arms over his chest.
The Chief Architect rolls her eyes as she ushers them through the door. Both Ellie and Daniel stop, expecting to take off their shoes. The Chief Architect, oblivious, strides past them into the family room.
Ellie and Daniel exchange glances. Ellie freezes for a moment. When her host blithely tromps through her own house with shoes on, Ellie’s never sure whether taking shoes off before entering is rude or not. Maybe taking shoes off is Just Not Done or maybe her host just doesn’t care.
Ellie slips off her flats. It’d feel weird otherwise. Daniel, of course, has already taken off his black, light hikers. Not even looking good for Aunt Vera can separate him from all-terrain footwear. He simply stands there waiting for her with serene patience.
The tight pile carpet that covers the family room floor is an “I hide dirt well” brown. Scratches and dents mar the coffee table and the arms of the sofa. A particularly rambunctious kid must have lived here. Either that or a tornado made of tiny knives. A rusty railing with cracked white paint divides the family room from the kitchen. The refrigerator and stove are both avocado green and tinged with stains that have survived decades of scrubbing.
The Chief Architect opens a door next to the kitchen counter. A set of stairs descends into the dark. She flips a light switch just inside the stairwell and enters the basement. Ellie and Daniel exchange another glance before they follow.
The Chief Architect still hasn’t said a word about why they’re here.
Ellie gasps at the bottom of the stairs. It feels like they’ve stepped into another universe, but they haven’t. She would have noticed.Tasteful chairs and tables ring the room along with the occasional cabinet and chest of drawers. All of it is on the impeccably executed side of Scandinavian Modern. Crafted with clean lines and natural materials, they are the furniture equivalent of the multi-hundred-dollar T-shirt. The tornado has obviously never made it here. If the workroom of an architect isn’t another world, though, it’s the next closest thing and that makes it all the more unexpected.
