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Instead, he deleted the text.

On a whim, he opened the vacuum’s app and scrolled to the schedule screen. Tomorrow, nine a.m., all rooms.

He liked having Marvin in the house.

And besides, having Leo distracted would give him the opportunity to have another look at the basement.

By himself.

Chapter

Fifteen

Things were going exactly according to plan the next morning. Leo was standing guard in front of Marvin’s charging dock before the vacuum had even moved an inch.

Likely he’d been standing there all night.

Nate stopped in the sitting-room doorway with his coffee in one hand and a tape measure clipped to his belt. “Are you waiting for it to start attacking again?”

“I can’t just leave it unsupervised.”

“Very diligent of you.”

Leo ignored that remark.

Nate waited and sipped his coffee.

At nine precisely, Marvin chimed and rolled off his dock, ready to tackle his assigned tasks.

“No!” Leo tried to step in front of him.

Marvin rotated in place.

“I forbid it.”

The vacuum headed toward the dining room.

Leo swept after it. “You’re not allowed in there! Stay away from the china.”

A soft bump followed.

Leo’s outraged cry echoed through the ground floor.

Nate set his mug down and collected his flashlight from the kitchen counter.

This was his chance.

Did he feel vaguely guilty? Yes, but he did need those measurements, and it was better to do this while Leo was occupied.

Descending the stairs, he switched on his flashlight.

Nothing about the basement had changed in his absence; stone foundation, ancient furnace, exposed pipes. A burst bulb overhead that needed to be replaced.

Nate began at the base of the stairs and measured the room systematically, recording each wall in his notebook. The first two numbers were close to the floor plan he’d been given.

The third was not.

He measured it again.