Death in Castle Dark, page 10
Eventually they stopped jumping, and I sensed that they were tired. I checked to see that they had food in their bowl, that they had in fact found the litter box. I hunted out the basket in which Jade had delivered the kittens and tucked them inside for a rest. To my surprise, the plan worked, and they began to groom one another’s ears lazily, a sure precursor to a nap.
Flopping on the bed, I lay back, looked up at the ceiling, and took some deep breaths. It had been an eventful day, and it wasn’t even dinnertime. I closed my eyes.
My phone rang beside me, jarring me. The ceiling appeared again, and I fumbled for my cell. The caller ID read: Melanie Blake. My mother. Instantly I felt that something was wrong.
I swiped on the phone. “Mom?”
“Hi, sweetheart! How are things going in your new job?”
“What’s going on? I can tell from your tone that you have bad news.”
“Not bad, just—unexpected and a little scary.”
“What is it?” I had bunched up the comforter in my free hand, and I squeezed it hard.
“Lukey had a stomachache, and we took him to emergency.”
“Oh, no. What did they say?”
“He has appendicitis. They’re prepping him for surgery.”
“Oh, God.” My little brother. An image of Luke, two years old and sitting all fat and happy in my lap wearing pajamas with bears on them and eating Teddy Grahams, flashed through my mind. “Is he going to be okay?”
“Now, don’t panic, hon. They said it was good that we caught it now and everything should be fine. Luke said to tell you not to panic.”
I wiped away a tear but laughed at the same time. “Except he didn’t say ‘panic,’ right?”
“No. He said, ‘Tell Nora not to be a spaz.’ ”
“Well, I am freaking out just a little. When is the surgery?”
“Within the hour. I’ll keep you updated.”
“How long will it take?”
“Between one and two hours, the doctor said. He’ll be fine.” Her last words seemed to be a way of managing her own anxiety along with mine.
“Okay, well—please check in with me. Is Jay okay?”
“He’s hanging in there. You know how they are. Connected at the hip. He’s been pacing and talking a lot, but claiming that he’s not worried.”
“That’s Jay.” I took a calming breath. “Did you tell Gen?”
“Yes. She was ready to fly in from New York! I told her to stay put and we’d keep her updated. She can FaceTime with Luke once he’s feeling better. So can you.”
“Yeah, okay. And Dad’s all right?”
“Yes. He’s been keeping busy. Filling out some forms right now. I should get back and see if the nurse has any updates.”
“Okay—thanks for calling, Mom. Please let me know—”
“The minute we know anything. I promise, sweetie.” My mother’s voice was comforting, despite what must have been her own worry. This had always been the dynamic: she calmed the rest of us down.
“Good, okay. I’ll talk to you soon.”
We ended the call. Now I felt nervous, unmoored, aimless. I paced around my room for a while, then checked on the Brontës, who were sleeping in a pile of soft fur and sweet pink-padded paws.
I walked across to Connie’s room and knocked on her door, but she wasn’t there. Restless, I moved down the hall. I passed Renata’s room and found her door open. She sat on a chair near her window, looking out at the view with a sad expression. Her body was admirably still while mine jangled with nerves. I must have made a noise, because she turned and spotted me. “Hello, Nora.”
I stopped walking. “Hi. Sorry to bother you. I’m just pacing the hall. Burning up some nervous energy.”
She stood and glided to the door. “You are nervous?”
“Oh—sort of. I just found out—my little brother is in surgery.”
“Oh, I am sorry.” She looked it, too; her brows came together in a compassionate frown. “Come in for a cup of tea.”
“No. No, thanks. I think the trick right now is to walk the halls like a castle ghost. Get that energy out.”
She nodded. “Perhaps that is a good idea. Wait just a moment.” She went back into her room and disappeared from view; I saw that the layout of her room was slightly different from mine. It had no elevated platform, but instead a little hallway to the left of the living area that led to spaces unknown. She returned a moment later, holding something in her hand. “Did I tell you that I was once in Macbeth?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. A gender-blind production.”
She nodded. “Yes, that, too. I was Macduff in that one, if you can believe it. That was a college production. But I’m referring to a later production, in a Chicago theater. I played Lady Macbeth.”
“Oh, wow! What a great part.”
“Yes.” She brushed some of her silky hair behind her shoulder. I realized this was the first time I had seen her with it down, but even so she retained her aura of formality. “I was quite nervous on opening night, as you can imagine. It’s a challenging role. I feared I would forget my lines, or miss a cue, or burst into tears.”
“I know that feeling.”
“My castmate, the woman who played Lady MacDuff, gave me a beautiful pep talk and managed to calm me down. I cannot explain how soothing it was—it almost felt as though she had hypnotized the fear right out of me. And that first performance was perhaps my best.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“But here is why I tell that story. She gave me a talisman. She said it had been hers, but that it was meant to be passed on when people needed it. I wore it on my gown that night and every night.”
She held up a glittering brooch in the shape of a crown—probably just a piece of costume jewelry, but lovely nonetheless. It glinted in the light of her overhead lamp. “I pass it on to you now, Nora. It will comfort you, and you can wear it for your next performance here in the castle.”
“Renata—that is too generous. This is tied to your memories. It has personal meaning—”
“But as my friend Kate said when she gave it to me—it was meant to be passed on. That’s the beauty of it. It blesses the recipient and absolves the giver.”
She pressed it into my palm and I looked down at a glittering diadem, about two inches tall and filled with what looked like cubic zirconia stones of crystal and ruby. “It’s beautiful. Thank you. It is such a thoughtful gesture.”
She smiled at me. “I am certain your brother will be fine. This exchange of goodwill has helped to ensure it, or so goes the legend of the talisman, correct? That it protects from harm.”
“I don’t know any legend, but thank you. I really appreciate it. I feel like I should give you something.”
I was briefly distracted by some trees that bowed in the wind outside her window, in the bright space behind her. When I looked back at her, she was smiling, but her eyes were rather sad. “You already gave me a gift, Nora. I heard you sing today. You cannot know what that song meant to me.”
“Oh! Well, I’m glad.”
She nodded, a gesture both quiet and wise. “Enjoy your walk.”
“Thank you, Renata.”
I turned and continued down the hall. I heard her door close softly behind me; I took care to tuck the brooch deep into my pocket so that I wouldn’t lose it in some shadowy castle hallway.
At dinnertime we got a group text from Derek:
Pizza in the kitchen, a serve-yourself affair that you can take back to your room if you wish. There will be a short meeting in the great hall at eight; Detective Dashiell will be briefing us on a few things.
Normally I would have found this very intriguing, but my worry over Luke eclipsed my curiosity about whatever Detective Dashiell was going to reveal.
Connie had reappeared in her room by dinner, and we walked down together, chatting quietly while we put pizza on our plates and grabbed soft drinks from the big refrigerator.
“I don’t feel like taking this up all those stairs,” Connie told me. “Let’s just eat in the dining room and we can clean up our crumbs. I don’t think Zana is even here right now.”
“Didn’t Derek include her in that text about the meeting?”
Connie shrugged. “But he has to know she has a life outside this place. She’s got a husband and a child. She can’t just be here all the time.”
“And yet she has a bedroom here, right?”
Connie led the way into the dining room and flopped into a chair at the big table. “I guess. I don’t know exactly what the arrangements are.”
I poked at my pizza. “My brother is in the hospital. In surgery.”
She dove forward to take my hand. “Oh, no! What for? One of the twins who came here?”
“Yes, Luke. The one with the longer hair.”
“Why does he need—”
“Appendicitis.”
“Well.” She studied my face. “That will be okay, Nora. It’s a standard operation. My dad had it, and he was laughing and joking the same day.”
“I know. I know. I just hate being so far away.”
Her eyes squinted with commiseration. “I get that.”
We grew quiet as Tim and Elspeth showed up with their own plates and then, to my surprise, Paul and Detective Dashiell.
Paul sat beside me, and Dashiell sat down next to Connie, a seat almost directly across from me. “Good evening, everyone,” he said, but he was looking at me.
We all murmured a greeting, and I glanced at my phone. No texts.
It must have looked rude, because Connie rushed to explain. “Nora’s expecting an important call,” she said.
“Nora,” Paul said, “Derek told me that you are the one I heard singing. That was fantastic! Your voice filled the castle.”
“Oh—thank you,” I said. “Tim suggested it as a way of de-stressing.”
Tim waved to me from down the table. “And did it work?”
“It did, for quite a while. Then new stressors appeared.” I sent him a halfhearted smile.
“What stress—,” Dashiell began, but Zana appeared in the doorway with Jade Balfour and a dark-haired girl that I assumed was Zana’s daughter.
“Hey, everyone,” Zana said. “I think you all know Jade, right? And my daughter, Eriza?”
We all nodded and waved, even though I had not in fact met Eriza. She was a petite girl with short hair and large eyes; she looked a bit like an anime cartoon.
Zana put an arm around each girl. “These two are dropping me off for the meeting; do you care if I grab them some pizza?”
“Not at all,” Elspeth said, sliding one of the pizzas to the edge of the table. “It looks like Derek ordered for an army.”
Zana thanked us and lifted the box Elspeth pointed out, presumably to take it in the kitchen and pack some for the teens. She was about to say something when Renata and Bethany entered, talking in low voices. They looked up, and both of their faces registered surprise.
“Wow—a full house,” Bethany said. “I thought it was grab and go.”
“We didn’t want to take two flights of stairs with our food when we could just eat it here,” Connie said. “I’ll help clean up, Zana.”
Zana waved that away, still clutching the pizza box. “No problem. It’s good for you all to be together right now. Talk out some of your anxieties.”
Connie looked at me, which made all heads turn toward my direction. I stared down at my plate. Bethany said, “You know what’s weird? When Tyler was driving me here tonight, the castle looked amazing. I’ve never seen it look more beautiful—all stark and dignified against that glorious sunset. Did you all see it?”
“We’ve been cooped up in here,” Tim said, looking moody.
“I saw it,” Zana said. “And you’re right. The girls commented on it.”
“I said it looked like a Disney cartoon,” Jade said, meeting the eyes of the adults with her unusual teen confidence. I realized that her description was the highest honor she thought she could bestow, and Eriza nodded, looking impressed, as though Jade had uttered poetry.
“Anyway, I like to think it’s because of Garrett. Some kind of cosmic tribute to him,” Bethany said with a dreamy expression.
I stole a glance at Detective Dashiell, who obviously thought that was utter nonsense but was pretending to be thinking about it, like everyone else at the table. He caught me looking at him, and my smile suggested that I could read his mind.
His brows went up, and my phone buzzed. I jumped, tense and wired, and then swiped on the screen. I put the phone to my ear with a slightly trembling hand and said, “Hello?”
“Hey, Spaz.” It was Luke’s voice, quieter but still utterly disdainful. Relief flowed through my veins.
“Luke? Oh, God. Hang on. Let me go in the hall.”
I rose hastily from the table and went into the cool hallway to speak to my brother in private. Derek was just arriving, and he waved at me as he went into the kitchen. Then I was alone.
“Luke? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, considering they sucked one of my organs out of my body.”
“But, I mean—your prognosis—”
“Yes, I’m fine. Mom told me to call you so you didn’t cry all night and stuff.”
“Well, that was good of you,” I said, my older-sister-wryness back in place, “because I know you must have so much to do right now.”
“I do have an adult coloring book and a stuffed animal fox for some reason and a balloon that says ‘Get well.’ Those are supposed to help me pass the time. I was hoping I could play video games, but Mom said no.”
“Good. You need to relax, not kill things in some virtual world.”
“That is relaxing,” he protested.
“Is Jay there?”
“Yeah. And he keeps trying to make me laugh on purpose. He’s actually trying to murder me or make my wound gush open.”
“Do you want me to talk to him?”
“Nah.” His voice was indulgent, amused. “It’s pretty funny.”
“You two,” I said. “When will they let you go home?”
“Tomorrow afternoon, they said. I have young, springy skin that is already adapting to the cavity within.”
“Are you on drugs?”
“Yeah, some kind of painkiller. It’s pretty nice.”
“Did you talk to Gen?”
“No, I have to call her next.” He sounded suddenly tired.
“Do you want me to call her?”
“Would you, Nor? I think I might take a nap, even though I’m afraid Jay might steal my drugs or harvest my other organs,” he said softly.
“Tell Mom to make Jay leave.”
“No, he’s okay.”
“You’re tired. Luke? I love you.”
“I know. I love you, too,” he said, half embarrassed.
“Go to sleep. I’m glad you’re fine and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Nora.”
I ended the call, then pressed speed dial for my sister, Gen. “Nora?” her voice said, urgent as mine had been. “Is Luke okay?”
“Yeah, I just talked to him. He was going to call you except he started falling asleep during our chat. He sounds good, though.”
“Was he being sarcastic?”
“Incredibly.”
“I guess he’ll survive, then.” There was a pause, and I pictured her pretty face, her chin-length reddish blond hair swinging silkily as she moved around her room.
“Were you as scared as I was?” I asked softly.
“God, yes. And feeling so cut off up here.”
“Yeah. You in New York, and me in this weird castle in the woods that feels like it’s in the Renaissance.”
She laughed. “I really want to visit that castle. I’m thinking I might take some time off in fall, come to stay for a while, if your boss will let me. Maybe I’ll buy a ticket to be one of the detectives.”
“That would be fun. Listen, Gen—there’s something you should know.”
“Yeah?”
“One of our actors was murdered yesterday.”
“What?”
“Yeah. The police are here, and we’re shut down until they find out what happened.”
“That’s terrible! Are you okay? Do Mom and Dad know?”
“I’m okay. And no, I didn’t tell them. I don’t want them to freak out. And I’m hoping they won’t see something on the news. . . .”
“Nora, do you feel safe there? Do you need to quit?” My older sister’s voice took on the no-nonsense quality that it tended to have when she was bossing me.
“I don’t think I need to quit. I really like the job so far. The police will figure out what happened, and we’ll move on. Most of us are thinking that someone came in from outside; Derek will have to improve his security. I mean, there must have been someone out there with a grudge. You don’t just stab or shoot someone randomly.”
“That’s horrifying, though.”
“I know. Anyway, I have to go. I was in the middle of dinner.”
“Yeah? Like a sit-down dinner with candelabras and stuff?” She sounded a bit starstruck.
“No, like pizza in the dining room. But it is a great setting for eating pizza or anything else.”
“Take care. Find a buddy to walk around with, and lock your door.”
“I will. Love you, Gen.”
We said our goodbyes and I returned to the dining room, where Connie was asking the group if anyone was going to see Garrett’s girlfriend. “I have a picture of the two of them that I’d like to return to her. This great shot in front of a waterfall.”
No one responded, so Connie shrugged. “I guess I’ll give it to her at the funeral.” She looked at Derek. “Do we know when that will be?”
