“We’ll stop for tonight,” I said tenderly, “but we’ll start looking again first thing tomorrow morning.”
“You promise?” she asked meekly, her ears falling flat against her head.
“Of course, I promise.” I scratched gently at her tiny forehead to reassure her. “Are you okay spending the night inside our room with us?”
Her ears lifted, but she still appeared to be on high alert, ready to run off at any moment.“I think so. You promise not to eat me, right?”
I laughed.“Yes, I promise that too.”
“And he won’t either?” she asked, turning to look up at Charles with sudden suspicion.
“Neither of us eat cats,” I assured her very firmly. “You’re safe with us.”
As we headed back toward the house, the lights finally flickered on.
“About time,” Charles remarked as he concealed Charlene in his large hands.
I glanced up at the house and saw a dark figure backlit in one of the bedroom windows upstairs. It looked like it could be ours, but surely I just had my wires crossed. I wasn’t the best with directions, even when I had a GPS to help me. And from my count, there were at least eight bedrooms on the second story, which meant the figure was more than likely occupying one that wasn’t ours.
Still, the eerie sight sent a chill straight through me. I glanced toward Charles, but he just kept striding swiftly ahead, completely unaware.
When I looked up at the window again, the figure had vanished, leaving me to wonder if my mind was simply playing tricks on me.
“Careful,” Charles warned, his eyes staring straight down as he held the door open for me. “There’s mud everywhere.”
Sure enough, fresh, wet mud had been tromped across the downstairs. It was too messy to discern clear footprints, but that was clearly the source.
I sucked air in through my teeth.“Oh, Madame Blue is not going to be happy about that.”
“Well, just as long as she doesn’t blame us,” Charles grumbled.
I made extra sure to avoid the filthy rug at the base of the stairs so there would be no question that another guest was responsible for the mess.
But suddenly I found myself feeling a bit guilty about keeping a secret pet on the premises. Madame Blue had been very clear about the rules, and she obviously had a lot to worry about, given her constant grumblings. I didn’t want to contribute to her problems, but the lost kitten needed help and I refused to turn my back on that.
I guess it wouldn’t be a problem as long as we didn’t get caught… At least that’s what I told myself as we tucked in for the night.
8
“AAAAAAAAH!” a rough scream jolted me from sleep the next morning.
The kitten beside me jumped at least two feet straight into the air and hissed as I grabbed my robe from the love seat near the non-functioning fireplace and ran out into the hall to see what had happened.
“Is everything okay?” I asked a confused-looking Blaire, who hadn’t bothered to cover up before stepping into the hall. She rubbed at her eyes and then pointed to the narrow staircase where my husband crouched midway down the steps. No, he wasn’t crouched. He’dfallen partway through. Splintered wood shot up in jagged spikes all around him. I couldn’t see his face, but I assumed he wore an expression of great pain.
“Charles!” I shouted, rushing forward to the edge of the broken staircase. “What happened?”
He grunted and attempted to turn toward me, but shifting his weight caused him to fall a few inches farther into the hole. He let out a long groan before saying,“I was going to surprise you. With biscuits and gravy for breakfast at sunrise,” he murmured with the back of his head facing me.
“We have to get you out of there!” I shouted, spinning around in search of someone other than Blaire, who clearly didn’t have the strength—or the inclination—to assist us. “Billy? Madame Blue? Can someone please help?”
“Now what’s all this fuss about so early in the morning?” the man from the tourist couple asked, pulling open his bedroom door and breezing down the hallway in our direction.
“My husband!” I cried, pointing frantically. “He fell through the stairs and needs help getting out!”
He turned to look and actually had the audacity to chuckle.“You’re right. That’s quite the pickle he’s gotten himself into.” He raised his voice to call to Charles. “Hold your horses, son. I’ll grab Bill and be right down to help you out.”
“This is not how I wanted to start my day.” The man’s wife appeared wearing another Hawaiian shirt and khakis get-up along with a look of consternation. “Nothing like this ever happened during our other stays.”
I bit my tongue to avoid saying something I’d regret.
“So cringe,” Blaire said with a laugh before returning to her room. She reappeared a few seconds later holding her phone out before her. “I know just the sound to use with this video, too,” she said, leaving no doubt that she was turning my husband’s misfortune into a TikTok meme.
“Charles, are you hurt?” I called, choosing to ignore the other guests and focus on what was really important here. “Should I call 9-1-1?”
“More startled than anything,” he answered with a sharp grunt. “Knocked the wind right out of me, but nothing’s broken.”
“Well, let’s get you out first, then we can see if we need to visit a doctor.” My anxiety had gotten so bad, I wanted to curl into a ball on the floor and start crying—but Charles needed me to be strong, so that’s what I tried to do.
“Shoot, what a mess!” Billy said, arriving on the scene with a worn leather tool belt clinched around his waist. “You’re going to have to pay for this to be fixed, and it won’t be cheap.”
“Can you please just get him out of there?” I begged rather than fighting against his ridiculous claim. Right now, he was our best bet for getting Charles back on solid ground.
“We’re on it,” the tourist man said, appearing at the bottom of the stairs beside Billy. I hadn’t spotted a second staircase, but clearly they’d gotten down there somehow, and now they set straight to work on their mission.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Bill and his helper worked to free Charles. For a while I was worried that they’d fall into the hole with him, that the whole house would crumble around us, but eventually they managed to pull him free.
As soon as he was out, I ran down the hall until I found the second set of stairs and bolted down them. When I returned to the base of the broken staircase across the house, I hugged Charles tight.“You had me so worried.”
“Angie, I’m fine. Just a couple of Tylenol and a hot bath, and I’ll be right as rain.” He pulled out of my hug to study me with a piteous expression. “We missed the sunrise, though. And breakfast.”
“I’ll order some delivery. Let’s just get you taken care of first.” I slung an arm around his waist in case he needed the extra support while walking. “Come on, there’s a second staircase over this way.”
“Not so fast, honey,” the tourist woman called from above. “I personally don’t feel safe with you two staying on the second floor. What if your oaf of a husband breaks the other stairway? Then we’ll all be stuck up here for who knows how long? And, well, it makes much more sense to move the two of you than to have to move us and that other young woman with the crazy hair. Don’t you think so, Madame Blue?”
“Better safe than sorry, I suppose,” the elderly caretaker shouted back with a scowl, then dropped her voice to grumble to herself. “But either way, the historical society is not going to take kindly to this mishap.”
She turned toward me and Charles with a frown.“We do have a room on the first floor. Billy, will you unlock it and help them move their belongings down?”
The tourist woman stood with arms crossed and an enormous smirk on her face.“Thank you for taking such good care of us. And if it’s not too much trouble, once you’ve had a chance to clean out the grand suite, could Fred and I move in? We were originally supposed to have that room anyway, so it works out great for everyone.”