As softly as she could, Mrs. Cotswald carefully took each step down, but no matter how gently she stepped, the iron would sound her approach like a gallows bell. Before she could make it to the third step from the top landing the trapdoor sprang open. Both the two women emerging, as well as the curious visitor shrieked in woeful surprise.
“Mrs. Cotswald?” Clara asked as Christa peeked past her bottom to see.
“What a surprise!” Christa remarked. “To what do we owe this tremendous pleasure?”
“I was waiting for Dean Patterson and thought to explore a bit,” replied Mrs. Cotswald, smiling.
“You shouldn’t explore around here,” Christa warned. “The wet cold and the eroded old stairs are dangerous if you don’t know your way.” She finally stepped onto the ground floor landing and smiled at Mrs. Cotswald. “You could catch your death here.”
Wishful thinking, you devious bitch, Mrs. Cotswald thought as she read the deceit in Christa Smith’s eyes.
“Ah, there you are!” Dean Patterson cried as he jogged closer, soaked and trying to catch his breath.
“Darling! What on earth did you do to get so wet? You’ll get sick,” Christa moaned, removing her cardigan to drape it protectively over his shoulders.
“I was just checking on my mother,” he panted.
Christa uttered an insensitive scoff, “You shouldn’t be such a mama’s boy, Daniel. She’s made it this far in life; she doesn’t need protection.”
“No, it’s not that. She was with a stranger,” he smiled cordially, “who turned out to be the great David Purdue! Can you fathom? Lovely having such a famous explorer and an old friend of St. Vincent’s visiting us at the same time.”
“Why is Mr. Purdue gracing us with his presence?” Christa asked.
Removing his glasses to dry them, Dean Patterson smiled as he said, “Oh, he is here to surprise Dr. Gould.”
Clara stiffened, but Christa’s hand found hers surreptitiously and squeezed it.
Chapter 26
Mrs. Patterson waited with Purdue, but they decided to go and look for Nina when it started to loom towards the evening darkening of the sky.
“Wonder where that darling child is? Usually she naps around 4 p.m. and I bring her dinner around 6 p.m. almost every day. This is the first time that she’s been this late,” Mrs. Patterson told Purdue. He didn’t like it one bit, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions too soon.
“Maybe she’s finishing up some marking or making copies, or whatever it is lecturers do at smaller institutions,” he speculated. But in his gut he could feel that something was wrong. After Lieutenant Campbell shared with him that the Order was on Nina’s trail because of her blood work, he half expected her to be the target of some abductor sooner than later.
Purdue had tried umpteen times to reach her by cell and by e-mail without success. This he’d expected, what with their shaky relationship and her need for space. But when Sam had told him not even he had access to her, Purdue knew that the ailing historian was hell-bent on disappearing. But now he at least knew why she was being so distant, though it wasn’t much of a consolation.
“Should we go and look for her, perhaps?” Mrs. Patterson asked Purdue out of the blue. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t like this one bit. The poor woman is sick as a dog, smokes herself to death, and is a creature of habit. Who knows where she could be?”
“I concur, Mrs. Patterson,” he said firmly. “You seem to have a gut for trouble, as do I.”
She chuckled as she opened up her brolly. “My boy, if you only knew my aptitude for smelling trouble, you would make me your bodyguard. Come. We’ll start at the archive room where she works when she’s not teaching.”
With Purdue’s lanky body bent to share Mrs. Patterson’s umbrella, they traversed the beautiful garden through the threatening weather to see what was keeping Nina at this hour. When they arrived at the plummeting stairwell the trapdoor was open, as it always had been.
“She works down there?” Purdue asked.
“Yes, my dear,” Mrs. Patterson said.
“Odd,” he replied. “She’s terrified of small spaces.” He dipped his head under the ceiling as he came down the stairs. Somewhere in his Nazi-weakened trust Purdue was wondering if the nice old lady was leading him into a trap, only to have the trapdoor slammed behind him. But his paranoia was unfounded. She was right on his heel, calling for Dr. Gould into the pitch darkness.
“Wait, Mr. Purdue,” she whispered. “There is a light switch here.”
A click disappointed their expectations, but ignited their concerns. “Why are we looking for Nina in a dark room, Mrs. Patterson? It’s not like she would be sitting in the dark, would she?”
“No, that would be stupid of us. I just thought that she could be lying on the floor, passed out or something. That lady is very ill, you know,” the elderly woman told Purdue. “Nosebleeds and headaches, nausea and fainting spells plague her daily. It’s conceivable that she could be lying in the dark.”
“I see,” he said, fumbling for his tablet. Part of the device contained a sharp LED light.
“What’s going on here?” Christa asked from above them. “You will break your necks down there in the dark. The lightning blew the wiring on this grid.”
“We’re looking for Dr. Gould,” Purdue explained, patiently returning up the steps behind the Dean’s mother. He had no idea that he was leaving Nina behind in her slow acting coffin, unable to scream from behind centuries of thick stone.
“Nina went to see her specialist in Wolverhampton for tests,” Christa informed them with a splendidly played nonchalance. “She took the short break of the public holiday to get her treatment done. Apparently the poor thing has been really under the weather.”
“Oh, damn,” Purdue sighed. “Would you know the name of her doctor there, Dr. Smith?”
“No, I’m afraid she didn’t say, Mr. Purdue. But I’m sure she should be back by next week. In the meanwhile, would you like to stay for dinner?” Christa invited pleasantly.
“I would rather just get on to Wolverhampton, thank you Dr. Smith,” Purdue gave her a cordial nod and smiled.
“No, you won’t,” she insisted. “There is no way the Patterson’s will allow a guest to drive in this hellish storm. Absolutely not. And you can stay for the two days until she returns.”
“That is awfully kind,” Purdue replied. “I would hate to impose. And I am unannounced too.”
“Rubbish,” she said, and gave Purdue a wink. “After all, we’re already preparing a dinner for Mrs. Cotswald too, so you will not be imposing at all. We have more than enough.”
Mrs. Patterson watched her daughter-in-law pretend to be a human. It was chilling to see. But she was not about to embarrass her son by calling out his callous wife again. Not tonight.
In the main building’s cozy ballroom, the dinner table was decked out and the guests the residents gathered with wine and eclectic cuisine. Mrs. Patterson took her place next to Purdue, while Mrs. Cotswald sat across from them along the dining table. Their hosts sat at the heads of the table, and Mrs. Clara Rutherford was seated at Christa’s right.
Christa smiled as her husband chatted as he poured the drinks, keeping her eyes on the interesting field of play before her. One by one she surveyed them.
Look at them, all gathered at my table. Three widows, Christa thought. The billionaire genius who donates towards Daniel’s beloved academy, oblivious to the betrayal of his own medical staff who sent the woman he loves straight into the claws of the Black Sun organization to be used as an incubator.