I slept in late Saturday, and even lay in bed for an extra half hour, debating whether or not I should go down to the drugstore. Regardless of what Clive said, I did need some new comic books. Eventually, I decided that if I went at lunch time, there would be no chance of me running into the fellows, and I could feed the cats on my way back. Perfect.

  The selection of books at the store was pretty bad; they’d been picked over a good deal already, but I found one new one. I took the bus back, all the way to the mansion. Ms. Higley let me in to the kitchen, beaming.

  “Oh, my dear, can you believe it. What a wonderful day.”

  “Oh?”

  “Haven’t you spoken with your parents?”

  “No, they’ve been staying at the laboratory this week.”

  “But that’s just it! There’s been a tremendous breakthrough, just last evening! Such a fuss there was here, Mr. Left rung up just before midnight, and he didn’t come back until 5 this morning, poor dear. I’m just going to take his tea to him now. I imagine he’ll be wanting lunch shortly, too.”

  There was a gentle knock on the door of the kitchen. We looked up. Mr. Left pushed the door in, sheepishly. “Good morning, ladies.” He looked at the tray in Ms. Higley’s hands. “Jen, you’re a lifesaver. Mind if I take it in here?”

  “Not at all, sir. Please. It will be easier on my old bones.” She beamed at him.

  “Anything for you, Jen.” He settled into a seat, leaning back against the chair. “Feeding the cats, Tyler?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He looked at me, those bright green eyes suddenly awake. “Have your parents made it home yet?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve been out for a while.” I started to walk out of the kitchen.

  “You should congratulate them. They’ve done good work.”

  “That’s what Ms. Higley said.” I stopped, my hand on the door frame. “Mr. Left? What will they do now that your research has come to an end?”

  He frowned slightly, taking up his tea cup in one hand. “Well, there is still some follow-up work to be done. And of course, lab reports, documentation, the whole rigmarole.”

  “But is my dad going to be out of a job?” The words spilled out of me before I could stop them. My face felt like it was on fire, a feeling I was getting too familiar with these days. I stood there with my mouth open for a second, then hurried out of sight, down the hall, to find the cats. I took my time feeding them; I was in no rush to get back to that kitchen and I actually would have preferred to leave by the front door, except I would be more likely to run into Stenway that way.

  Slowly I made my way back to the kitchen. I stopped just outside the door, to listen.

  “Lucky break for us, wasn’t it.”

  “And so soon too, sir.”

  “A lot of things are going to be changing around here, Jen.”

  “And not just here, sir.”

  “That’s true enough.”

  “Quite, quite happy for you sir, if I may say so, sir.”

  Something made me look up, down the hall. Stenway stood just concealed in a shadow, arms folded. I jerked my chin up, glared at him, and stepped into the kitchen. “Cats are all fed, Ms. Higley. Will you be needing my help on Tuesday?”

  “Yes, please, if it’s not too much trouble, my dear. I think this week we’ll be having quite the party.”

  Mr. Left nodded boyishly. “You bet we will.” He tilted back his cup, finishing off his tea. He set it down, then looked up at me. “Miss Tyler, are you available Monday afternoon?”

  “I’ll be in to feed, I guess, and depending on how much homework I have, I can come around and help out Ms. Higley.” I nodded in her direction.

  He chuckled. “You mistake me. I’d like you to take tea with me. I have a few questions for you. How does Monday at four o’clock suit you?”

  “All right with me, I guess, sir. I mean, thank you for the invitation. I accept.” Formality was not my strongest suit, but Mr. Left grinned at me.

  “The pleasure is all mine, Miss Kelly.”

  I was curious as to what he could want to ask me. I imagined he was going to ask for some kind of favor, he was just going to word it better than Stenway would. And he ws going to feed me, which was a big plus.

  It had been really unnerving to look up and see Stenway standing there, staring at me. He was not going to be pleased with me the next time I ran into him. Which, hopefully, would be never, or at least after I did whatever Mr. Left was going to ask me to do.

  Monday I left a note for Donny under Peach’s desk, telling him of my invitation and updating him on the research breakthrough. The last bit probably wasn’t necessary, as the early Monday news editions picked up the story and took it all over the city. Mr. Left was “hailed as one of the most brilliant minds of the century” and the reporters were only just a little bit less appreciative of his research team.

  There was little to no technical information on the project, besides what you could pick up on from the association between the project and the college. Mom and Dad had spent the entire weekend in bed so I’d gotten nothing from them, either. I hoped that when I had tea with Mr. Left, I would find out a little bit more about it, plus whether or not Dad was still going to have a job. I didn’t really like tea, unless I put a lot of sugar in it. Hopefully drinking tea wasn’t going to be a very important part of this afternoon.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  It was dumping down rain when I got to the Left mansion. Thankful to be inside, I dropped my soaked jacket on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. I fed the cats quickly, then ran around to the front door, ducking up under the awning to get out of the rain. I knocked. Footsteps approached the door and it opened. Stenway stared down at me, looking through me. He ushered me inside, stepped inside his office, and rang up Mr. Left. A few quick sentences later, he leaned out of the door and motioned me to have a seat. Still, without saying a word to me, he stepped back inside his office, and closed the door. I grumbled a little bit, but honestly it was better this way; I didn’t want to talk to him either.

  “Ms. Kelly!” A bright voice rang down the hall. Mr. Left came towards me with his hand outstretched. “Welcome. Thank you for coming.” He smiled at me, his green eyes glinting, like we were sharing our own little secret. He walked me quickly down the hall, past the dining room on our right and the lounge on the left, all the way down to a door and a staircase. He smiled apologetically. “My personal study is on the second floor.”

  I nodded. The age and solemnity of the house seemed to soak into me; the wood paneling was dark, almost red, with the little bit of texture in the wood gleaming in the light, almost like there were lights inside of it. Mr. Left led me up an enclosed, spiral staircase, and we stepped off onto a little landing. The staircase continued on up out of sight; I figured that we were in the tower, now. Mr. Left opened a small set of double doors into the coziest little room I’d ever seen.

  He laughed, watching my face. “There’s even another door, for less important guests.” He opened his hand, gesturing to the room. “Have a seat, please. Ms. Higley will be up in a few minutes with tea.” He put his hand on my back and guided me to the seat opposite his streamlined leather one, behind his wide desk. “I wanted to speak to you on a business matter, but society tells us that small talk comes first.”

  “This is a beautiful room.”

  “Thank you. And you're doing a great job with the small talk.” He winked at me; it was like watching sun flash off of a gem.

  I gazed around. Two tall bookshelves stood behind him, to the right of these was the door that we came in through. Around the other door to the room, there were a set of busts, probably family members. To the left of the desk, along the perpendicular wall, was a long sideboard-like table, in front of a massive window. The heavy green curtains of the window were closed, except for a small gap that let a golden gleam of afternoon sun split the room in half.

  A knock at the door made me jump, and Mr. Left rose to answer it, smiling. He passed through the beam of sunlight and the sun shone on his black hair. “Ms. Higley. Thank you.” As he walked back through the room, the sunlight caught the silver on the tea tray and shot splinters of white sunlight across the room. I sighed, watching the lights dance.

  “Tea?” Mr. Left handed me a cup. “Sugar? And milk?”

  I snapped out of it, and accepted the cup from him, carefully setting it down on the table next to my chair so I could stir in the sugar. I tried not to clink my spoon against the cup but a few times I couldn’t help it.

  I looked around the room, again, this time trying to be aware of my surroundings from a more critical point of view. I wished desperately that somehow, one of the fellows had gotten this opportunity, instead of me. They would have known what to look for. As I stirred my tea, Donny’s advice came back to me, faintly. “Lookout for anything out of place, or oddly arranged. A statue in the middle of the floor, a bookcase by itself, a bell-pull with no bell, that kind of thing…”

  “How big is this house?” I turned to look back at Mr. Left and carefully took my cup and saucer in my hands.

  “The common core of the house is four stories tall, while each wing is only two. This tower, though, goes a good deal higher. It was something my…. My father built on when I was a kid.”

  I took a sip. “That’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this. I mean, except for when I come here. What are all the rooms for?”

  He smiled. “Mostly bedrooms and sitting rooms, especially the top two floors. We use it mostly for entertaining long-term guests. This room is part of the right wing of the house, where most of my personal life takes place.”

  “I just ask ‘cause I don’t know what I’d do with so many rooms.” I shook my head.

  “Frankly, I don’t know what to do with them either.” Mr. Left grinned. “But now, business.”

  “We’ve had enough small talk, sir?”

  He chuckled. “As you say.” He shuffled some papers on the desk, all of a sudden looking a little nervous. “I realize that this is very last minute to be asking for this favor, but I hope you’ll understand. There’s no need to feel obligated, either. You are very much our best option right now.”

  Our? I stared at the one loose tea leaf swirling in my teacup and waited.

  “You know, of course, that I host a big dinner party semi-regularly. Well, since there’s rather been a cause for celebration this weekend, understandably the party this week will be a little bigger.”

  “So you’re throwing a real party.”

  “Yes, in short. Ms. Higley and I… I was wondering if…”

  I watched him struggle for words. Odd. You don’t usually see adults at such a loss for words, and it was even stranger that it was Mr. Left, usually so put together and perfect. I waited.

  “We need a little extra help that evening, tomorrow, and I would like to hire you on as extra help for the night.” He held up his hands. “No offense.”

  “Why would I be offended?.” I rested my teacup down in my lap. It was mostly finished. “I’ll have to ask my parents but I don’t think they would mind.”

  “Oh, I am inviting them, seeing as how your father was such an instrumental part of this project. I assume that will make it a little easier for them to agree to this, too.” He smiled and suddenly the nervousness vanished and we were on the same team again.

  “I would be happy to. I’d never be able to see a party like this otherwise.”

  “I had a feeling you would think that way.” He chuckled. “My thanks. And Ms. Higley will be delighted. She can give you the particulars of your duties.”

  I set my teacup down in the tray, mind whirling. I had a lot to do between now and tomorrow afternoon. Quickly I made a list, in my head, coming only back to the present when I heard Mr. Left say Sydney’s name. “I’m sorry, sir, I was distracted. What about Sydney?”

  Mr. Left sank a little deeper into his chair and poured himself another cup, then lifted the pot towards me. “Another? No? I’m sorry for rushing on right away. You probably have a dozen questions, at least.” He cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. “I’m curious if anything happened between Sydney and Stenway. You see, well, don’t feel obligated to answer my question, if you feel it’s too personal." He twisted his cup back and forth in his hands. "I only ask because Stenway’s been acting odd lately. Nothing has really changed in the house, at least not for the worse. Did he and your sister have a falling out? I know they went on a date last weekend.”

  “Odd how?”

  “He’s very sullen. Rarely comes out of that study of his. He hasn’t joined us for tea at all. He seems extremely stressed. Oh, he does his job well enough, no complaints, but something is off. Like he had a fight, to be perfectly honest with you. I thought maybe.. your sister…?”

  “They had a wonderful time, as far as I know. Sydney sang a lot the next day.”

  Mr. Left chuckled. “Perhaps the trouble lies elsewhere, then. He was strangely opposed to the idea of me hiring you on as extra waitstaff, so I thought maybe there was a tie to your household. Maybe he's mad at you." He chuckled. "Otherwise I would not have mentioned it. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable here.”

  The idea of lying to a potential mind-reader made me cold inside, but what could I do. “I can’t think of anything. I saw him at the park on Saturday. He did seem a little preoccupied then, I think.”

  “Interesting. Well, thank you for your help. In all its forms.” He pushed his chair back, and I stood. “Out through the main door, or back down the stairs?”

  “Oh, the stairs, please sir.”

  He laughed and opened the small double doors that led out to the staircase. “Follow me, please.”