enough to know that her SIG-Sauer and her shield were in there. She had to keep them with her at all times. If she left them unattended somewhere, anywhere, they could be stolen. Mitch remained amazed that he’d gotten mixed up with a woman who was always armed.
“Sorry about this,” he said to her as they climbed. “I know you want to be out there, making sure people are safe. And instead you’re trapped in this castle with a family of feuding crazy people.”
“No big. It reminds me of Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Georgia Mae’s. The only difference with this bunch is that nobody’s throwing punches. Not yet, anyway.”
“Still, it’s my fault that you’re stuck here.”
“Mitch, I’m glad I came. And way glad I met Ada. She’s special. But you’re right, I do feel like I ought to be out there.”
“Same here. I’m worried about Mrs. Enman and Tootie and Rut. They all live alone. They could freeze to death and nobody would know.”
“I just spoke to First Selectman Paffin. The Center School emergency shelter will be up and running by midnight. We have a plan in place for dealing with the elderly. I’ll make sure your three are on the watch list. The fire department can get them to the shelter if they have to.”
“Thanks. I’d hate for anything to happen to them.”
“It won’t. I promise.”
“Did you reach Bella?”
“Our phone’s out, and she refuses to get a cell. I’ll keep trying her.”
“I put down plenty of food for the cats. They’ll be okay by themselves, right?”
“They’ll make you pay for being somewhere else, but they’ll be fine.”
“I wish I felt as confident about my houses out there. All I keep thinking about is trees crashing down, roofs caving in, pipes freezing. I’m responsible for that whole island.”
“Mitch, you’re not responsible for the weather. Besides, Big Sister has withstood a lot of pounding over the years. Compared to a hurricane, this is nothing.”
The darkened second-floor hallway felt genuinely spooky as they started their way along it with their lanterns, the carpeted floorboards creaking softly underfoot. Those old photos of the celebrated long-dead looming there on the walls certainly didn’t help.
“I am starting to get definite vibes from The Shining,” Mitch had to confess. “If I see a pair of identical twin girls standing together at the end of the hallway, I’m spending the night out in my truck.” In fact, all he could make out was a glass-paned door reflecting their lantern lights back at them. “Where does that go?”
“To the tower, and please don’t tell me you want to go up there.”
“Not even a chance.”
“Could you believe Ada wanted to go outside with me?”
“Des, she flew a plane solo when she was sixteen. That’s who she is. If she ever changed, she’d shrivel up and die.”
Their room was the third door on the right. Mitch unlocked it and set his lantern on the mantel, gazing around. It was cozy and charming, with a huge old oak bedstead. Des took her lantern into the bathroom and deposited their gift-shop loot in there. The room was already plenty cold, so Mitch immediately got busy building a fire.
“I wonder what they use for kindling around here,” he muttered, pawing through the wood basket in vain.
Someone tapped on their door. It was Jase, wearing a hiker’s headlamp over his knit cap so that both hands were free to hold canvas carriers of firewood. He looked like a miner standing out there in the darkened hallway.
“Just the man I wanted to see,” said Mitch, as the squatly built caretaker dumped more logs in their wood basket. “I can’t find any kindling.”
“We don’t use it here. Too much of a fire hazard. Here…” Jase reached a rough hand into the pocket of his wool overshirt and gave Mitch a sealed plastic packet of something called Firestarter 2. Inside, there was a shapeless blob that distinctly resembled earwax. “Don’t open it. Just light the whole packet.”
“What’s this stuff made out of?”
“Man, you don’t want to know. You folks need any extra blankets?”
“You won’t hear me saying no,” Des answered sweetly.
Jase went and opened a vacant room and came back with two heavy wool ones. Des thanked him and got busy piling them onto the bed. Outside, another tree gave way under the weight of the ice and crashed to the ground.
“Will you and Jory be okay tonight?” Mitch asked Jase, who’d retreated back out into the hall.
“Shoot, yeah. Got us a couple of kerosene space heaters out in the cottage. We’ll be fine. Have yourselves a good night.”
“Back at you, Jase,” Mitch said, closing the door after him. “He’s a nice guy. I couldn’t believe Carly called him a monkey right to his face.”
“She called him a what?”
“What’s that woman’s problem anyway?”
“Aaron brought his mistress here for the weekend. She’s totally bugging.”
“Are we talking about Hannah?”
“We are.”
“So that explains the evil eye Carly was giving her during dinner.” Mitch set the packet of Firestarter 2 under the logs he’d stacked in the fireplace and lit a match to it. The waxy blob flamed blue, much like a can of Sterno. Actually, it smelled a lot like Sterno. Whatever it was, it worked-the logs caught quickly and began to crackle. Mitch sat back on his ample haunches and watched them. “Carly’s a lot more crush-worthy, if you ask me.”
“She’s also a lot older than Aaron,” Des said from the bathroom, where she was already brushing her teeth. She got ready for bed faster than any woman he’d ever known.
“Really? How much older?”
“Sorry. Girls never tell on each other.”
“Why is that?”
“Because we have to trust one another. We sure can’t put any faith in our husbands.”
“Hey, I resent that. It so happens I was a husband once.”
“My bad. But that woman has taken just about all she can handle, Mitch. Aaron’s a total raw dog.”
“He’s a mess is what he is,” Mitch said, piling two more logs onto the fire. “A classic case of the Pip Syndrome.”
“The wha-a-a…?” She was gargling with mineral water now.
“His dad was a real dynamic person, sounds like. And we know his grandmother is. So he’s always carried around this weight of great expectations. Aaron is desperate to prove to everyone, particularly Ada, that he matters. But, believe me, when he looks in the mirror he doesn’t see a man who matters. He sees an overweight geek who couldn’t get a date to the prom. I feel sorry for him, actually. That is not a happy camper.”
“Your toothbrush awaits you, m’lord,” Des informed him, padding back barefoot from the bathroom in one of their Astrid’s Castle nightshirts, her trousers thrown over one arm.
Mitch gaped at her as she moved around the room. He couldn’t help it. The merest glimpse at the way that flannel was clinging to her incomparable booty was enough to send his engine racing right into the red zone. His mouth went dry, his palms tingled. A vein began to throb in his forehead. “Tell me,” he croaked, “why did you drop your napkin on the floor?”
“I was checking to see if Aaron and Hannah were playing footsie under the table,” she replied, draping her trousers neatly over the desk chair.
“And were they?”
“They weren’t.”
“Interesting. You don’t suppose Carly’s imagining this whole thing, do you? Because Hannah hardly seems like… Freeze frame, was someone else playing footsie?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.” Des pulled back the covers on the bed and dived in, shivering and whooping. “God, it is freeeezing in here!”
