by Keri Hudson
Abigail looked at them through the rearview mirror with a little smile, clearly impressed with Caleb’s skill with the boy, and with his outlook, perhaps a bit more expanded than her own. But he had experiences she couldn’t have had. He was a different breed, and she seemed to be picking up on that. He could only hope she wasn’t right.
CHAPTER FIVE
Caleb was on the riding mower, a John Deere that easily rolled along the expansive backyard lawn, willows and hemlock punctuating the landscaping. Beyond the property plateau, foothills rolled into the craggier and higher peaks to the east. Pines and cherry trees were thick in the woods, with all manner of life living around the house.
But Caleb’s mind was on his brother, and the ursine shifter who killed him. It had to be a shifter, by the sheer size of the thing. And no normal bear could have killed a lupine shifter, certainly not Carl Kahr. Caleb knew that some shifters did live out in the woods, especially ursines. Lupines were more communal, in the same way modern wolves were, and like the modern bears, ursine shifters were often loners, isolated. But Caleb’s research had indicated that was more typical of the west coast than the east. In the harsher weather of New England, an ursine shifter was more likely to be spending his human time among humans.
Caleb turned the mower and went for another pass across the huge yard.
Thinking it through further, it struck Caleb that Armstrong House was isolated; there wasn’t another house for a quarter mile in any direction. That must be why Carl came here, Caleb reasoned out, because there’s a shifter nearby, one the neighboring properties; has to be. And that shifter found him out and then took him out. Will he know I’m here? Will I have a chance to find him before he finds me? Will I wind up the hunter or the hunted, and what about Abigail and the rest, that poor kid? No wonder Carl fought that shifter under such a disadvantage; he didn’t have any choice.
Will I?
There was also a matter of how to kill it. Ursines were loners, but they were also bigger and stronger than lupine shifters; it was another reason Carl fell in the battle.
Will I?
Glancing at the house, Caleb spotted Abigail sitting with Daniel by a pair of French windows. She held an open book between them and was reading to him, but Daniel’s attention seemed fixed on the window, and on Caleb on the riding mower. Caleb offered a little wave and Daniel returned it from inside. Abigail looked over, spotting Caleb. She smiled at him, but turned to Daniel. Saying something Caleb could not hear, Daniel put his hand down and returned his attention to her book. She went on reading, and Caleb went on driving that mower up and down the yard.
But he couldn’t stop looking at Abigail, so lithe and lovely sitting with that bright-eyed little boy. It was sweetly easy to imagine her sitting with their own child, as his wife, in their own home, raising their own family.
But Caleb pushed it out of his mind. He knew what the odds were against any union between them, and there was too much to concentrate on dealing with the ursine out there, how to stop and kill it before it destroyed everybody in Armstrong House and then the house itself.
Once finished mowing, Caleb entered the living room, where Abigail was sitting reading with Daniel. By the cover of the big book, picturing a big brontosaurus and a fierce tyrannosaurus rex, Caleb knew what the contents were about.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Caleb said.
“Hi, Caleb,” Daniel said enthusiastically.
“Hi, Daniel, Abigail.”
She offered him a little nod. “Caleb.”
Caleb stepped toward them, the tension between him and Abigail palpable, electric in the air. He asked Daniel, “What’s your favorite dinosaur?”
Daniel rolled his big eyes, finger to his chin. “Um, I like the tyrannosaurus rex, but also the pterodactyl, ‘cause it can fly.”
“Yeah, that is cool,” Caleb said. “Y’know, there are flying tyrannosaurus rexes. Not historically, but… that’s basically what a dragon is, isn’t it? Like a big, flying T-rex… plus they can breathe fire. Now that’s cool.”
Daniel nodded, a smile wide on his face. He turned to Abigail to ask, “May I go to the bathroom?”
“Yes, Daniel, of course.” Daniel climbed down off the chair and walked away, but Abigail said, “Daniel?”
Daniel turned to Caleb. “‘Scuse me.”
Caleb nodded and smiled and the boy turned to walk across the living room to a nearby bathroom. Caleb turned back to Abigail. “You’re very good with him.”
Abigail’s eyes were on the bathroom door. “Poor kid’s got nothing; no friends, father’s always gone, mother died. I feel terrible for him.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Just about a year, since his mother passed away. I was studying child development at UCLA, I’d just graduated.”
“A job, right out of school. Nice.”
Abigail smiled. “Yeah, I… I got lucky.” She looked around the big, lonely house, and Caleb could tell she had some misgivings about being there, about the place itself. And with his own brother’s horrible death that very week, Caleb thought she had good cause.
Daniel came back into the room. Caleb said, “I should let you get back to your studies. I just came in for a glass of lemonade or something. Should get back to work.” Caleb offered Daniel a smile and a wink, a gentle hand on the back of his head before he turned to step into the kitchen.
Lulu was at the stove, chopping vegetables, stew pot bubbling.
“Lulu.”
“Mister Caleb,” she said, keeping her attention on the food. Caleb opened the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of lemonade. “I’ll get choo a glass, sir.”
“No, Lulu, don’t bother, I’ll do it. You just… see to what you’re doing.”
“Yes, suh.” Lulu kept chopping as Caleb poured himself a glass. He took a sip, tangy and sweet and cold. He put the pitcher back in the refrigerator and leaned back, picking up the glass.
“Are you all right, Lulu? You seem… nervous. It’s not me, is it?”
“You? Oh, no, suh, no, I… I’m fine, just… how yo’ brother died, I guess.”
“Just a bear,” Caleb said.
“I guess.” Lulu went on chopping, but she’d piqued Caleb’s attention.
“What else could it be, Lulu?”
“No, it… it must have been a bear, Mr. Caleb, that’s what it was.”
After a long and dubious silence, Caleb had to ask, “But…?”
Lulu looked around. “I dunno, even before the bear, I… this place, it’s… it’s haunted maybe, I think.”
“Haunted?”
Once released, her words came faster. “That’s right, haunted! I hear sounds at night, like animals, but… but not like any animals I ever seen.” Caleb knew just what she meant, but he didn’t dare say it. “I don’t know what it is, but maybe this house has a… a soul of its own, or else one of the Armstrongs from the past, or… I just can’t say, but… more an’ more, I don’t like it here, Mr. Caleb. I don’t like it here at all!”
Caleb shrugged. “Why don’t you leave?”
“I need the work! I been here ten years, where am I gonna go now?” She looked around the house, her eyes wide and her brows arched. “Anyway, it won’t let me leave.” Caleb glanced up at the ceiling, and he knew she meant the house itself, in her mind a living creature with a soul and a will of its own.
Caleb finished up a few more chores and retired to his cottage. He sat in the apartment on the second floor, sitting on the chair at the little dinette table. Caleb looked around, the desk so notably empty. He crossed to it and went through the drawers again. Carl was an old-fashioned man, Caleb knew, so the fact that there was no smartphone or laptop was believable, if a bit odd.
But if he was on the trail of an ursine shifter, which Caleb increasingly felt he had to have been, he’d have kept some record, Caleb was certain. He pulled the desk drawers out of the desk and flipped them over, knowing Carl may have left something taped to the bottom. Not finding a
nything, he searched the kitchen drawers and cabinets, every nook of the bedroom and bathroom. The nightstand in the bedroom was promising, but it turned up nothing.
That left three possibilities: that Carl left no record of his investigation, that it was removed after his death, or that it was still hidden somewhere in that cottage. Inspiration struck, reminding Caleb that the cottage was two floors, and that the tool shed below would offer all manner of hiding places for a prized journal or even a letter left behind to warn of the danger he could not defeat on his own.
A knock on the door sent a wave of alert up Caleb’s spine, but he crossed and opened the door without fear.
Edith stood on the other side, stooped and kindly. “Edith, come in.”
She did, looking around the apartment. She had a curiosity about the place that intrigued Caleb, but he knew it could be chalked up to her presentation of the apartment, and his maintenance. But there could be more, Caleb knew, so he took note and offered her only a kind smile. He asked, “Something I can do?”
“Miss Abigail suggested you come down for dinner.”
“Really? I thought that was just an… an introductory thing.”
“It was, but Miss Abigail feels… and Master Daniel seems to agree… that there should be a change of policy.”
“Oh,” Caleb said, careful not to show too much emotion. “Six o’clock, then?”
“Please.” Edith turned for the stairs, but she stopped and turned again. “Mister Kahr… Caleb… this is awkward…”
“It’s all right, Edith, just… just say it.”
“She’s a lonely young woman,” Edith said. “I don’t think it would be appropriate for her to indulge herself with any of the staff, nor would it be appropriate for any of the staff to indulge themselves.”
Caleb wasn’t surprised to hear her say it. But he’d already given the matter some thought, and his feeling weren’t aligned with Edith’s at all; nor was he about to lie about that. But he also knew that there were things that would keep him from being with Abigail, principal among them the killer ursine shifter in their midst.
So Caleb spoke the truth which was easiest and closet to him. “I’m not here for that,” was all he said, and that was correct. He didn’t go to Armstrong House to find love; but if he did find it there, Miss Edith would just have to deal with it.
She didn’t seem enthused with his answer, as if she could read the caginess of it. But there was little she could say to challenge him, and she’d made her point. So there was nothing Edith could do but turn again.
This time, though, it was Caleb who second-guessed her exit. “Edith.” She stopped and turned. “Your cook, Lulu, she seems to feel there’s something… wrong in the house.”
“Something… wrong?”
“Anything… off or… or strange?” Edith cocked her head like a confused dog. “She mentioned she thought the place might be haunted.”
“Haunted?” Edith released a little chuckle, but it didn’t last long. “Oh my, you don’t believe in ghosts?”
“I don’t, actually, but she seems to.”
“No, I… I have no idea about any ghosts. A ghost didn’t do that terrible thing to your brother, Caleb.”
“No, of course not. I’m just… just asking.”
Edith stood there, as if giving it some thought. But she could only shake her head and say, “No ghosts.” With that, she walked down the stairs and left Caleb to wonder what could have frightened the cook as much as it seemed to. True, he thought, no ghosts, probably… then, what?
Forty-five minutes later, Caleb was once again sitting down to dinner with Abigail and Daniel, this time to a hearty beef stew with a rich brown gravy, firm and colorful carrots, and a fine red wine. It was delicious and comforting, and returned Caleb to fantasies of sitting at the head of his own family table, with a girl like Abigail and a boy like Daniel.
No, he thought, not like Abigail and Daniel, but actually Abigail and Daniel.
But Caleb had to stop himself from imagining such things. There was too much to do, too much at stake, including the lives of everyone in Armstrong House. Caleb couldn’t be distracted. And Edith did have a point, he had to remind himself as he looked into Abigail’s pretty eyes. She’s lonely and vulnerable, can’t trust her own feelings.
And I can’t trust mine. Stay focused, think about Carl!
And, as a strange coincidence, Abigail asked Caleb, “Are you comfortable in the groundskeeper’s cottage?”
“Oh, yes, I’m… it’s fine.” Caleb hesitated, but decided to say, “I was looking around, but my brother didn’t leave hardly any effects at all. His clothes, the things that were found on him, wallet and keys, his watch.”
Abigail looked around as if uncomfortable with the conversation. “I, um, I didn’t know your brother too well, but he seemed to be a… a travel light kind of person.”
“Yeah, he was always that, but… you never saw him using a smartphone? How did you reach him in an emergency?”
Abigail shrugged. “That would have been for Edith to know.”
Caleb nodded to give that some thought. “And you never saw him with a laptop or doing any writing at all? Up in his apartment, maybe?”
Abigail’s pretty green eyes flashed. “I beg your pardon?”
“Just, I mean… cleaning, or… I didn’t mean to insinuate that you and my brother were… y’know…”
Abigail let the moment linger, taking a bite of stew with a slight pout. “I don’t know what kind of girl you think I am.”
“Sensitive, intelligent, giving.”
“Giving?”
“Not in that way.”
Daniel looked at them, big eyes wide and brown brows high. “Why are you fighting?”
Caleb answered, “We’re not fighting, Daniel, just… a minor misunderstanding. I was only hoping to find some record of my brother’s time here, a cell phone or a laptop or a diary, something like that. I certainly didn’t mean to upset Abigail here, I’d never want to do that.”
Daniel shook his head. Caleb turned to look at Abigail even as he went on addressing Daniel. “Because I find Abigail to be charming and lovely and virtuous.” Abigail looked up from her plate and into Caleb’s eyes as he went on, “You’re lucky to have her here at Armstrong House, and I consider it my sworn duty to protect her, to protect you all.”
Daniel asked, “From what?”
Caleb was still looking at Abigail as he answered Daniel’s question. “There’s still a big bear out there, Daniel. I won’t let it harm you the way it did my brother. I promise you that.”
“‘Kay,” Daniel said.
His eyes locked on Abigail’s, Caleb said, “But there are other dangerous things in the world, Daniel, things… things that happen inside, not outside.”
“You mean… inside the house?”
“Inside the heart, Daniel; loss, sadness… loneliness. We all need to protect each other from those things, Daniel. That’s what it is to be a family.”
Abigail sat there motionless, her eyes unable or unwilling to pull away from his. The tension between them was only increasing, the mutual desire becoming almost too much to resist. He knew why she recommended he join them again for dinner, and why she wanted him to know what kind of girl she was. Caleb knew enough about women and about people, and about himself; that was what was beginning to worry him.
They went on with dinner, smiles and banter easing the tension. But Caleb couldn’t help but notice Edith casting a suspicious eye from behind the staircase, from the kitchen door. She was monitoring them, apparently nervous about a romantic indiscretion or some other complication. But something was worrying her, that was certain. And whatever it was that was worrying her was eventually going to be worrying him; and worrying would be putting it mildly.
CHAPTER SIX
Abigail got Daniel cleaned up and ready for bed, and Daniel called Caleb in to say goodnight. Abigail was adorable, sitting on the bed and tucking the boy in, just like a perfect lit
tle mother with her sweet child. It was a bucolic scene, one Caleb could hardly resist.
Daniel asked, “Could you read me a story?”
Caleb and Abigail shared an amused little glance before Caleb stepped deeper into the room, pulling up a little chair and sitting down next to the bed. “I’ve got a story for you.” Caleb leaned in a bit, Daniel and Abigail doing the same. “It’s the story of a little boy, just about your age. He lived in New England too, in a house a lot like this one.”
“Was his name Daniel?”
“It was,” Caleb said. “How did you know that?” Daniel shrugged and Abigail chuckled. “Do you know this story already?” Daniel shook his head and leaned a bit closer. “Anyway, there was this bear around the neighborhood, and one day, Daniel decided to go out and hunt the bear. But he’d never go alone—you never go bear hunting alone—so he took his friend Caleb with him.”
“And Abigail,” Daniel said, “she came too!”
Caleb smiled at Abigail. “Caleb wouldn’t go anywhere without her.” He returned his attention to Daniel to go on with the story. “So Daniel loaded up his trusty rifle and led Caleb and Abigail out into the woods to track the beast.” Daniel looked on, eyes even wider than usual. Abigail also seemed intrigued, leaning closer to Caleb as he spun his yarn. “They went up to one cave, sure that the bear was inside. There was some movement inside the cave, so Daniel braced himself, rifle ready, and… a racoon scuttled out of the cave. Daniel sighed, relieved, Caleb and Abigail too. But that meant the bear was still out there. So they walked on a bit and found a second cave. This time, they felt sure that the bear was inside. There was even more movement in there than the last one, the sounds louder, and Daniel got ready. Caleb and Abigail stood behind him, frightened, but Daniel pointed and waited for the big bear to show himself.”
Caleb raised an imaginary rifle to his eye, letting a dramatic pause pass before he said, “And then… a deer jumped out of the cave and scurried off. Daniel sighed and lowered his gun again. Whew!”
Daniel and Abigail shared a wondrous glance before returning their mutual attention to Caleb.
