A House for Keeping

by Matteson Wynn

  Sarah smiled. “Of course. Why don’t you see to your kitten, and I’ll have a quick word with Meg. I’ll send someone to fetch you when I’ve finished with her. Okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “Meg?” Sarah said and walked out of the room. Meg followed along behind her.

  I heard them walk down the hall and into the dining room. Deciding to escape while I could, I tossed a “See you in a bit,” at Nor and Wil.

  I began to head out of the kitchen, only to pause and do a double-take. A longer look down the dark hallway confirmed I was correct. Blending into the shadows, there were two men, dressed in black, bracketing the door to the dining room.

  I gave them a little wave and a “Hi guys.”

  One of them nodded at me, but something about the way they were standing did not invite further conversation.

  I turned back around into the kitchen and raised a questioning eyebrow at Nor. I lowered my voice to ask, “What’s with Shaggy and Scooby there in the hallway?”

  Nor barked out a laugh and said, “Sarah’s assistants.”

  “Assistants?” What were they assisting Sarah with, fending off a swarm of ninjas? I was thinking that “assistants” had to be a euphemism because they sure looked like bodyguards to me. Then again, maybe I was being small-minded. I supposed assistants could be into wearing all black. And could be so fit that their shirts pulled across their shoulders. And that they could have spent time in the military, which would account for them standing at parade rest in a hallway. They could. But I didn’t think so.

  My skepticism must’ve shown because Wil added, “It’s standard. Council members always travel with them.”

  “Oh.” What did members of a historical council need with big, muscled assistants? Although, given my morning, I could see where having secretaries with fringe benefits might come in handy.

  I shrugged and headed out of the kitchen again. I didn’t try to talk to the assistants. But, as I crossed the hallway, I had the creepy-crawly feeling on my skin that made think that Shaggy and Scooby were watching me closely.

  Chapter Twenty

  As I walked through the mudroom, I realized my clothes were still in the dryer, so I snagged them and carried the armful of laundry up the stairs with me.

  When I reached my room, Fuzzy was sitting on the bed, staring at the door, waiting for me.

  I dropped the laundry in a heap by my suitcase, then scooped Fuzzy up and assumed my feeding position against the headboard. As soon as I offered him the bottle, he started slurping away. I’d thought maybe he wouldn’t want it, given his demonstrated appetite for solid food, but apparently Fuzzy wasn’t ready to give up his liquid diet yet. I made a mental note to put out some kitten crunchies for him to nibble on, too.

  I smiled as I watched Fuzzy guzzle. The whole crazy morning fell away from me for a minute, my mind emptied, and I just enjoyed watching him.

  A quiet knock on the door snapped me back to the present. “It’s Nor. Can I come in?”

  I couldn’t ignore her. She knew I was in there feeding Fuzzy. And besides, she’d stood up for me in the kitchen.

  “Sure.” I stifled a sigh as I watched my moment of peace and quiet exit as she entered.

  Nor slipped into the room, softly closing the door behind her.

  “Well, that’s ridiculously cute,” she said, taking in the sight of Fuzzy with his bottle.

  “I know, right?”

  “Can you talk while you’re feeding him?”

  “Uh, sure.”

  She snagged a chair, dragged it over closer to the bed, but didn’t sit down. “Do you have a dollar?”

  “Uh, yeah, I think so.”

  “Great. I want you to hire me.”

  “What?”

  “You know I’m a lawyer, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Nor looked around the room, spotted my purse, and brought it over to me. “I want you to hire me,” she said, “before we talk. That way, everything we say is covered under attorney-client privilege.” She sat on the edge of her chair, leaning forward, hand out, palm up, waiting for the dollar.

  I blinked at her.

  “Did you know you furrow your brow when you’re feeling skeptical? One of the things we’ll need to work on is your game face—you’re too easy to read. Which is one of many reasons why you can use my help.”

  “Er…I can’t afford any more lawyers,” I said. I’d been grateful for their help, but just the thought of a lawyer brought me back to the mounds of paperwork involved in dealing with my dad’s death and the diner. As if grief wasn’t bad enough, it turned out it came with a ton of paper cuts.

  “I’m waiving my usual fee so it’s not a problem,” said Nor. “A dollar will suffice as a retainer.” She hesitated, then added, “The dollar isn’t even strictly necessary. It’s a symbolic gesture. But an important one.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that. To stall for time while I tried to think it through, I asked, “What do you get out of this arrangement?”

  “Good question.” Nor leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, hands wrapped around one knee. “While you were gone this morning, did someone tell you this isn’t a reunion?”

  I thought about pussyfooting around the truth. But my instincts said I might want to trust Nor, and Fuzzy didn’t seem to mind her, so I said, “Yes.”

  “Good.” My surprise must’ve shown because she said, “Hey, I’ve been lobbying to read you in since you got here. Meg overruled me. No offense, but you getting hurt is actually going to work in your favor because,” a predatory grin appeared, “now I have grounds to circumvent her authority.”

  I didn’t know what to say so I sort of nodded at her to go on.

  Nor continued, “I figured someone had said something to you because you didn’t look surprised when I mentioned being housekeeper. At some point, I’d like to know the details of who you talked with and what they said. But we’re short on time, so for now, in broad strokes, what did you learn this morning?”

  “Not much. All I know is this is like some kind of competition to be the housekeeper.”

  “Technically, it’s a ‘selection process.’ But you’re right—in essence it’s a competition. So, to answer your earlier question, what I get out of working for you is two-fold. If you’ve officially hired me to work for you, whether you win or not, any interactions we have will remain confidential,” she said.

  I nodded. “You’re covering your ass. When I lose, no one will know for sure how much you helped me or how. Clever.”

  A cunning gleam lit her eyes, and she smiled as she said, “If you lose. And if you win, you give me first shot at pitching myself to be your general counsel while you are the housekeeper.”

  I couldn’t imagine why someone would want to be the lawyer for a housekeeper, or why a housekeeper would need something as fancy as general counsel. I supposed I could find that out later. For now, I needed to know, “What’s in it for me?”

  Nor uncrossed her legs, leaned forward on her chair, resting her arms on her thighs. I nearly leaned back from the intense, focused look she was giving me. It was like being probed by a laser.

  She gestured toward the stitches on my head. “This weekend isn’t going the way it’s supposed to. You’ve already gotten hurt, and we still have another day to go. And, you haven’t even gotten to the hard part yet.”

  “There’s a hard part?”

  Nor shook her head. “You want info, you need to hire me.” When I hesitated, Nor added, “I think by now it should be clear to you that you need to find out what’s going on. And to really answer your questions, you need to talk to a Foster. Right now, I’m your best option for a number of reasons.”

  She started ticking them off on her fingers. “First, I’m here. Second, it’s in my best interests to help you. Not only am I fully incentivized from a career standpoint, but I’ll also be legally bound to work for your best interests once you hire me. And third, though you have no way of knowing this, I�
�m really good at my job.” She relaxed the intensity of her gaze, sat back, and grinned at me. “Plus admit it. You kind of like me.”

  She was right. I did like her. “Fine, you’re hired.” Fuzzy had finished his bottle, so I wiped his chin, put the bottle down, and fished a dollar out of my wallet. I guess I’d picked up some static from Fuzzy’s fur, because when I put the dollar in Nor’s palm, I got a little zap feeling, and my hand tingled.

  Nor didn’t seem to mind because she smiled and said, “Outstanding. Now, what do you know about the house?”

  I glanced down at Fuzzy who had begun grooming himself. “Not much.” Though I wasn’t making eye contact, I could feel Nor’s gaze boring into me.

  “But you know something.”

  I shrugged. “I know it’s…special. Alive, somehow.” I reached behind me, above the headboard, so I was touching the wall. “It’s kind of amazing, actually.”

  The house shifted around us, letting out a soft murmur that sounded a bit like a purr.

  Nor’s eyes widened and that gleam reappeared. “It’s fairly evident that the house has been trying to communicate with you. But it hasn’t been clear if you’ve understood that or been communicating back with it, at least on purpose. This is excellent, but try not to hold a conversation with it in front of Meg or Sarah, okay? At least for now.”

  “Okay.” I’d already decided to keep my chats with the house private, but it was interesting to me that Nor thought it was a necessity.

  “What else did you learn this morning?”

  “I didn’t get a lot of details. I do know that there are some other families feuding with the Fosters over the house. They did say that one of the other families caused the hail storm. I think they have some kind of gadget. Hey, do you know about the other families?”

  “I do.”

  “Maybe you can answer this for me then. What’s up with all the weird gadgets they have? Don’t laugh at me…but…are they with some top secret government agencies or something? I mean, how else would they have access to the kind of tech that allows them to control the weather and sound and stuff?”

  “Control sound? Wait, who did you meet with?”

  “You said we don’t have time to go into that. And if we’re short on time, I want my questions answered before we get to yours.”

  “Okay, fair enough. One thing though. Why do you think they’re using gadgets?”

  I blinked at her. “Well, L—er, one of them had a cell phone that had some kind of sound dampening function. And then the other guy was bragging about his weather prowess, so I just assumed he also had some kind of high-tech gizmo…how else would they do it?”

  “This is why you need me.”

  Another knock sounded on the door. “Can I come in?” called Wil.

  I looked at Nor, who said, “I would.”

  “But we’re not done talking. I’ve got a lot more questions.”

  “As your lawyer, my first piece of advice is to let him in. Trust me.”

  In for a penny, in for a pound. “Yeah, come in,” I called to Wil. It wasn’t my fault if I sounded less than enthusiastic.

  Wil stepped into the room, quickly and quietly shutting the door behind him. He paused, sizing us up, scoping out the room.

  “Nice view,” he said, strolling past Nor, over to the window.

  I thought he was being sarcastic about the tree blocking the view. I was about to tell him I liked the feeling of living in a treehouse, when I turned my head to find that there was, indeed, a nice view out the window. The tree that had been blocking the window had moved to the right. Or the house had moved the window to the left. I was pretty sure it was the latter, given that I hadn’t seen any Ents on my walk through the woods this morning. Although, on second thought, the way things were going, I really wouldn’t be that surprised if the tree had scooted over on its own.

  “Yup, nice view,” I said. “So, what’s up?”

  Fuzzy had stopped grooming to watch Wil. After a moment, he must’ve decided Wil wasn’t worth growling at because Fuzzy climbed into my lap and settled down. But he kept his eyes open, watching Wil and Nor.

  Wil leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking out the window and said, “I want in.”

  “I’m sorry?” I asked.

  “On whatever you’re planning. I want in.”

  I rubbed my eyes. This was like Gram all over again. What the hell was happening this morning? I was Miss Freaking Popularity all of a sudden.

  I was about to tell him we weren’t planning anything, when Nor crossed her arms, mirroring his posture, looked him over, and said, “What do you have to bring to the table?”

  I thought, Would ya look at that. My dollar’s already hard a work.

  Wil kept looking out the window. “Knowledge.”

  “I thought that was what Nor was for,” I said. Neither of them smiled at my rhyme, but I did. Hanging out with Nor was gonna have another advantage. With all the things that “Nor” rhymed with, at the very least she was gonna be good for hours of mental rhyming games.

  Wil said, “I know more about Foster history than anyone outside of the council. At this point, I probably know more than most of the council members themselves.” He rubbed either side of the bridge of his nose, under his glasses, as though they were digging into him.

  “How does that help us?” asked Nor.

  Us. She’d said “us.” I was part of a team now. For someone who’d been alone for months, that one little word was a big deal.

  Wil said, “You’re joking, right?” He stared at me. “I’m not sure what your end game is, Finn, but you want to get through the rest of this weekend, you’re going to need all the help you can get.”

  He pointed to Nor. “She’s going to be great with the rules, and she’s a shark at the negotiating table.”

  He turned to Nor. “Of course, I looked you up when I found out you were in my round of selections.”

  He looked at me. “Nor isn’t just any regular old lawyer. She’s the youngest person to make partner at her firm, ever, and has negotiated two of the biggest international deals in the Foster clan’s history.”

  He pushed off from the wall and walked over to stand next to us. “I would have looked you up ahead of time, too, Finn—that’s pretty standard for the selections. But no one knew you were going to be here. Including Meg, by the way, who only found out last minute.”

  “Is that unusual?” I asked.

  Nor shrugged, but Wil said, “There have been occasional wild-card candidates in the past, but they’re rare. And certainly none in the last hundred years or so.”

  Nor raised an eyebrow at Wil and said, “You’re not the only one who can do research. I looked into you as well.”

  She turned back to me. “Wil here blew through high school in two years, is a Rhodes scholar, holds two doctorates, and is rumored to be working on a third—and he’s not even thirty yet. He parlayed his Rhodes connections into a series of traveling professorships and, as a result, has an extensive network of academic contacts around the globe.”

  Nor smiled at him. If she’d smiled at me like that, I’d be backing away and looking for exits. I gave him points for not flinching. “What is it that you want from Finn, Wil?”

  “I want a guaranteed position as the liaison between Finn and the council, should you become housekeeper, Finn.”

  Nor said, “That would not only secure you a position as a council member, but it would also put you on the fast track to becoming head of the council.”

  Wil smiled at her.

  Nor nodded and said, “Smart. And you’re already covered if Meg wins, since yesterday she all but promised you a position with the council. Of course, you realize that at least part of the reason she did that was that she anticipated that you’d be so consumed with the idea of being elevated to a council member that you’d fail to bond with the house.” At the look Wil gave her, she held up her hands and said, “Hey, I’m as ambitious as they come. I’m not judging you. B
ut I hope you’re cognizant of the fact she’s trying to play you.”

  Wil shrugged. “I can handle Meg.”

  I stared at them for a moment then said, “This is all very…interesting. But what I don’t get is why you aren’t making deals with each other? From what I understand, either of you has just as much chance to become the housekeeper as I do.”

  Nor said, “Unlikely. My test with Sarah this morning pretty much confirmed it for me.” She shot a look at Wil. “And I’m inferring from the fact that you’re here that you don’t expect to be advancing, either.”

  Wil gave Nor a level look. “I think it’s safe to say that I’m no longer near the top of the scoreboard.”

  He started to pace. “Now that I’m basically out of the running, am I looking out for my own self interests? Of course I am. It’s no secret that I’ve been aiming for the council my entire career. And it’s because of my ambitions, because I’ve made this family my career, that I need to step in here.

  “Look, I’ve read most, if not all, of the transcripts of the previous selections.” Nor started to interrupt him and he cut her off with, “Don’t ask me how I got ahold of them. I wasn’t screwing around when I told you my Foster knowledge is—”

  “Scary?” Nor said, but she said it with a small grin.

  “I would’ve gone with ‘thorough’ but yes, scary works. During the selection, the type of maneuvering Meg’s doing—offering me a plum position, trying to distract me—that’s not unusual. Selection candidates building alliances among themselves,” he paused in his pacing to gesture back and forth between me and Nor, “is not unusual, either. But a completely clueless—sorry, Finn, but it’s true—a totally uneducated candidate, someone with absolutely no knowledge of our family or the real world? That’s unheard of.” He starting pacing again.

  Okay, I knew I’d grown up in the west end of nowhere, but to say I didn’t know anything about the real world was uncalled for. I was about to growl an objection, but before I could, Wil started up again.

  “And then there’s that!” He pointed at my head. “She’s got stitches, for Christ’s sake. Candidates are supposed to be safe from outside interference during the selection. It’s one of the basic rules. It shouldn’t have happened. It shouldn’t be possible for it to have happened.”