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THANK YOU DARLING," Mathias said from the doorway.
Ivette's "Well it’s the truth, you do," was drowned when Leo spotted Mathias, jumped up, spilling his nearly full cup of milk, and ran toward him shouting "Daddy! Daddy!"
Mathias caught the boy as he leaped into his arms, and knelt to receive the greetings from the others, including a swipe across his face from Rika's blue tongue.
Alexandre frowned at the tableau. Obviously, Cosimo had either lied outright when he said his wedding to Ivette would take place when she came back from earth, or he was too stupid or too vain to realize what she thought about him. Cosimo knew just enough about the Blades planned takeover of the government to make him a security risk; he would have to be gotten rid of without the other members finding out it was Alexandre who ordered the hit. It was a pity; Cosimo had been useful.
He turned to Anastasia. "Didn't you express a preference to your daughter on her choice of husband?"
"I did warn you not to count on her marrying Cosimo," she reminded him.
"So, you did," his voice reflected none of his inner fury. He had counted on a double bond to the Hayes family because he wanted their influence in his scheme to overthrow the present government. As Ivette’s husband, Cosimo’s role would have been to control her. Everything he heard about the younger son said Mathias wouldn't be as easy to influence as Cosimo and there were those rumors about his membership in the Hive. Nevertheless, he knew he needed to bring the younger man into the Blades if it was possible.
He smiled at the children. "And who do we have here?"
"These are my children," Ivette said. "Mother, you remember my husband, Mathias Bedingfeld."
Encumbered by clinging toddlers, Mathias still managed a credible bow. "My pleasure, Colonel Hayes."
"Welcome to the family Mathias," Anastasia said.
Alexandre took a step toward the children and Rika put herself between them and him, growling.
"Anastasia, surely you don't intend to allow that monster near your grandchildren," he said, retreating. For his schemes to work, he needed to dismantle the layers of protection over Ivette and her new family.
"Rika's not a monster!" Jillian declared. "She's mine!"
"Nonsense child," Alexandre said, "Don't interrupt your elders. You're too young to know what you're talking about."
Jillian glared at him and opened her mouth to argue.
"The kennel master assures me she is housebroken Mother," Ivette intervened, sending a minatory glance at the child. "I doubt we'll have any trouble."
"Young lady, it's obvious you are too inexperienced to cope with these children—you should turn them over to your mother."
"On the contrary," Ivette said. "We've been doing just fine. If we are a problem, Mother, I can remove us immediately to the Lake House."
“You can’t be planning to live there!” Alexandre exclaimed. “It’s in no condition to be occupied, I assure you.”
“Certainly, we plan to live there,” Ivette replied. “What do you mean it’s in no condition to be occupied? Mother what happened to it?”
“Nothing permanent,” her mother said. “But after the retainers left—”
“Mrs. Jorgensen and Lavelle left? Why? They were receiving good wages.”
“They were afraid dear.”
Ivette frowned at her. “Afraid of what?”
“Well, I’m not sure exactly. Lavelle came to me with some rigamarole about someone cursing the house; accidents which shouldn’t have happened, things like that. I’m afraid Alexandre had to fire him.”
“He came to you for help, and you let this man fire him?” Ivette demanded.
“Your mother asked me to check out the incidents,” Alexandre said pompously. “When I couldn’t find anything wrong, Lavelle got angry and insolent, so I fired him.”
“I see,” Ivette’s voice was dangerously quiet. Mathias rose holding Leo on his hip. He looked amused. The Hayes women's fiery temperament was legendary. He wondered if Alexandre was about to get a demonstration of it.
“Please let me relieve you of any further duties to the Lake House, Alexandre,” Ivette said, her voice icy. “Mathias and I will check matters out there tomorrow. I’ll ask Prichard to see if he can re-hire the servants who left.”
“I think you young people shouldn’t be troubled with moving out of here,” Alexandre said. “You can perfectly well stay here. Your mother will take over raising the children— “
“No,” Ivette said flatly. “These are our children. We have no intention of ‘handing them over’ to someone else to raise.”
“That’s right,” Mathias said. If it’s inconvenient for us to stay here, we can move in tonight at the Lake House. It won’t be the first time we’ve taken care of our kids without the benefit of servants.”
"Nonsense. You and your children are always welcome, Ivette. You should know that."
"I thought I did. I'll take them to the nursery now, so we'll be out of your way Mother. If you will excuse us?"
"Of course," Anastasia said.
A heavy scowl on his face, Alexandre watched as Ivette, Mathias and the children went up the staircase, trailed by Rika. "Really, love, voles are dangerous and unpredictable. Why didn't you tell her the children weren't safe around one?"
"I know better than to get between a woman and her children," Anastasia told him dryly.
He frowned at her. "She's only had them what—a month? Surely she can't yet have any deep affection for them."
Anastasia looked at him consideringly. She wasn't sure why Alexandre was attempting to separate Ivette from the children, but this needed to be nipped in the bud. "You're making a foolish and dangerous assumption, Alexandre."
"Dangerous? How?"
"Maternal bonds run deep in the Hayes line," Anastasia said. "A long acquaintance isn't necessary for the bond to develop. I watched my daughter interact with the children. They are already hers."
"That doesn't sound Dangerous."
"Did you ever hear the parable about the mother bear and the hunter? He was foolish enough to get between her and her cubs. She bit his head off. I raised my daughters to be dangerous, Alexandre."
Alexandre stared at her, baffled. "I don't understand."
"I'll be blunt: if you hope to get on better terms with my daughter, I suggest you refrain from criticizing her child rearing capabilities or her choice of a husband."
"I'm just trying to be of use to you," he told her humbly. Inside he seethed with anger and resentment. If he didn't need Anastasia for her political influence, he would have long ago written her off; she was attracted to him, but he had discovered over the past few weeks she was also stubborn as a mule and difficult to influence. He had worked to develop a relationship with Anastasia because of the family's political stature, assuming a family of three women would be easy to dominate because of their lack of a male presence (Anastasia was a widow).
Alexandre's sexual preference was for small children, and he was accustomed to flattering the mother or in this case grandmother, to gain access to them. When Anastasia's daughter had arrived with seven toddlers in tow, he had considered it a reward for his hard work and looked forward to seducing them. Reluctantly he was coming to the notion it might not be possible unless he could get them away from Ivette. Within a few minutes of meeting her, he realized she was not only as strong willed as her mother but much more suspicious. And Anastasia had just warned him the girl could be dangerous.
Plus, instead of being an asset to his plans as Cosimo would have been, Mathias was likely to be a dangerous obstacle. When looking for an entry into the upper levels of government, he had investigated both the Bedlingfeld young men (along with several others). Besides being off the planet and out of reach, Alexandre had decided Mathias was too close to Johnathon Bedlingfeld-Brown, who had a reputation for brutal honesty. It was likely Mathias had inherited those qualities as well as being too upright and honorable for Alexandre's purposes. After meeting Mathias in person, Alexandre changed his mind about getting rid of Cosimo. Except for his obvious failure with Ivette, Cosimo had been useful. It was always a good idea to keep a fall guy handy.
Lunch the next day couldn’t have been called a social success, although Mathias’s parents were delightful. Anastasia had invited them and Cosimo who sent his regrets as he already had plans.
“So, what are you going to do with yourself now you’re a married man, Mathias?” Alexandre asked. “If you’re looking for work, I think I can put you in touch with a couple of companies looking for someone with your skills.”
“Thank you, but I plan on taking reserve status and working with Dad,” Mathias said.
“I see. You’re lucky to have a position to step into,” Alexandre observed. “Guess it helps being the boss’s son, doesn’t it?”
Ivette rolled her eyes and exchanged a commiserative glance with her mother who just smiled, confirming Ivette's idea Anastasia was up to something; coupled with the way her mother had introduced him, Ivette knew it meant getting on terms with him was probably Anastasia's boss's idea. Another reason why Ivette had no intention of working for him.
Mathias looked Alexandre over thoughtfully. “As you say,” he said politely, wondering if the man was such a maladroit idiot, he didn’t realize how offensive he had been. No, he decided after a moment, Alexandre had known exactly what he had said. A bigger question was why he said it.
That evening after putting the toddlers to bed in the re-opened nursery, Mathias lay back against the headboard watching his wife possessively as she tested the monitor in the night nursery. The sound of childish snores and the faint whuffles made by the sleeping Rika came through clearly. "We'll hear if one of them has a nightmare," he said.
Ivette turned to look at him, allowing herself to enjoy the length of naked male sprawled on the bed. "You look almost decadent," she said with a smile.
Mathias grinned at her. "You'd look that way too if you strip off that nightgown."
"Why don't you come and take it off?" she teased back.
Several hours after they drifted off spooned together, a growl from the monitor jerked Ivette out of a sound sleep. She sat up, "Mathias, do you hear that?"
"I hear you," he said, reaching up to run a hand over her breast and down her stomach toward her crotch.
"Stop it! Rika's growling. I think someone must be in the kids’ room."
She crawled out of bed and reached for the red silk robe she had thrown off earlier.
Mathias pulled on his pants as he joined her. He retrieved his sidearm off the end table as an afterthought. Ivette was already halfway to the children's nursery.
Rika stood in the open doorway peering down the hall.
"Someone has been in here; I closed the door when I left," Ivette said.
Mathias thought he heard the scrape of a boot on the stair. "I know. Stay with the kids," he told Ivette. "Rika, find," he ordered, and the vole put her nose to the ground and sped off with Mathias racing after her.
Ivette closed the door behind them and looked around the room. Nothing seemed out of place. She tucked a blanket more securely over Daphne's shoulders, smoothing the girl’s wispy bangs out of her face. Rafe had kicked off his covers and was balled up at the headboard as usual. Ivette picked his pillows up from the floor and smoothed the blankets over him. He relaxed and dropped deeper into slumber.
Leonardo made a small whimpering sound and sat up, rubbing his eyes. When he saw her he held out his arms. Ivette sat on the low bed and cuddled him. "Bad dream?" she asked.
He nodded. "A bad man chased me," he said.
"It was only a dream, sweetheart," Ivette said. "Why don't I fix you a cup of warm milk to help you sleep?"
Leo was dropping back into dreamtime by the time Mathias and Rika returned. Rika immediately resumed her place at the foot of Jillian's bed.
"Everyone ok?" Mathias asked.
"Yes. Leo had a nightmare and Rafe kicked off his blankets again. What did you find?"
"I'm not sure. Let’s go back to our room. I don't want to wake anyone up."
Back in bed, she slid over to lay her head on his chest. His hand played idly with her hair until she prompted him, "What did you find out?"
"I'm not sure exactly what was going on. Rika and I followed the trail to your mother's rooms. Would she have wanted to hide the fact she was checking on the children from you?"
"It's possible, but it wouldn't be like her to hide what she was doing."
He nodded. "I'm thinking the intruder was Alexandre, but I can't prove it without raising a big stink."
"Leo said he was being chased by a bad man in his dream," she said, "He might have sensed Alexandre’s presence and it came out in the dream as being chased. I'm probably just prejudiced because I don't like the man, but I want to get moved into the Lake House as soon as we can."
“We need to check it out ourselves before we take the kids out there,” Mathias said.
Ivette nodded. “I know, but I don’t want to leave them here, even under Nanny Germaine’s supervision. We need staff too.”
“I want to talk to the staff who were dismissed,” Mathias said.
“I’ll ask Pritchard if he knows what happened to them. Do you want to rehire them?”
“I’ll know after we interview them.”
––––––––
IVETTE CAME AWAY FROM her session with Pritchard deeply disturbed. Alexandre Marconi seemed to have embeded himself in her mother’s life and apparently she was allowing it.
When she raised the subject with Prichard, he said, “She’s turned a lot of things over to him to manage. It isn’t like her.”
They were in his office. Ivette had spent many hours here as a child learning the ins and outs of running an estate. The comfortable leather upholstery was worn in places, but Pritchard kept it oiled and polished.
“No, it isn’t,” she agreed. “He isn’t her type either. If she’s playing a deep game, it’s possible she’s trying to make him feel useful while she finds out what she wants to know.”
“Her ‘deep game’ has already hurt a lot of people,” he said with disapproval.
“Like the workers at the Lake House?”
Prichard snorted. “Yes, like them.”
“Mathias and I are going out there later today. What do you think happened?”
“From what Lavelle described, it was an organized terror campaign. Staff were followed home, a couple of them were run off the road, equipment kept breaking down. Lavelle told me he didn’t have enough staff to handle the repairs and keep everyone safe, because Marconi had cut his workforce in half. He claimed it was too expensive to maintain a large crew to run an empty house.”
Ivette sipped her tea, thinking. “Marconi said he investigated the complaints. Did he?”
“Well, he went out there. According to Lavelle, he accused him of shoddy maintence, and claimed the two workers who had been run off the road were drunk. Lavelle told him he was full of sh*t, and quit.”
“Mathias wants to talk to Lavelle. Can you give us his new address?”
He handed her a crystal. “Contacts for all the staff who were let go are on this crystal. I’m glad you’re back, Miss.”
Ivette stuck the data crystal in her pocket and went upstairs to check on the children.
As she neared the stairs, she heard a man yelling and Leo crying. She knew it was Leo because she could feel his fear and distress. She sprinted upstairs.
Alexandre had hold of her son by one arm, shaking him. “You stupid brat! You’ve ruined my shoes!”
“Let him go!” Ivette snarled.
Alexandre looked up in surprise. “He needs a whipping! Look what he’s done to my shoes!” He took an involuntary step back when he met her angry glare.
“I told you to let him go!” she said, bringing her clenced fist down hard on Alexandre’s forearm. He gave a gasp of pain and released his grip on Leo. She shoved him away and knelt by her son.
“Leo what happened?” she asked.
“I Fhrew up,” he said, crying so hard she could barely make out the words.
“Does your tummy hurt?” she asked, feeling his forehead.
He nodded, rubbing his eyes. Ivette pulled a hanky out of her pocket and wiped his face. “Did you eat something to make your tummy hurt?”
Leo shook his head. “He made me.”
Ivette sat back on her heels. “He made your tummy hurt? Did he hit you there?”
“It always hurts when somebody touches me there,” Leo sobbed. “They get mad when I fhrow up.”
Ivette’s eyes narrowed. “Where did he touch you?”
Leo sobbed harder, “In my pants. I’m sorry I barfed.”
She stood up, lifting the boy in her arms. “It’s alright darling. You don’t have to be afraid. It won’t happen again.” She glared at Alexandre over his head.
“You don’t believe that tale?” he exclaimed. “He’s lying!” remembering Anastasia's tale about the mother bear, he found himself taking another involuntary step backward when he met Ivette's angry stare. She certainly looked capable of biting his head off.
“Children under the age of seven haven’t learned how to lie yet,” she said coldly. “So, yes. I believe my son. If you even look crossways at one of my children again, I’ll kill you,” she turned away, leaving Alexandre to stare after her in fury.
He knew he had badly miscalculated by aproaching the boy so soon, but when he found him alone in the hallway, the temptation had been irresistable. He had heard stories about the firey temperment of the Hayes women but until now he hadn't believed the stories; his only example had been Anastasia, and she had been at pains to be sweet and compliant in his presence.
Ivette was under no illusions as to Alexandre’s intentions toward Leo. But he could wait—he wasn’t going anywhere. Or better yet, she would tell Mathias and he would make sure Alexandre knew he wasn’t to go near any of her children.
“There darling, the bad man is gone,” she said rubbing the boy’s back in comfort. “You were so clever to think of throwing up on him.”
Leo looked up at her in surprise. He didn’t have the words to describe the love and pride he sensed from Ivette. He only knew what she was feeling made him feel good about himself. He buried his face in her neck and clung.
She took Leo back to the nursury.
“There you are, you naughty boy,” Nanny exclaimed. “Did he show you his creation? We made clay sculptures today and he wanted to show you his. Where did you find him?”
“He had a run in with Alexandre out in the hall,” Ivette said. “Please make an appointment with Dr. Featherstone as soon as you can.”
“Is he hurt?” Nanny demanded.
“Just scared this time, I think,” Ivette told her. “In the meantime, don’t leave the children alone, and keep Alexandre out of the nursury. If he complains to Mom, tell him it's on my orders.”
Annie Germaine met Ivette’s eyes. There was only one reason she could think of for keeping Alexandre away from the children. Her eyes narrowed. “So that’s the way it is? What can your mother be thinking?”
“One of her deep games, I think. He isn’t her type. I doubt if she figured on anything like this though, Annie.”
Annie nodded. “I’ll guard them; don’t you worry.”
“I need to find Mathias,” Ivette said. She rubbed Leo’s back again. “I’m so proud of my little man; you fought back even though you thought it might get you in trouble. Daddy will teach you how to fight better as you get older, but I need to tell him about this. Will you stay with Nanny while I’m gone?”
Leo clung to her a moment, but accepted the transfer to the Nanny’s arms. He held out his clay sculpture, now at little deformed from being squeezed too hard.
“It’s Rika,” he said.
“It’s lovely,” Ivette assured him.
“We all made them,” Francisca announed. “But Gabe’s is the best.”
Perforce, Ivette had to examine and admire all of the children’s efforts. Francisca was correct; Gabriel’s creation did look better than any of the other children’s efforts. He had caught the Vole’s expression perfectly. Art lessons were obviously in his future. Just the same, she praised all the clay figures, and was rewarded by happy smiles on her children’s faces.
Ivette found Mathias in the garage watching the crew install booster seats for the children and a vole sized seat for Rika into a multi passenger vehicle designed by her grandmother.
“We need to talk,” she said softly.
He followed her out of the garage and into a patio set aside as a workman’s break area.
“What is it?” he asked, patting the seat beside him on one of the stone benches.
Ivette filled him in on the events of the morning. As she talked, his mouth and eyes hardened and it occurred to her Mathias could be dangerous under the right circumstances. The thought pleased her; Alexandre was in for a rude surprise, she thought.
“How is Leo? Did he hurt him?”
“No, but if I hadn’t arrived when I did, he might have. Mathias it broke my heart; Leo was afraid I would be mad at him because he barfed on Alexandre’s shoes.”
Mathias grinned. “Is that what he did to stop Alexandre? Good for him.”
“There’s worse I’m afraid. The reason Leo thought I might be angry with him was his keepers at that Hellhole would punish him if he fought back.”
“Just five minutes, Ivette. I want just five minutes with those bastards—”
“Me too,” she agreed. "You remember Leo's chart said they expected him to broadcast as well as receive when he got older?"
"Yes, why?"
"I think he can already do it. I could feel his emotions when I was downstairs."
“I’ll ask mom if she knows a good child counselor. No telling what else those bastards did to them.”
“I know. What are we going to do about Alexandre?”
“Leave Alexandre to me.”
“Okay. We can’t leave the kids here while we go and look at the Lake House, though,” Ivette said.
“My mother wants to spend some time with them so they can get to know each other. We can drop them off with her and Dad while we go and look at the Lake House. Afterwards, we’ll have dinner with my parents.”
She looked relieved. “An excellent suggestion; they’ll be out of his reach all day, and tomorrow the tailor and dresmaker will be here to take measurements for the Investure ceremony.”
She eyed him sideways. “Don’t do anything permanent to Alexandre. I think Mom has plans for him.”
“Besides marriage?”
Ivette shook her head. “She won’t marry him. I think she’s playing a game of some sort with him.”
“What kind of game?”
“I don’t know. But it wouldn't be the first time her boss ordered her to use her ‘feminine wiles’ to investigate things.”
“Okay, I won’t kill him unless he forces me to.”
While Ivette went upstairs to tell Nanny she and Mathias would be taking the children to visit their other new grandparents, Mathias went hunting for Alexandre.
As he passed by the vole kennels, he heard a childish trebble coming from one of the stalls and identified Jillian's voice.
He stepped inside and found his daughter playing with a litter of puppies, under the supervision of Rika and the mother. Joseph Beaupere, Anastasia's Kennel Master, watched them benignly.
"How long has she been here?" Mathias asked him.
"About twenty minutes. She's a natural."
"A natural what?" Mathias asked with raised eyebrows.
"A natural vole handler. I know the Hays women are generally pushed toward entering a military career, but it's a shame to waste all that talent," Beaupere said.
"The service has vole handlers," Mathias reminded him. "I think it's time she returned to the nursury though."
Beaupere nodded, and Mathias entered the kennel. He hunkered down in front of Jillian.
"Jillian who did you tell you were coming here?" he asked.
The little girl eyed him warily. "Rika wanted to see the puppies."
"Rika did, or you did? And you didn't answer my question."
"Nanny was busy, so I just went."
"You know better than to leave without telling anyone where you're going," he said. "Nanny and the others will be worried about you. It's important to tell someone when you leave the nursury for any reason."
"Okay," Jillian's voice was sulky.
Mathias arose and held out his hand. "Come with me. You need to go back to Nanny and apologize for worrying her."
"But I want to play with the puppies," Jillian said rebellously.
"I'm sure it can be arranged, but right now we're going to visit Grandma and Granpa Bedingfeld."
After dropping Jillian back at the nursury with a worried Annie Germain, Mathias found Alexandre and Anastasia drinking tea in the parlor.
“Mathias, won’t you join us? I’ll send for another cup,” Anastasia began.
“Thank you, but no,” Mathias said pleasantly. “I need to have a talk with Alexandre. Can you give us the room please?”
Anastasia had worked and lived around men all her life. She gave Mathias a sharp glance before rising to leave the room without another word. Removing herself from the room didn’t stop her from tapping into the room’s intercom to listen in however.
Mathias locked the door behind her. When he turned back to Alexandre, all pretense of pleasantry had left his face. Eyeing him, Alexandre felt an unwilling frission of fear and it made him angry.
“Is that necessary?”
“Yes,” Mathias said. “I’ve spoken to Ivette about what you tried to do to our son.”
“That nonsense again?” Alexandre tried to laugh off the accusation. “It’s obvious the boy is a liar—”
Mathias hit him, hard.
Alexandre stumbled backward, tripped over a hassock, and sprawled ungracefully on the floor.
Mathias simply waited for the older man to get up.
Alexandre stared at him in shock. The relaxed power in the blow and the easy way it had been delivered stunned him. He had told Ivette Cosimo was the stronger of the two young men, but Cosimo couldn’t have delivered a strike with so much clout. Studying Mathias’s expression, which was as unruffled as a lake on a calm day, he came to the same conclusion Ivette had earlier. Her husband was a foe to be reckoned with. In fact, Mathias was downright scarey. Knowing he was frightened turned Alexandre’s mild contempt into outright hate.
“Stay away from my children,” Mathias said. “If you had actually raped Leo, you would be facing a duel to the death in stead of getting punched in the face.”
Mathias turned and left the room.
Struggling to his feet, Alexandre glared after the younger man. Apparently Ivette’s husband held him in such contempt he had no hesitation turning his back on him after what had just passed between them. The notion brought Alexandre’s anger to a white heat.
When Mathias stepped out of the parlor, he found Anastasia hovering in the hall. “Did you get everything settled?” she asked warily.
Mathias smiled at her. “For now. Ivette and I are taking the children to spend the day with my parents. We won’t be back for dinner.”
“I’ll tell the cook,” she said. Staring thoughtfully after him as he walked away, she came to the conclusion Ivette's return was going to put a crimp in her plans for getting information out of Alexandre. She didn’t like what she had overheard, but it made sense. Alexandre, despite declaring she drove him mad with desire, had been remarkably undemanding in the bedroom. Molesting her new grandchildren couldn’t be permitted though. If she didn’t still need Alexandre to reveal the others in his little Cabal, he would have been out the door. She went to her office and called up the house security program. She made an adjustment to it and signed off.
Mathias found Ivette and Nanny Germaine fastening the children into the booster seats in the newly ready sled. Space had been made so Rika could take her place beside Jillian as usual. Ivette looked up from securing Rika’s webbing.
“How did it go?”
“I didn’t kill him,” Mathias said. “But he doesn’t get a second chance and he knws that too.”
Nanny slid into the seat on the other side of Rika. “I’ll keep them safe. Don’t you worry.”
“Glad to have you aboard,” Mathias said, exchanging a glance with Ivette.
“You didn’t think I was going to dump all seven of them on your mother without bringing along help did you? Besides, your parents are strangers to the children. Annie will provide assurance we aren’t abandoning them.”
Mathias’s parents had prepared for the children’s arrival by converting one end of their great room into a playroom suitable for toddlers. From the upstairs nursery, The servants had brought down an old rocking horse, puzzles with large wooden pieces, picture books, blocks and several spinning toys to help entertain their new grandchildren.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Mathias asked his mother. His father was sitting on the floor, showing Daphne how to fit puzzle pieces together.
Christina laughed. “Your father is having the time of his life. You two go and do what you need to. We’ll be fine.”
When they came back out to the courtyard, Ivette was surprised to see a snug two-seater sled waiting for them.
“In case they need to take the children somewhere,” Mathias explained, holding the door for Ivette.
“Do you have the first address?”
She took the data crystal out of her pocket and plugged it into the GPS system and contacted the first name on the list.
When Ivette asked to visit him, he agreed immediately.
They arrived at a pleasant house just outside the city limits. Jean Luc Lavelle came out to meet them. He was a short, thin man with dark hair just starting to show a little grey and a neatly trimmed mustache.
When Ivette introduced Mathias he shook hands and said, “Lets sit here on the porch. Talk about this makes my wife nervous.”
“Are you doing ok?” Ivette asked.
He smiled grimly. “I had enough to retire several years ago, but I didn’t want to desert your mother.”
Ivette nodded. “I wish I could say the same of her.”
“We’ve heard two accounts of what happened; we’d like your version,” Mathias said.
Lavelle pulled a data crystal out of his shirt pocket and handed it to him. “This has a detailed report of everything that went on. I gave a copy to Marconi—I doubt he even looked at it.”
“We’ll review the crystal later. Right now I want to hear what you didn’t put into the reports,” Mathias said.
“About six months ago the housekeeper reported dirty water coming out of the faucets. When I sent Jose, the handyman, to check it out, he found the damaged pipes; the water was pumping in slush through the main connection to the house. The pipes had been cut. One of the staff sleds was re-programed to do the opposite of what the driver intended; you pushed on the brakes and accelerated and vice versa. Mary Talbot almost got killed when she overshot an intersection. Then the housekeeper and one of the maids were run off the road. Mrs. Jorgensen, the housekeeper was injured. She’s on disability.”
“An organized campaign," Mathias said. “What did they want?”
“Other than to get rid of us? I don’t know.”
“Is there something valuable about the location itself?”
“It’s on the lake and within easy reach of the capitol,” Ivette said. “There is a dock where boats could tie up, but lots of the places around the lake have the same things.”
“No mineral deposits?”
“I’ll have to take a look at the survey great-grandmother had made when she bought the property,” Ivette said, “but I don’t think there are any particularly valuable minerals.”
Mathias stood up. “Thank you for your time,” he said. He noticed Lavelle watched them leave. To make sure they got into the sled?
“Put the crystal into the vid feed. We can listen to it on the way out to the Lake House,” he suggested.
THE LAKE HOUSE WAS on the opposite side of Earthbury as Lavelle's home, about ten miles away, in an area intended for small family farms.
“It’s pretty out here,” Mathias said, admiring the neatly kept houses and barns. Since most Arcadians used powered sleds, the country roads were graded but no money had been spent to pave them. Wooden rail fences occasionally broken up by rock walls, edged the sides of the road.
“Turn off here,” Ivette said, pointing to the unmarked street corner ahead. This far out of town, the land was populated with fields of corn, nut and fruit orchards, and other plants needed to feed the colony.
“Turn in at that gate. I may have to get out to put in the code,” she said.
The driveway was edged by a tall flowering hedge blocking the view of the house until the last curve. Mathias stopped the sled in front of the wide terrace-like steps.
“Good God, Ivette, this is huge,” he said.
“We’ve got seven kids,” she reminded him. “It won’t seem so big once we get moved in.”
The three-story edifice had been built with blue and green river stones. The tall windows, set in a symmetrical pattern allowed light to enter the front rooms. The building was E-shaped, with the legs of the E aimed toward the lake behind the house. The second story was smaller than the first to allow roofed terraces on the 2nd floors. Roofed patios also graced both sides of the middle branch, which was about half the length of the outer extensions, allowing easy access from the outside wings of the house.
At the end of the middle wing, a children’s play area had been furnished with swing sets, slides a treehouse and a fort. A sandbox sat over to one side.
Despite the snug feel of the outside of the house, inside Ivette had an eerie feeling they were being watched. She stood in the wide foyer and turned around slowly, her eyes searching for hidden cameras. The tiled foyer opened into a large great room with a big Holo screen dominating one wall. A curved staircase, wider at the bottom than at the top, led to the second floor. Across from the great room, Mathias could see a library lined with floor to ceiling books.
“What is it?” Mathias asked.
“It feels as if we are being watched,” she said. “I don’t like it.”
“I’m glad it isn’t just me,” Mathias said. “Let’s look around; maybe we’ll find the vid cam.”
They searched the room, not finding anything until Mathias, remembering the safe behind a painting at his friend Liam’s house, began lifting the framed art away from the walls to look behind them.
“I’ve got one!” he said, showing her device about the size of his little finger.
“So do I,” Ivette replied pulling a similar device from underneath a tall lampshade.
“Someone went to a lot of trouble and expense to plant these,” Mathias remarked, eyeing the pile of vid cams on the dining room table.
“Yes, they did, didn’t they” she said.
They were in the west wing of the E where the kitchen and dining area for the family and staff were located. They had upwards of 20 tiny vid cams, and they had only done the great room, the library, the dining room and one of the downstairs bathrooms.
“Perverts!” Ivette had said when she discovered that one.
“What else is in this section?” he asked.
“Offices, mostly for the staff; the butler, the housekeeper, the groundskeeper, security, and you and me. Mathias we aren’t going to be able to search this place the way it needs to be searched by ourselves.”
“I know,” he said. “Jerry Ring is a buddy of mine who went into corporate security after he served his hitch. Why don’t I call him to see if he can get a crew out here tomorrow?”
“It's a good idea. Lavelle said whoever was terrorizing the staff also laid booby traps. See if they can screen for them as well.”
He took out his com and tapped in a few numbers. The man who answered the call was sitting at an overburdened desk. The remains of his lunch mixed with a slew of data crystals. A holo of his wife, a pretty blond holding a two-month-old baby was perched precariously on the edge of the desk.
“Hey!” he said. “When did you get back?”
“Ivette and I got back two days ago,” Mathias answered.
“I heard you were taking the plunge. Congratulations. When is the ceremony?”
“Day after tomorrow. You should have received the invite unless Mom doesn’t’ have your new address.”
“I’ll send it to her,” Jerry promised.
“I’ve got a little problem with our house,” Mathias said. “I was wondering if you could take a look at it.”
“I’m expensive,” Jerry warned him.
“We can cover it,” Mathias replied.
“Are you there now? I can look at the job and give you an estimate this afternoon.”
“That would be great,” Mathias said. “We’ve already found a bunch of surveillance vid cams and we’ve only done five rooms. I can’t bring Ivette and the kids in here; she found one in the bathroom and went ballistic.”
“The bathroom? Did you say kids? How many?”
“Seven, four boys and three girls, all under three. We adopted them on earth.”
“Wow, we’ve only got the two and they keep us hopping. I can’t imagine handling seven! Shoot me the address and I’ll head out there.”
“He should be here in about a half hour,” Mathias said. “While we’re waiting, I want to check for booby traps.” He shook the stair balustrades, and one of the rails came loose in his hand.
“Some of the rooms have a balcony. We better check those rails as well,” Ivette said.
“I’m going to check the patio’s outside,” he said.
Ivette nodded and headed upstairs, stopping every little bit to shake the rails. Mathias watched her for a moment before he went out to the East patio the one used mostly by employees as a break area. He stood looking out over the grounds. Part of the patio was tiled with slate, but a long grassy lawn extended out to the stable and barn areas as well as the drying sheds for the fruit orchards. In the distance he could see the pristine waters of the Lake. Cascam Depths was a lowland lake, large enough to generate waves and deep enough to have strong currents. Ivette had told him the property extended past the white sand beach and about a kilometer out into the water. A plasticrete wharf with an attached boathouse big enough to hold a couple of good-sized vessels stretched into the lake. The sandy beach ran along the shore past Ivette’s property line. In the distance he could see several other estates with the same pier/boathouse arrangement they had here.
Looking carefully over the patio, he didn’t see any obvious signs of disturbance, so he walked out to the children’s play area. Surprisingly, it looked neat and well cared for. The sand in the sandbox looked clean and new, and it bothered him. If the place had been abandoned for several months as Alexandre had said, why should there be new sand in the sandbox? Of course, Alexandre might have lied, but Mathias was suspicious anyway. To test his theory, he picked up a small chair and tossed it into the sandbox.
The resulting blast knocked him off his feet, covering him in the fine sand from the box. Ivette had been testing one of the balconies in the east wing when she heard the explosion.
“Mathias!” she screamed, before running back inside and racing down the stairs. She burst out of the door just as he was picking himself up off the ground. He spat out a mouthful of sand.
“Are you hurt?” she demanded. ”What happened?”
He coughed out another mouthful of sand, wiping his face and eyes with a dry handkerchief. “I’m okay. I just had the wind knocked out of me.” He looked over at the now destroyed sand box. “I threw a chair into the sandbox. I was suspicious because it looked so clean compared to the rest of the yard. Ivette someone put a bomb under the sand.”
“Our children,” she whispered staring at the sandbox. “The bomb was aimed at our children.”
Mathias watched as her face went from white to red and back to white again, her eyes flashed fire and her hands clenched. He had heard the stories about the legendary Hayes temper but hearing about it was different than being at ground zero.
“Whoever did this is dead. Do you hear me? Dead. And it won’t be an easy death.”
“We have to find them first,” Mathias reminded her. His wrist com pinged.
“Hey,” Jerry said. “Aren’t you going to let me in?”
Ivette tapped out the code releasing the gates on her com.
“Come around to the back after you park,” Mathias said. “We’ve got something interesting to show you.”
