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“Mama.” The whisper feathered Deidre’s cheek.
She fought through visions of red inundating her dreaming state. A garnet sky, a wine-colored sea, a candied-apple-colored dress, brick-red blood soaking Charity’s sable coat.
Deidre’s eyes snapped open.
Lori lay on her chest, her palms pressing Deidre’s cheeks. “Mama.”
“Good heavens, Lori. You gave me a start.” Deidre’s heart pounded. “What is it?”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Darling, you don’t have to ask me if you can go to the bathroom.”
“I heard something outside the door.” She still whispered as if she feared waking the dead.
“All right. But I can’t very well get up with you on top of me.”
Lori scrambled off the bed.
Deidre followed, grabbing her robe. She cinched it at the waist and went to the door. She grabbed the knob and looked over her shoulder, meeting Lori’s widened eyes. Slowly, she turned and cracked the door and peered out. The sight just outside surprised her. She widened the door and stepped back.
Frizzle, who stood almost taller than Lori, ambled in. He was quite an imposing presence.
Deidre splayed her hands at her waist. She smirked at Lori. “You think you can manage the bathroom now, darling?”
Grinning, Lori nodded, and with the massive hound at her heels, made her way to the lavatory at the end of the hall.
Stifling an urge to laugh, Deidre was engulfed by another emotion: contentment. That dog would keep her daughter safe.
As she watched Lori scrambling down the hall, Ruth came out of her room fully dressed and glanced up, startled. “Oh, good morning,” she said softly.
Deidre smiled at her then glanced down at her own attire. “Good morning. I’m afraid I overslept.”
“How was your trip into the city?”
“Fast. By the time we arrived back last night, it was after nine.”
Ruth’s shyness was even more stiff than Lori’s. She seemed to have nothing to add and the silence grew uncomfortable.
“Well, I won’t keep you from breakfast. I was waiting on Lori to finish in the lavatory.” Deidre looked down the hall at the closed door, comforted again by vision of Frizzle’s big body lying down in front of the door, patiently waiting. Grinning, she faced Ruth.
The poor woman shuddered. “That dog makes me nervous.”
“He’s a bit of a monster, isn’t he? He seems to have taken a liking to my daughter.”
“Yes. Yes, he has. Well, if you’ll excuse me...” Ruth gave a sharp nod and disappeared at a turn in the hall.
A couple of minutes later, Lori emerged and Frizzle got to his feet and accompanied her back to the bedroom.
Deidre dressed Lori and went down the hall to take her own shower and dress, leaving Lori in the bedroom happily reading her new Madeline book to Frizzle.
~~~
Thirty minutes later Deidre and Lori made their way down the spectacular staircase with Frizzle following. “I think it might be fun to slide the rail, Mama.”
Deidre shuddered at the image. “I trust you would not do something like that. Especially as a visitor. It would be very impolite.”
“Oh. Yes, I guess so.”
They reached the bottom step and Esther came out from the hallway where Jackson had brought Deidre in a few days before. “Oh, there you are, Deidre. I was just coming to find you. Mr. Guthrie is here and has asked to speak to you. He’s waiting in Victor’s office.” She pointed to an open door, shaking her head. “I sometimes forget Victor is really gone.”
“Thank you, Esther. Lori, go with Esther and have some breakfast. I’ll be along shortly, okay?”
Nodding, Lori latched onto Frizzle’s collar and disappeared from the direction Esther had come.
Deidre spotted Mr. Guthrie sitting at a large mahogany desk as she approached. She stood in the arch and waited until he looked up. “Mr. Guthrie, you wished to see me?”
He rose and moved from the behind the desk. “Good morning, Miss Spence. It is Miss, isn’t it? That was Charity’s maiden name. Please. Come in.” He closed the door and indicated for her to sit. She took one of the two chairs in front of the desk; he sat in the other.
“You like our little island?”
“It’s lovely,” she said. She kept a smile on her face while the skin at her neck prickled.
“How long are you planning on staying?”
His proprietary tone set Deidre’s teeth on edge. “I don’t know. But I’m not sure what that has to do with anything.”
“I can see I shall have to be more frank, Miss Spence.” Mr. Guthrie stood and moved back behind the massive desk. It struck her as the ultimate power stance. “There is a great deal of money at stake.”
Deidre let out an insulted breath. “What exactly does that have to do with me?”
A glacial glint in his faded blue eyes pierced her. “If you think to pick up where your sister left off, you are much mistaken.” He lowered into the chair behind.
Deidre was at a loss. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to explain a bit more, sir. I have no idea what you are talking about.” She stood up and turned toward the door.
“I see you are as adept at playing these dangerous games as your sister. Let me spell it out for you. Your attempts at blackmailing my son will not work.”
She spun around, facing him. “Blackmail! Mr. Guthrie, I’ve never even met your son.”
“That has no bearing on the matter, Miss Spence. Charity knew him quite well.”
Little gossamer strands of information strung together through Deidre’s astonishment. She dropped back into her chair, dread rippling through her. What the devil had Charity been involved in? She stared at her hands interlocked in her lap. What was it Lori’s friend Ralphie had said? After a long moment, she raised her eyes to his. “Do you or your son happen to drive a red car, Mr. Guthrie?”
He ignored her question. “I advise you to turn over the information you and your sister have on my son and vacate the island as soon as possible. I’m prepared to write you a check.”
