Chapter 15 Chapter 15“You have to give me a tour.” Nicole stood in the foyer next to me, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
“There’s not much to see. Bedrooms, kitchen, living room. The usual.” I could feel my face flush.
“Are you kidding me? Look at this place. It’s like Buckingham Palace or something. My mom is going to freak out when she hears I’ve been in Morrigan. She’s always wanted to see the inside of this place.”
Suddenly I wondered if it was even okay that I’d invited her over. It hadn’t occurred to me to check with Dick, but maybe he was weird about having visitors in his house. Knowing Dick, he would have potential guests fill out some sort of application form, sign a waiver, complete a confidentiality agreement, or possibly take a qualifying quiz before they were let in the front door. He’d probably also want them to demonstrate that their relatives came over on the Mayflower. After all, it wasn’t inviting someone over to my house, it was inviting them to an estate.
Nicole sat down on the bottom step. “This must be exactly where the maid died in the twenties. She was found here in a puddle of blood with her eyes wide open.” Nicole ran her hand over the stair. For some reason, her fascination made me uncomfortable. It wasn’t anything different from what I felt when I walked up the stairs, but it seemed like the kind of thing you shouldn’t comment on. I think Miss Manners must have some sort of rule about how early you can bring up references to fatal accidents that happened in someone else’s home.
“They say she was having an affair with the Wickhams’ son.”
“What?” That tidbit hadn’t made the local paper.
“That’s why they killed her. She was pregnant and the Wickhams didn’t want a lowly maid as the mother of their grandchildren. Apparently, the son was really in love with her. Real Romeo and Juliet stuff, a forbidden love.”
“So you think someone pushed her down the stairs?”
“That’s what everyone says. There was a fight where the parents tried to pay her off, but when she wouldn’t take the money, Mrs. Wickham snapped and pushed her. She broke her neck when she fell. Then they got away with the whole thing. They called it an accident and no one dared to question them. The butler found her in the morning lying at the bottom of the stairs. They say the blood never came out of the floorboards.”
I could feel my heart picking up speed, but I shook it off. “Well, you can report back, there isn’t any blood and the floor is marble. Maybe they just didn’t have Lysol with bleach back then.”
Nicole laughed and stood up. “Okay, fair enough. Let’s go in the backyard, where we can jump around.”
“Look, about this cheerleading thing—”
“Hi, Nathaniel!” Nicole cut me off. She pushed her shoulders back and jutted one hip out. I looked up the stairs and watched him lope down. “Great place you’ve got here.”
“You know what they say, no place like home.”
Nicole burst into laughter as if he’d said the funniest thing ever known to man. She placed her hand on Nathaniel’s forearm and leaned in. “You’re wicked.”
“That’s the rumor about town,” Nathaniel said, directing a meaningful look my way. Nicole gave another tinkling laugh. “What brings you to our humble abode?”
“What, your company isn’t enough?”
If she kept laying it on so thick, I was going to gag. “Nicole gave me a ride home,” I said, interjecting myself into all the flying hormones in the room.
“I’m teaching Isobel some of the cheerleading routines.”
I felt like pounding my head on the wall. I didn’t look at Nathaniel, because I knew if I did I’d want to smack the smirk right off his face.
“Cheerleading?” I heard the amusement in his voice.
“I haven’t exactly agreed to join,” I said.
“But you have to! All the popular girls are on the squad,” Nicole insisted.
“Yeah, Isobel, all the popular girls are on the squad,” Nathaniel echoed. I could see his lip twitching as he tried to hold in a laugh.
“Nathaniel, are you one of those cheerleader haters?” Nicole put on a frowny face and leaned forward for maximum cleavage exposure. Nathaniel looked. Of course he looked. She practically was shaking her breasts in his face. If he wasn’t careful, a wayward nipple was going to take out one of his eyes. Okay, so it would have been impossible for him not to notice. However, he didn’t have to keep noticing. It was like his eyes had homing beacons on her boobs.
“Who could hate you?” Nathaniel answered, finally pulling his gaze away from her chest. I fought the urge to choke on all the cheesy lines floating around. I guess this was one type of reindeer game he was comfortable playing.
Nicole shoved him lightly, one of those pushes that’s really just an excuse to touch a guy’s arm.
“Well, I guess we’d better start that practice, huh?” My voice came out louder than I expected. Both Nathaniel and Nicole looked over at me in surprise.
“I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of school spirit,” Nathaniel said. “You guys have fun.”
“You can watch us if you want,” Nicole invited in a purry voice.
“No, you can’t.” The last thing I needed was Nathaniel watching me attempt one of my deformed cartwheels. Nicole scowled like a pouty child who’d been told that playtime was over.
“I’ve got calculus anyway,” Nathaniel said.
“Maybe next time?” Nicole asked.
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Nathaniel ambled off to the kitchen. Nicole and I watched him walk away.
“So what was that?” I asked when I was sure he couldn’t hear us.
“What do you mean?”
I raised one eyebrow in response.
“What? He’s cute. He might be your brother, but you must have noticed.”
“He’s my stepbrother.”
“Same thing. You have to invite me to spend the night some time. He’s one I’d love to catch half-asleep,” Nicole said, licking her lips. An image of Nathaniel in his boxer shorts shot into my head. I forced it away on the off chance she could read minds.
“I’m not sure he’s looking to date anyone,” I cautioned.
Nichole suddenly looked concerned. “It doesn’t bother you that I like him, does it?”
“What? No, of course not.” But her suggestion made me blush.
“I mean, he’s your brother. It’s not like you could date him.”
I fought the urge to point out, again, that he was only my stepbrother.
“Plus, he’s not really your type,” Nicole added.
Nicole’s eyes widened and her mouth made a tiny Life Savers O. I had a feeling I knew exactly what she meant. He was out of my league.
“Oh, you know—I picture you liking the typical bad boy. A tattooed guy who wears a leather jacket and plays in a band.” Her hands waved around as if she was trying to distract me from what she was trying hard not to say, which was that I was too low rent for someone like Nathaniel. “Hey, before we practice, do you think you could show me the attic, where they locked up the crazy Mrs. Wickham way back when?”
I was getting a crystal-clear idea of why Nicole wanted to be my friend. It had less to do with her desire to be all Mother Teresa to the new kid and way more with seeing me as her all-access pass to Morrigan … and Nathaniel.