Page 85 of Crazy Spooky Love
What’s happening down there?
Donovan’s chucked us out, we’re in the garden. Be careful, he’s crazy.
Can you get Richard and Jojo into the cellar without being seen?
There’s a pause, and then,
Yes, I thinkso.
Good. Meet me there in five minutes.
I click my phone off and put it in the back pocket of my jeans, then thank the gods of good timing that Douglas chooses thatmoment to saunter in. I don’t miss the way he looks at Fletch, as if he is envious of his beating heart and ability to kiss my hand if he choseto.
“What did I miss?” he asks.
“Douglas, I need your help. Can you please go up and ask Isaac to meet me in the cellar right away? It’s vitally important that he comes as quickly as possible.”
He nods, all traces of his usual easy humor gone.
“Is this it, at last?” he asks, solemn, and I nod.
“I think it will be, yes.”
He looks at me as if he’d like to say more, and then he disappears.
I turn back to Marina, and to Fletch who’s been twitching the gray net curtains to keep an eye on the street while I do the stuff that makes him crazy.
“Done. Now I just need to get down to the cellar without being seen.”
Fletch listens out by the door. “They’re up in the attic. I’ll go up there and keep them talking. They don’t even know I’m here yet. The front door was open, and I just walked straight in.”
“It’s going to have to be enough,” I say. “Go now, but remember I need to get back up to the bedroom to search for the teddy bear when I’m done in the cellar.”
He goes out onto the landing and then sticks his head back around the door.
“Bittersweet…” he pauses. “Just be careful.”
And then he’s gone, and I can’t help but feel bolstered by the fact that Leo turned out to be more loyal than Rolfe fromThe Sound of Musicand Fletch is potentially a superhero. Captain Haribo? That could so work for me. Is it any wonder I’m confused? When this is over, I might need to take a holiday to get my head around all of this. That’s assuming I live, of course, and I can find someone to take Lestat. Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen.
Marina kicks her high heels off and we tiptoe-run down the grand staircase, taking care not to draw attention to ourselves as we dash silently across the hall and slide into the cellar, exhilarated andterrified in equal measure as we lean against the wall and almost laugh as Artie comes bounding up the steps to meetus.
“There you are,” he says, his face a picture of fear, excitement, and pure relief at the sight ofus.
“It’ll take more than the likes of Donovan Scarborough to get rid of us,” I say, patting him on the arm in comfort.
“Even if he has completely lost the plot, which he categorically bloody has,” Marina adds, bending to put her shoes back on. “He’s gone right off the deep end.”
Isaac and Douglas both slide through the closed cellar door and join us on the small, square landing at the top of the steps. Isaac looks anxious, like a patient in a hospital waiting room about to hear his test results.
“Isaac and Douglas have just arrived,” I say.
Artie nods once. “And JoJo and Richard are over by the coal hatch.”
I’m thinking how to best organize the meeting when on the other side of the cellar door someone turns the key and locks us in, followed by the light click of high heels walking away across the hall tiles.
“Goddamn those bloody twins, not again!” I say, thinking fast. “Artie, get over there and out of the hatch quickly in case they try to block that exit too. Tell Richard and Jojo I’ll be over in a second.”
He takes the stairs two at a time, galvanized, and I turn to Isaac and Douglas.
