Page 103 of Releasing 10
The line went dead.
“Fuck!” Slamming the phone down on the receiver, I picked it back up and slammed it down another three times. “Goddammit to hell!”
“Hey!” Caoimhe snapped, coming through the front hall and into the kitchen. “What did the phone ever do to you?”
“Is your sister really okay?” I came right out and asked—demanded, truth be told. “I already know everything about her, Caoimhe, so bear that in mind before you lie to my face.”
“If you already know everything about Liz, then why are you asking me?”
I narrowed my eyes. “She doesn’t have the flu, does she?”
“No, she does,” my babysitter replied. “She genuinely does have the flu.” Stepping around me, she moved for the stove, where mam had left lunch on the hob. “But she’s having one of her episodes, too.”
“Oh.” My heart sank into my ass. “Is it a bad one?”
“No, not like before,” she replied quietly. “But she’s had her medication readjusted, so she’s super out of it at the moment.” She shrugged before offering me a reassuring smile. “She’ll come around again. Lizzie’s like a boomerang. She always comes back to herself.”
Yeah, but what if she didn’t?
I wanted to know more about her illness, but nobody would explain it to me in any great detail, and Lizzie seemed as in the dark about it as I was.
I decided to lie, while mentally plotting my next move. “I’m going over to Gibsie’s for a few hours.”
“Uh, hello?” Caoimhe pointed to the ceiling. “Gibsie’s upstairs with Claire.”
Dammit. “Then I’m heading to Robbie’s.”
“Do I look like I came down in the last shower, Hugh Biggs?” Caoimhe planted her hands on her hips and gave me a hard look. “Where are you really going?”
“To Robbie’s,” I doubled down and told her before heading outside to the garage. “Hand on my heart.”
“Hmm.” Caoimhe followed after me, looking wary. “And your Mam agreed to this?”
Well, she neverdisagreed, and I planned on capitalizing on the lack of parental warning.
“Yep.” Pushing my bike out of the garage, I hopped on and pedaled down the driveway. “I’ll see ya later.”
“Be safe on the roads, Hugh!” she called after me.
Pedaling like a demon through town, I cycled on the footpaths until they were replaced with country roads.
I wasn’t worried about the traffic whizzing past me or the potential of taking a wrong turn. I was a confident cyclist and had an excellent memory. I would find my way to her. If it was the last thing I did.
Forty-five minutes later, when I cycled past the signpost for Robin Hill Road, I felt a surge of pride that I had managed to find my way without any help. When I reached the gates of Old Hall House a few minutes later, the property looked just as impressive as I remembered.
There was a little pedestrian gate to the side of the driveway that her family never bothered to lock up, so I slipped through there with my bike before biking up the graveled driveway to the house.
Mike was coming out of the house when I reached the courtyard. “Hugh?” His brows shot up in surprise. “I didn’t know you were calling, son.”
“Yeah,” was all I decided to say, while I hopped off my bike and pushed it up the rest of the way. “I’ll head right in, if that’s okay?”
“Suit yourself, lad,” he replied with a shrug before heading off in the direction of the stables. “Elizabeth’s in her room.”
Letting myself inside, I made a beeline for the imposing staircase, feeling my heart race with every step I took. When I reached her bedroom door, I slipped inside without knocking.
“Liz?” When I saw her curled up in a ball on the middle of her bed, I swear I felt my heart crack. Moving straight for her, I didn’t stop until I was sitting on the mattress next to her. “Liz, are you awake?”
Nothing.
