Chapter 14 #2
Lydia stopped her a yard from the front door. “What could he want? What should we do?”
Beatrix bit her lip. “Let me handle it, I think. Excuse yourself at the first opportunity. If he’s here for reconnaissance, we don’t want to make it easy.”
“Right,” Lydia said, without even glancing at Rosemarie to gauge her opinion.
As they entered, the man got to his feet, smiling in an apologetic way. “Could you spare a few minutes, Miss Harper? Miss Beatrix Harper, I mean.”
“A few, Wizard—?”
“Garrett. Theo Garrett.”
Lydia murmured something about starting lunch and slipped away to the kitchen, Ella trailing behind. Miss Massey looked as if she wanted to stay, despite her protestations of strain, but followed in their wake after a moment of hovering.
Rosemarie did not leave. She sat in the rocking chair, smiling blandly—to all appearances the matronly chaperone. Beatrix frequently found herself at odds with her, but Rosemarie was exactly what the doctor ordered when you happened to be in a tight spot.
“More tea?” Beatrix glanced up as she poured herself a cup, taking in the tray of little sandwiches with dismay. How long had he been left on his own while Miss Massey was off in the kitchen?
“I’ve had plenty, thank you.” He set his cup down and focused the full force of his attention on her. A bit unnerving. “Miss Harper, why are you of all people working for Peter Blackwell?”
She tried to fashion a smile as bland as Rosemarie’s. “Wizards do not take no for an answer.”
He raised his eyebrows. They were a light copper—he’d clearly had unusual hair even before the rest of it turned silver. “Wizards or Omnimancer Blackwell?”
“What if I’d said I didn’t have a few minutes for you, Wizard Garrett?”
His laugh was unexpected. The man had a sense of humor. “Then perhaps I should be asking why he wanted you to work for him.”
“He would be in a better position to answer that than I.” She took a sip of tea.
Wizard Garrett leaned forward and dropped his voice to a murmur. “May I be frank?”
“Please.”
“Blackwell worked in research and development for the Army before he quit in the middle of a sensitive project. We’re trying to determine why. Your country would appreciate any assistance you can offer.”
Yes, definitely not a chauffeur. She set her teacup down. “Was he a soldier?”
“No.”
“Then quitting would seem to be perfectly legal.”
He quirked his lips in a mischievous half-smile. “I’ve been charged with determining whether all is as it seems.”
“Is it wise to reveal this to your target’s assistant?”
“Unwilling assistant.”
“True,” she agreed. “I am. And what are you, Wizard Garrett?”
“A problem-solver. Perhaps I can solve your problem and mine in one fell swoop.”
He looked at her expectantly. She sighed.
“I dearly wish I were able to tell you something of use, but I’m afraid I am not,” she said, hoping he would pick up on her true meaning. She cleared her throat, which was developing a coat of pomegranate residue.
“What does Blackwell have you assist with?”
“Brewing, predominantly.”
“Have you seen him work on anything that appears unrelated to the needs of this town?”
“Not so far,” she said. Even the elaborate trap he’d sprung on her was about omnimancing—though what he planned to do with the time he’d freed up for himself remained to be seen.
Garrett stood, extracted a card from a coat so dark green it was nearly black and handed it to her.
Wizard Theo Garrett, it said, and under that, United States Army—no title or rank.
The D.C. address paired with the 703 area code in his telephone number strongly suggested that he worked at the Pentagram.
“Would you keep an eye out for anything untoward?”
“If there’s anything I can”—she paused—“manage to communicate to you, that would make me very happy.”
Garrett looked at her intently. “Even if it lands him in prison?”
More pomegranate ghosted up her throat. “Yes,” she croaked.
She saw him to the door, accepted his thanks and watched him teleport from her driveway to destinations unknown, making a sucking sound as he went that ended with a pop.
“Well,” Rosemarie said. “I think we’d better talk to Miss Massey, don’t you?”
They found her slumped at the table, like a tire with all the air let out.
“Oh,” she whispered, “I just didn’t know what to do. I’ve never been that close to a wizard before.”
“Come with us into the garden and get some air,” Beatrix said, helping her up before she could think to demur. “It’ll do you good.”
Once they were safely out of the house, Beatrix said: “I’m so sorry you had to go through that by yourself. However did you manage to occupy him and make the tea at the same time?”
“I couldn’t!” Miss Massey wrung her hands. “I had to leave him in the sitting room. He was so understanding, but I was mortified.”
“Surely it was only for a few minutes.”
“Nearly ten,” her boarder said, sighing deeply.
“I’m certain Wizard Garrett wasn’t upset,” Rosemarie said, giving Beatrix a look over Miss Massey’s head that made clear she too was thinking of everything he might have done in nearly ten minutes. Yes, Rosemarie was exceedingly good to have on your side when things went wrong.
They were past the vegetable garden now and at the gazebo Beatrix’s father had built at the edge of the forest. Beatrix, persuading Miss Massey to have a seat, linked arms with Rosemarie so they could take another turn around the garden without looking suspicious.
“I don’t think we should take his word for it that he’s here to investigate Blackwell,” she murmured in Rosemarie’s ear.
“Very convenient that he turned up when all of us save one were out. Miss Massey’s headache might have been a ruse so she could stay behind. Or not, in which case Ella could have tipped him off.”
“Or he kept an eye on our movements and pounced at the first opportunity,” Beatrix said, hoping that was the right answer.
Rosemarie made a disgusted sound that Beatrix thought was a reaction to her effort at optimism. But no: “We can’t talk about anything important in the house now, you realize. He could have hidden listening devices in the sitting room and dining room even if Miss Massey wasn’t in on it.”
“And in every room of the house if she is,” Beatrix said, developing a headache of her own.