How to Rattle an Undead Couple - Hailey Edwards Page 0,13
from Cruz to Linus and then to me. “You guys inspired us. Lethe and Hood have just adopted Kaleigh, and you’re about to pop. There will never be a better time in our lives to have a kid.” He smiled at Cruz. “Or two.”
I fought off tears, but for good reason this time. “They’ll all grow up together.”
Footsteps pounded across the porch as Hood returned from the quick trip next door. “Ready to go?”
“Yep.” I hooked my arm through Linus’s, and he led me out and then down the front steps. “Phew.” I swear there didn’t used to be that many steps between the porch and the ground. “That’s a workout.”
The others, wisely, didn’t say a word as I caught my breath, aided by the warm rush of energy swirling through my soles and up my legs as Savannah greeted me.
The wards around Woolworth House dampened my bond with the city, but her presence rushed through me in startling clarity now that I was in direct contact with her.
As Linus helped me climb onto Moby’s spacious backseat, I was reminded of the days when Hood had played chauffeur to babysit me. I was grateful to have outgrown the need. Well, for the most part.
Linus and I held hands on the drive to his mother’s house. Had I not known the Grande Dame was missing, I wouldn’t have guessed it from the serene portrait made by her sprawling estate.
The Lawson family manor had always reminded me a little of Woolworth House, if Woolly had gone on a rampage through downtown, eaten all the other historical homes, then vomited them in a heap at the end of a rolling lawn. The architectural styles clashed so loudly, my ears rang each time I beheld it.
Federal. Georgian. Italianate. Regency.
For all its faults, the Lawson manor cut an imposing figure, and the extravagant landscaping went a long way toward drawing the eye, well, away from said figure.
“The front door is still open,” I noted as Hood parked as close to the steps as possible. “The driver is a quick thinker.”
Marco might have disturbed the scene during his panicked search for the Grande Dame, but he left once he grasped the scope of the problem and kept everything as he found it.
Linus and I exited the vehicle and began combing the driveway, hoping for dropped earrings or other clues, but the pristine gravel made it impossible to notice anything amiss. A pity Savannah had no sense of individuals, or I could ask her. But as a city only recently woken and given voice, through me, she was still learning to communicate as much as I was learning to comprehend her. We would have to leave it to the gwyllgi’s heightened senses of smell to determine if there was any cause for alarm.
Hood must have come to the same conclusion. Crimson magic splashed up his legs, and he shifted as Lethe trotted around the side of the house and bayed to him in welcome.
The pair began working the property together, and Linus and I muddled up the steps to the grand entrance.
The driver’s voice carried to us. “Shall I wait out here?”
“Yes, please.” I trusted my magic when it cleared him, but I didn’t always know the right questions to ask upfront, and I wanted to speak to the maid alone to get her impressions without him present. “We’ll call for you shortly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
A slight woman frozen in the prime of her life hovered in the doorway, and her presence sent a shiver up my spine. She was dressed in formal maid attire. Not the French maid look, but a simple black dress that hit her knees with a plain white apron and sensible black leather shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a severe bun that gave me a sympathy headache, and a white headpiece that reminded me of a neatly folded napkin topped off the look.
“I’m Josephine, miss.” The vampire curtsied beautifully. “How can I be of service?”
“Can you answer a few questions for us?” I kept her occupied while Linus slipped away to begin searching the house room by room. He was intimately familiar with its layout and its contents. Plus, it saved me from all that unnecessary walking. “Marco tells me the Grande Dame was preparing for the baby shower, but that she disappeared between asking him to load the car and him pulling around to pick her up out front.”
That gave her assailants a narrow window of opportunity to snatch her and