sitting room and dropped down near the outlet of what appeared to be a cable hookup. The empty apartment still looked like something from 1902, but it had been updated.
“If we aren’t going back,” he said, studying the hookup, “we’ll have to buy a new TV and DVD player. Wade, you can set the player up for me.”
Wade blinked. “Not going back? Not ever? What about our stuff ?”
Philip looked back at him. “What stuff? We brought most of our clothes along, and everything else was Maggie’s.”
That was true, and Eleisha had been banking on at least one of them reasoning this. She mentally searched for an opening to drop the next bomb.
Wade provided it.
“Well, it’s not far to dawn,” he said, sighing. “We should at least call for a cab and find a hotel. Even if we decide to buy this place, it’s not like everything is going to happen overnight. We’ll have to negotiate an offer, get the church inspected, get it appraised, and set up a closing date to sign papers. Do you both want to live in a hotel for a month?”
“No,” Eleisha answered quietly.
His forehead wrinkled as he looked at her.
She held up the keys. “I leased the building for thirty days.”
“What?”
“The deacons’ committee is so motivated to sell that they agreed to some unusual requests . . . and I paid them four thousand dollars to let us have the place for a month. I told them we’d need to see if it suited us, but that was a lie. I knew once when I got here, I wouldn’t want to leave.”
Philip stood up, and even he appeared surprised by this announcement.
“Come and look,” she said, letting Wade walk ahead of her through the archway toward the bedrooms. She showed him each room in turn. They were charming, with more white molding and slanted ceilings. All three of them contained new beds made up with new sheets, blankets, and pillows.
“I’m using the same real estate agent who’s representing the deacons,” she said. “That means if she sells to us, she gets to keep both commission fees. So . . . she was willing to go slightly beyond the call of duty. We don’t need to go to a hotel.”
Philip was waiting in the hallway. He glanced through a door at the nearest bed. “I’ll get our suitcases from upstairs. Wade will want his deodorant and toothpaste.”
He turned around and left.
Eleisha watched him go, waiting until he was up the stairs—keeping her back to Wade. “I’ll handle the negotiations,” she said. “We don’t need a loan. I can sell some stock and buy the place with cash.”
She couldn’t bring herself to look at Wade.
“Please,” she whispered. “Please say we’re home.”
He was quiet for a little while, and then he said, “Okay.”
For the last few nights, Julian had felt almost . . . calm.
Mary had managed to locate Eleisha within twenty-four hours and returned to report that Eleisha was living in a house on Queen Anne Hill with a “hot vampire” and a “skinny blond guy.” Julian mulled over this information carefully, knowing that the house had belonged to Maggie. It surprised him that Philip would ever consent to staying in one place that long, as he had a tendency to leave bodies lying around. Julian knew almost nothing of the blond man Eleisha had referred to as “Wade,” but the very thought of her and Philip existing in the same house with a mortal was baffling.
Even Eleisha had never exhibited behavior quite that bizarre.
Regardless of these mysteries, only one fact mattered. Mary had confirmed that Eleisha was still in Seattle. So, neither Philip nor Eleisha seemed to be coming after him, and they were both safely across the ocean on another continent.
That was all he cared about for now: that they stayed away from him.
So, although having to listen to Mary grated on his nerves, she had managed to bring him some peace—even though she’d whined like a child when he ordered her back to Seattle.
It infuriated him that he couldn’t just banish her back to the other lost souls.
But he’d neglected to mention that her servitude might be required for a long time, as it was possible he’d need to keep permanent tabs on Eleisha. He thought it best not to give Mary such information yet; better to control her with a mix of fear and the hint of promises.
In the end, at least she’d obeyed him and gone to keep watch. As he