curiosity was burning. I needed to know the mysterious reason for this whole Thanksgiving trip. What was so important here at D'Ath Estate that he'd suffer through me meeting his grandmother?
"Wait up," I snapped when I needed to actually run a bit to catch up to him, and he gave me a side-eyed look. "I'm sure we're not in any great hurry, so quit walking at double my pace just to piss me off. It's childish."
Archer rolled his eyes, then stopped outside a closed wooden door. He pulled an old-fashioned key from the pocket of his jeans and inserted it into the lock. The tumblers clunked heavily as he turned the key, then the hinges squealed as he pushed the door open to reveal a dark room.
"After you, Princess Danvers," he told me, holding his hand out in challenge. The interior of the room was pitch black and smelled musty, like it hadn't been opened in years. I hesitated. "Unless you're scared of the dark?"
I scowled at him. "Only if that darkness hides creepy look-alike dolls or masked men with pretty red knives." But because I could never freaking back down from a challenge, I stepped into the gloom without another pause.
My shoulders bunched, and I tensed myself for an attack. Not because I still suspected Archer of being the one who’d stabbed me—I was at least ninety-seven percent sure he had some interest in keeping me breathing—but because that would be the kind of school-bully bullshit that was right up his alley.
Nothing jumped out at me, though, and when Archer flipped on the light, I let out my held breath with a long exhale.
His quiet snicker said he hadn't missed it, either, and I seethed that he'd got one up on me. This time.
"So brave, Madison Kate," he murmured, flipping a lock of my hair when he walked past me. "I wonder how long that will last."
I scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He didn't answer me, instead walking around the enormous wooden desk of what was clearly an office. Certainly not Constance's office, though, and not of anyone who'd used it recently, if the thick layer of dust on all the surfaces was any clue.
"Was this your grandfather's office?" I asked, peering around at the bookshelves, the ornate globe, the gold-framed paintings... It was definitely a masculine workspace.
Archer grunted a sound that I assumed to be, "Yes, MK, it was."
He stood in front of a huge portrait of a strikingly handsome man with jet black hair and dark eyes. The resemblance to Archer was uncanny; they could have been brothers.
"Is that him?" I pushed, feeling the need to fill the silence. No one had stepped foot in this room for a long time, and it made me wonder why the staff hadn't cleaned, at the very least.
I thought of Constance and Ana's relationship and wondered how Phillip had factored into that. Had he known? And if so, had he supported them?
"How long ago did he die?" I asked instead, coming to stand beside Archer and peering up at his handsome ancestor.
"Six years," he replied, his voice rough. I got the feeling he missed his grandfather, but the emotions there were confused. Like maybe his grandfather wasn't the nicest guy on Earth. Archer let out a long sigh, then reached for the edge of the frame. "This is what we came to see, though." He curled his fingertips under the frame and pulled it off the wall. It swung out easily, hinged on the other side, and revealed a mechanical keypad with a blinking blue light on the display.
"Uh... we came to break into his safe?" I asked, startled but not disapproving. If there was some evidence that might help me locate whoever tried to kill me, I'd do just about anything.
Archer's lips pulled up in a half smile. "Something like that. It's also not breaking in when I own it."
He keyed in the passcode, not bothering to hide it from me, and that made me suspicious. He sure as shit didn't trust me, so did that mean he planned to kill me one day?
When the light turned green and the mechanical lock bleeped, the entire wall panel clicked open to reveal a room beyond. Halogen lights flickered to life as Archer pulled the hidden door open wider, and I stifled a gasp of shock.
"Yeah, Phillip was an interesting character, that's for fucking sure," Archer muttered.