Aunt Midge let Avery and Tilly hash over the details of the last few days while she finished the hemline of the gorgeous gown. When she finally stood, she arched her back and stretched her arms up over her head. “Off you go.” She helped Tilly down. “That’s about enough of you being twice my height. Wilder will be here for our early dinner in an hour. You’ve got some serious packing to finish before we leave for the airport tonight, Matilda Marie.”
When Avery began to follow Tilly to her bedroom to help, Aunt Midge stopped her with a hand on her arm. “I’d like a word.” Tilly shot a worried look over her shoulder and hastily entered her bedroom, shutting the door. When Aunt Midge said she’d like a word, it typically meant she was unhappy with one of them.
“Auntie, I’m sorry—” Avery began. It was always a good idea to get in front of it.
“Hmm,” Midge interrupted, shaking her head. “You know I try not to interfere.” She placed a hand on each side of Avery’s face, gently forcing her full, silent attention from several inches lower. “But you are my beloved niece. You and Tilly mean more to me than my own life. I do hope you realize that? Your parents entrusted me to keep the two of you safe and healthy. That’s not easy to do if you’re working against me.”
Avery nodded. “You’re right.”
“No more secrets between us, Avery. Not one more. Please, if not out of concern for your and your sister’s lives, then for my own sanity.”
Avery’s eyes widened. “Auntie.” She bent, pulling the woman’s small frame into an embrace. “Tilly’s safety, all of our safety, is my greatest priority. I’ll absolutely tell you if anything strange happens again, I promise.”
“Wonderful.” Midge loosened her hold. “Now go ahead; I’m glad you’re home early. Your sister needs some assistance packing. She’s had her suitcase at the foot of the stairs since nine this morning, and I believe all she’s got in it are your mother’s floral scarves.”
Avery lugged Tilly’s suitcase back up to her room. Why on earth had she thought it made sense to pack like that, trips up and down the staircase? By the time Wilder arrived to take them to dinner, Tilly’s and Aunt Midge’s bags were neatly waiting by the front door and Avery had even put together a little carry-on package with miniature Snickers bars, a small blank journal, mint chewing gum, a compact coloring book and colored pencil set, and fuzzy pink socks with pictures of kittens all over them. Tilly’s audition was at eleven tomorrow morning, and if it went well, she’d have the opportunity to be part of a prospective student showcase tomorrow evening. Avery had a momentary pang, wishing she was going with them; but then Halston would have to be boarded for two days and she’d fall behind on the MOA job.
At the O’Shannahan, Lilac Grove’s pub and the best seafood place around, Tilly perused the London Conservatory of Music’s website, reading little tidbits of information aloud to the group at the table. The school had been founded in 1928 and had concert facilities in London, LA, and Nashville, though only the London site had an education center. If Tilly was accepted for a callback based on her audition, Avery would be able to watch her in the live-streamed showcase.
“I can hardly believe you might be away in London this fall,” Wilder said, smiling at Tilly. “Do you remember being there as girls? You must have been only eight or so, right? Your aunt and I tried to make sure we hit all the major attractions in that brief trip.” He looked at Midge.
“Good memory,” Midge told him. “Tilly was seven and Avery a squirrely fourteen when we took them. What a lovely trip,” she said, reaching across the table and giving Wilder’s outstretched hand a quick squeeze.
Tilly spoke. “I can’t wait to see it again. If they accept me. I don’t remember much.”
“I remember,” Avery said, swallowing a bite of deep-fried butterflied shrimp. “You sucked up all our time at Buckingham Palace trying to make the guards smile. Or laugh, or even just react. You wouldn’t budge when we had to leave; you threw yourself down on the pavement and pitched a fit until Aunt Midge said she wasn’t going to let you feed the pigeons unless you stopped.”
“I have no memory of that,” Tilly said. “It must not have been that bad.”
Wilder chuckled.
“Oh, it was bad,” Aunt Midge said. “Now’s your chance at a do-over.”
Tilly nodded. “I know I can get a reaction out of one of them. I’ll try harder this time.”
Laughter erupted among the foursome at the table. “I don’t think that’s what she meant,” Avery said. “But I’d love to see you try. You’re going to get in, Tilly. I’m sure of it. You’ve got Aunt Midge’s talent for singing.”
At the airport after dinner, Wilder unloaded the luggage from the back of his Subaru Forester. They all said their good-byes, and he and Avery stood and watched Midge and Tilly head toward security and the gates beyond until they weren’t visible anymore. On the way back to Lilac Grove, Wilder asked Avery if she’d thought much about the Emperor’s Twins dragon itself in terms of what made the medallion so important.
“From Mom and Dad’s notes, and everything I’ve learned about Chinese culture around the time of both the Xiang dynasty and the Han dynasty, which preceded it, dragons embodied good fortune and luck for those who were deserving. In Emperor Xiang’s case, my guess is the medallion was additionally significant because dragons convey imperial power.”
Wilder nodded. “Interesting. And aren’t rubies important in Chinese culture as well?”
“Yes, rubies are one of the most valued gemstones. They’re said to originate from Buddha’s tears. Which makes the absence of one of the medallion’s eyes a great loss, whether you look at it purely from a financial value standpoint or from a historical standpoint.”
“Well, you’ve taught me something,” Wilder said. “The whole case sounds fascinating.”
“My parents would have agreed with you,” Avery said. “It is pretty cool that I get to pick up where they left off. Micah and I hope to have the medallion on the lab counter in front of us by the end of this week.”
Wilder turned into the driveway to drop Avery off, and it struck her that he’d spent the last couple decades seeing Aunt Midge in the city, and now, since Avery’s parents had died, he’d been making the long trek all the way up here to Lilac Grove without a word of complaint. He lived on Riverside Drive on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, near the university where he taught. It hadn’t been necessary for him to drive Tilly and Midge to the airport tonight; Avery could have done it. But Wilder had insisted.
“Fingers crossed you’ll find you’ve got a long-lost dragon eye on your hands,” Wilder said, putting the car in park as Avery gathered her things.
She leaned across the front seat and kissed his cheek. “That’s the hope!” She got out and leaned down, peering through the window. “Thank you so much, Wilder, for dinner and for taking them to the airport. You’re the best. We’re all lucky to have you.” Maybe it was unnecessary to say so. But since losing her parents, she’d been trying to do better at telling the important people in her life what they meant to her.
He cleared his throat and shrugged. “Your aunt filled me in on what happened today . . . and on all the odd occurrences since you took this assignment. I’m not sure it’s safe for you to be here alone. Is there a friend you could call to stay the night with you?”
She shook her head. “No one close by.” It wasn’t exactly true. Hank was twenty minutes from here, south toward Manhattan. Not that she’d consider calling him. And her best childhood friend, Rachel, lived in Lilac Grove. Avery thought about her every time she ran through town past Mixed Bag, Rachel’s little secondhand shop. But she’d lost touch with her friends here when she moved to Philly, and she’d been consumed this past year with just getting through losing her parents as well as the reunion and then ugly breakup with Hank. She’d dropped the ball in the friendship arena in both states. She missed her old friend and roommate, Brianna, but she hadn’t reached out since she’d moved back. And she hadn’t seen Ra
chel since the funeral. She’d have to remedy that.
Wilder frowned. “Midge didn’t have any qualms about you being here on your own while they’re gone?”
She smiled. He was so sweet; she was twenty-five and he still worried about her—and about doing right by Midge. “I don’t think it crossed her mind. She did say, when she and Tilly spoke with the officer who took their call, he was going to pass everything on to the same pair of detectives who handled the accident last year. Aunt Midge said the officer didn’t seem to care much about the guy who came here today until she brought up the strange notes we’ve gotten and Halston smelling like Dad. The officer said they’d send someone out here right away if anything else happened.”
“Well, I suppose it’s all right then. I think I should still like to see you inside.” He exited his side of the Subaru and walked up the porch steps with her. “Did Midge or Tilly give the police a description of the man who came here?”
“They tried. They disagreed on some details. I guess he had a slouchy hat on and a scarf pulled up around his neck and chin; not much of his face was visible to describe. Probably on purpose,” she said, shuddering. She unlocked the front door, and Halston greeted them excitedly the moment they stepped into the foyer, his furry body dancing between them. The Afghan loved company. “I’ve got the best organic alarm system around,” she said, laughing.
Avery kept the promise she’d made Wilder. She and Halston went room to room and checked all the locks. The rich fried-seafood dinner and the nighttime drive to and from the airport worked like a drug on Avery. She’d been knocked out for what seemed like hours when Halston’s loud, jarring bark startled her awake. She sat up in bed, hearing the dog growl his way down the hallway toward the stairs. For a moment she was frozen. Should she get up? Where was her phone? What time was it?
“Hey,” she hissed. “Halston!” She kept her voice a loud whisper. She couldn’t hear the dog anymore. She didn’t hear anything at all. Heart pounding in her throat, she silently swung her legs out of bed, feet flat on the floor. She crept to her open doorway and then realized she hadn’t grabbed her phone from the nightstand. Once she’d tiptoed back and gotten it, she looked frantically around her bedroom for something else. Something to wield as a weapon. If someone was downstairs, what was she going to do? Creep down there in the candy-cane pajamas she should have put away after Christmas and nicely ask the intruder to please leave?
Her gaze rested on the gazelle sculpture her mom had given her on her twenty-first birthday. Wrought iron and with its legs outstretched midsprint, it’d have to do. Avery wrapped her fingers around the hind legs, surprised at how heavy it was. It had sat on her dresser the last four years, untouched except for when she pushed it around to dust. The gazelle represented Avery’s speed.
She peered out into the hallway from her bedroom, chest rising and falling quickly. She dialed 911, and when the dispatch operator picked up, she whispered, “Someone’s in my house. Nine-three-oh-eight Maplewood.”
“Ma’am? I can’t hear you. Can you repeat that? Can you get to a safe—”
Avery frantically hit the volume-down button, but she couldn’t silence the operator completely and she didn’t know how far down the hallway the woman’s voice on the other end of the line would carry. Her finger hovered over the red hang-up button, but then she thought of every mystery Tilly had ever made her watch. Could the police really trace a call and send help, like in movies?
Halston yelped from downstairs and Avery jumped, the phone flying out of her hand and hitting the floor with a thud. She sucked in her breath, eyes enormous, her fight-or-flight instinct kicking in and logical decision-making on hold. Halston half barked, half yelped again, an ear-piercing, dread-inducing sound, and Avery raced down the hallway, iron gazelle in her raised hand.
Chapter Ten
Avery took the stairs so fast she skipped the bottom four, crouching into her barefoot, silent landing and then running toward the office, where she could hear the dog’s muffled, distant barks along with scratching, scraping sounds. She stopped short as she reached the open office doorway, stunned to see a figure in dark clothes hunched over her mother’s desk, throwing papers and items out of the drawers. The intruder even had the gall to turn on the desk lamp so he could see better! Avery clenched her teeth together as she realized he thought no one was here. He thought he had the house to himself, except for the dog. Halston!
The scratching noises were coming from the closet door on the far wall, past William’s desk. Avery’s gaze darted back to the man at the same exact time he realized he was being watched. He made eye contact, registering shock. Avery couldn’t move. Her body was paralyzed, her limbs frozen. The man came straight for her.
Her body unfroze a split second before he barreled into her like a train. Avery threw herself into the doorjamb and out of the way. He brushed by her and her right hand swung round, the weight of the gazelle leading and hitting him hard on the back of his neck and shoulder before it slipped from her grip and struck the wall. She was already pushing off the doorframe and moving toward the closet as she heard him bellow in pain and slam onto the hardwood with a thud that shook the floor under Avery’s feet. Without thinking, she hoisted her father’s desk chair and heaved it at the window, relief washing over her for a moment when it shattered the glass and went through. She threw open the closet door, not allowing herself the split second it might’ve taken to hug the dog or look for injuries but instead shouting at him, terror smoldering around the edges of her command. “Halston! Come!”
The dog initially lunged straight toward the doorway and the man groaning and getting to his hands and knees in the hall just beyond. “No! Halston! Now!” She grabbed at his fur, grasping his collar, and he turned, whining but coming to her side. She climbed through the window, the glass shards catching and tearing her pajamas. As she balanced with one leg out the window, finding a foothold on the siding eight or ten feet from the ground, she saw the man get to his feet in the office doorway. Her heartbeat thudded wildly in her temples. She couldn’t pull the dog through with her; she had to trust that he’d obey. “Halston!”
She dropped to the ground, the dog came through almost on top of her, and they ran, Halston so close at her side that his fur brushed up against the skin of her leg through her torn pajamas every few seconds. Avery ran full throttle toward the nearest neighbor’s house, trying not to think about how long it’d take to cover the ten-acre distance between her house and theirs. The unsolicited thought that Halston normally trotted ahead of her, could easily outrun her, floated through Avery’s mind, and she pushed it away. He was with her and they were okay. That’s what mattered.
She chanced a look back and spun around, facing the house and slowing down. The figure was coming down the front steps toward a car he’d pulled right up onto the lawn by the porch. He threw something in, across to the passenger side—probably everything he’d just stolen from the office. It looked to be just one person. She hadn’t seen anyone else. Encased in the dark along the tree line and finally feeling her pulse begin to slow, Avery watched the car speed down the driveway. It turned left onto the road, away from town, kicking up gravel and dust. The taillights receded, and Avery and Halston began walking back toward the house, sirens breaking the night air from the direction of Lilac Grove and heading her way.
So it was true. They’d been able to track her location and send help. Her cell phone must still be connected somewhere upstairs in her room.
Avery made it back to the front yard, but the wide porch steps seemed impossible. She sat down in the cool grass, noodle legs collapsing beneath her. Halston leaned against her and awkwardly, slowly, lay down beside her. She put a hand on the side of his face, stroking his muzzle, and the big dog let out a forceful sigh and rested his head on the lawn. He was hurt. He must be. She’d heard him. What had that horrible person done to him to force him into the closet? Hot tears streaked down Avery’s cheeks, and she struggled to calm herself as police
cruisers pulled into the driveway. The more she worked to breathe deeply and calm down, the harder she cried and the worse she shook.
Two officers and a paramedic surrounded her, asking her questions: what happened, are you hurt, who broke into the house, what was taken, did you recognize the intruder, is the dog hurt.
At that she was finally able to speak, to get a few words out. The sound of her own voice scared her. The last time she’d sounded this way was the night of the accident, in their upside-down car. She focused on the paramedic in front of her. “I think he’s hurt.” She kept one hand lightly on Halston’s side, feeling his fast respirations, her stomach making a sickening, lurching motion at the knowledge that the dog would never normally remain lying down with all these people around. Halston unharmed would have been bounding to each one, soaking up the attention.
The paramedic—Bev, according to her name badge—was perfectly suited to her job. Her sympathetic expression calmed Avery more than she’d been able to calm herself so far. “He does seem to be pretty subdued. We’ll check him out. Tim?” she called over her shoulder.
A fellow paramedic joined her, carrying a large red bag. He crouched down beside Bev.
“Now, hon,” Bev spoke. “My friend Tim here is going to help this big fella, if you’ll let me check you over? Can I get your blood pressure?”
Avery nodded, and Bev went about unpacking items from the bag to get Avery’s vital signs. Avery gently stroked Halston. She wanted him to know she was there and would help him, the same as he’d done for her. Tim set a bright electric lantern on the grass, casting a circle of light around them. He gently ran gloved hands over Halston’s body, then began checking each leg.
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