Drop of Doubt (43 page)

"Shit," Gabriel squeezed my hand. "Okay, you and I are leaving."

"We just got here," I said. “We need to get inside."

"No, we need to go somewhere else. You aren't taking on this fucker-head."

I grunted. "We don’t know if he’s here. We’re supposed to stop him if he is, aren’t we? I can do it. Leave if you want but I want to go in with Luke. I don't want to leave him to deal with this alone."

"Maybe we should stick together on this one," Luke said. "This guy gets to us by separating us. Let's just find a way in. We’ll get inside, find Victor, tell the guards to do a security sweep. Maybe that’s what Volto did. He broke the security system somehow."

Gabriel groaned. "I hate break-in missions." He released my hand and moved to stand next to the gate. He hunched over, putting his hands together.

Luke approached him and planted his foot in Gabriel's palms. Gabriel hoisted him high enough that Luke could scale the gate, landing with a soft thud on the other side.

Gabriel hunched over again. “Sang?”

I dashed over, planting my foot into his hands. He held me close, and I hung on to his shoulders. He pushed me up. I found a foothold in the groove of the wrought iron and was able to angle myself over the top. When I slipped down the iron bars, Luke caught me by the waist.

Gabriel climbed like a monkey up and over the gate. When he was safe beside us, he started grunting, clutching at his leg. “Shit,” he said. “I hope I didn’t just break a stitch.”

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Peachy. Let’s go inside. I want a bath. Let’s skip school tomorrow and go to the spa.”

As we approached the main house, I fell in behind Gabriel and Luke. I didn’t want to chicken out, but it was a comfort to have them standing in front of me. The front porch was dark. A few lights on deep within the house were the only sign someone might be up.

I kept waiting for security to come around the corner. Didn’t Victor ask me before not to climb the wall? How come we just had and nothing was happening? I had thought at first that running into Morgan security guards would be horrible, but not meeting them now was even more frightening.

Luke pushed the doorbell on the side of the massive, two-door entryway. I worried we might wake up Victor’s parents. Or maybe that would be a good thing. Wouldn’t they understand we were here and worried about Victor? And to make sure the security system worked?

Something jogged my memory. Wasn’t his parents supposed to be gone at some point? Staying at some hotel? Maybe no one was home.

Luke stepped back, peeking in the windows. “It’s really quiet,” he said.

“It’s two in the morning,” Gabriel said.

Luke rang again, knocking on the door after. “I hope I don’t have to climb in a window. I don’t want to get shot.”

Before we could figure out if we should try, the front door started to rattle as if someone behind it was unlocking a series of security locks. I stepped behind Gabriel more, dropping my head behind his shoulder and peeking around it.

The door opened a crack. The pale girl with the plain face and brown hair popped her head out. She glanced at Luke and Gabriel and seemed surprised to see them. “Mr. Taylor,” she said. “Mr. Coleman, what are you two doing ...” her voice faltered when she spotted me. Her eyebrows lifted in more surprise, and with something else, but in the darkness, I didn’t quite catch it. “Miss Sorenson?” she said, though her voice dropped an octave.

My nerves rattled as she said my name. How did she know my full name?

“Sorry to bug you, Muriel,” Luke said. “Do you know what happened to security? The gate wouldn’t open.”

“We’re not allowed to let anyone in,” she said. “Mr. Morgan ...”

“It’s an emergency,” Luke said. “Can you let us in? We need to check on something.”

Muriel pursed her lips. “I’m not allowed. I was told not to let anyone in.”

“Can you tell Victor to come down?” Gabriel asked, stepping up. “Seriously, we need to talk to him.”

“He’s not seeing anyone,” Muriel said. She turned her head, as if she heard something from inside the house. She turned back quickly. “I have to go. I’m sorry. I can’t let anyone in.”

Gabriel stepped forward, putting his foot in the door before she could shut it all the way. “Look,” he said. “We don’t have time for whatever he told you ...”

“No,” Luke said. He planted a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “It’s okay.” He addressed Muriel. “Sorry to bug you. We’ll go.”

Muriel looked relieved. Gabriel slid his foot out and she shut the door. She threw a bunch of locks on the other side and everything went quiet.

“What are you doing, Luke?” Gabriel asked. “We need to—“

“Not here,” Luke said. He started signing to me, “
Let’s get back to the car and pretend we’re leaving.”

I followed the boys back to the gate, unsure what Luke wanted. We were quiet. I was unsteady thinking he assumed someone could listen in on us. I tried to will my heart to calm and trust that I was with Gabriel and Luke. They knew what to do.

On the other side of the gate, we got into the car. Luke turned toward us. “I don’t like this,” he said. He found my phone. “I don’t want to use this, but we need Mr. Blackbourne.”

“Why wouldn’t she let us in?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Luke said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s no security here. We’ve crawled all over that place. Gabriel even nearly pushed his way past Muriel, and no one showed up. The power’s on, so security had to have been turned off from the inside.”

Luke started dialing when something caught my eye. A familiar dark brown sedan was parked in the driveway of the house being renovated across the street. I snagged Luke’s wrist. “Wait,” I said.

He looked up. Gabriel did, too. They followed my gaze to the car.

“Mr. Morris?” Luke asked. “Isn’t that his car?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Shit,” Gabriel said. “He followed us.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “He was supposed to be following Mr. Blackbourne tonight.”

Luke looked back at the brown car. “So he followed Mr. Blackbourne here?”

“I don’t know,” I said. I nudged at Gabriel’s arm. “Let me out.”

“Fuck no.”

“Let me go talk to him,” I said. “Let me find out what he knows. Maybe he’s seen something.”

Gabriel grunted, looking at Luke. “Aren’t we supposed to take her home?”

Luke smirked at him. “You’re sounding a lot like North right now.”

Gabriel’s eyes went wide. “See what you’re doing to me, Trouble?” He caught the door handle and shoved it open.

I wedged myself out. “You two stay here. I don’t want to scare him into thinking we’re after him.”

Gabriel shoved a finger in my face, pointing at my nose. “You better be right about this. And don’t get hurt.”

I feigned like I was going to bite his finger and he diverted and chopped me on the head. I dashed away before he could get me again.

The brown car was dim on the inside. I dashed across the street, trying to be obvious so I wouldn’t scare him. Part of me wanted to make sure it wasn’t Volto again, just in case I was wrong. The window rolled down as I got close. Mr. Morris peered out at me.

“What the hell is going on?” he asked.

“I was hoping you knew,” I said. I tried to think of something I could tell him that was honest. “We got here and the security system isn’t working.”

“It hasn’t been working since earlier today,” he said. “Mr. Blackbourne and that tall kid hopped the gate, too.”

My heart lifted. “So they were here?”

“They’re still here,” he said. He pointed to a car parked a block down the road. “They showed up in that around four this afternoon. I’ve been waiting here for hours.”

I didn’t understand. Did they give Mr. Morris the slip? But if that was true, they didn’t come back for the car. We hadn’t heard from them, either. Have they been here all this time? “Did anyone else show up?”

“The rich one who lives here. He showed up. But the side gate opened for him. After that point, though, everything’s been quiet. Lights were going on and off inside at intervals.” Mr. Morris shoved a palm over his brow. His eyes drooped. “I’m about to give up. I need to get back. I’ve got class tomorrow. This whole thing is ridiculous.”

“I can take over from here,” I said. “I went to the door and the maid basically said no one was home.”

Mr. Morris shrugged. “Someone’s been up. The second and third floor lights keep switching.”

I turned to the house, noting how the second floor had two windows lit up, as if someone were awake. A window on the third floor, from what I thought was the office, was lit up as well.

My heart stopped. I wondered if Volto was up there now. Were we too late? Without security responding, he could walk right in.

Mr. Morris sighed. “Fuck it,” he said. “I’m getting out of here. Let me know if anything interesting happens.” He started his car. He pulled out, but waited until he was down the street before he flicked on his lights.

I stepped across the street quickly, heading toward the truck. Gabriel had the door open. “What in the world is going on?”

“I think Mr. Blackbourne, North and Victor are inside. He said he saw them enter. Victor’s car was accepted at the gate. Mr. Blackbourne and North had to scale the wall.” I relayed everything else to them.

Luke squinted. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “I don’t like this.”

“Well if they’re here, why are we?” Gabriel said. “They have this covered, right? It’s got to be they’re babysitting up there and they want us to pretend to be normal again. Maybe they’re waiting to catch him.” Gabriel curled his fingers at me. “Get in. We’ll get out of here.”

I shook my head, stepping back. Something was wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but if they had snuck in and hadn’t left for hours, there was a reason. I didn’t think we should leave them. “We need to get inside.”

“Sang,” Gabriel said, his voice so commanding that I almost mistook him for Kota. “If you don’t get into this car, so help me god—”

“No,” Luke said. “I want to go in, too.”

“What?” Gabriel asked. “You’re crazy!”

Luke’s face met mine. I don’t know how I understood him, but I did. He was asking me if I was ready for this, like how we broke into the house to steal the camera.

“We have to be sure,” I said. “We need to know what’s going on inside.”

––––––––

L
uke pulled the SUV up the road and around the corner, trying to make it look like we’d taken off in case anyone was watching from the house. He parked in front of a shop that was closed for the night.

“You all are nuts,” Gabriel said. “We’re going to get shot at.”

“No one’s here to shoot us. Stay behind if you want,” Luke said.

Gabriel made noises like he wanted to curse but they jumbled together into one smashed up word.

I followed the boys across the street, and to the edge of the wall. The neighborhood was quiet. I heard the echo of a tiny dog voicing his opinion. My lips parted and I found myself yipping back at it under my breath.

Gabriel chopped me on the head.

Luke pointed to the corner of the wall. “We should scale the wall instead of going over the gate,” he said. He hunched down, putting his hands out. “Gabriel.”

“I hate you both,” Gabriel said, though stage whispering now. He dropped his foot into Luke’s palms. Luke boosted him. He waited, sitting on the wall. I was next and Luke and Gabriel lifted me until I was on the wall.

Gabriel shifted, keeping himself on the wall by his stomach. He dropped his hands, reaching for Luke. Luke backed up, took a quick run at the wall. He seemed to nearly bounce off the wall, running up it before he snagged Gabriel’s hands. Gabriel gripped him, hauling him up.

When Luke was up, he dropped down quickly on the other side. Gabriel followed, landing next to him on the grass and spilling out. I didn’t wait for them, I dropped, landing on my hands and knees next to them, tucking myself into a short roll, knocking into Luke on the ground.

Luke chuckled. “Did anyone mention you fall like an angel?”

“Or a bag of rocks?” I asked. “That’s what it feels like. I’m good at crash landings.”

Luke got up, wiped at his pants and then caught my hands, pulling me up.

“Did I mention I hate both of you?” Gabriel said. He had his hand on his thigh. “I’m pretty sure I busted a stitch that time.”

“Considering you got stapled,” Luke said, “that’s pretty impressive.”

Gabriel halfheartedly kicked at Luke’s leg before he rolled onto his stomach and did a push up. He got up, leaning heavily on the good leg. “Okay. What now?”

“Over here,” Luke said. He tucked into the corner of the lot. “Quiet mode from here on. I don’t want anyone on the inside knowing we’re coming.”

We followed Luke who seemed to be able to see in the dark. He headed into the yard, along the edge, using the deeper shadows of the trees and bushes against the street lights and the thin glow of the moon through clouds. I couldn’t tell much about the layout of the massive yard. I stumbled along, seeking out Luke’s back, placing my hand on it so I wouldn’t lose him in the dark.

He reached back, finding my hand and taking it in his. When Gabriel was close behind, I reached for his hand. He squeezed mine, holding on. This was what kept my heart from exploding, having them beside me.

We slowed as we got close. We approached the broader part of the house. Luke led us toward the front, but kept to the shadows along the edge. He hefted himself onto the porch, and then climbed the ledge of the handrail that surrounded the porch. He inched his way to the corner by the outside wall. He motioned to me, pointing to the second floor balcony
.

I let him help me up the edge of the porch. When I was beside him on top of the handrail, he put his hands around my hips.

I was about to turn, looking for what I was supposed to be grabbing on to when Luke swooped in on me. I felt his lips press to my face. He lingered only for a moment, kissing my cheek, warming my skin.

I stopped, forgetting what I was doing, blinking wildly out into the darkness. My heart had been pounding, but with Luke and Gabriel there, I was okay. Suddenly my heart was so loud in my ears, I thought everyone could hear it.