Текст книги "Crowned and Moldering"

Автор книги: Kate Carlisle

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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

“Maybe not. But if this guy Dain goes missing, you’ll know who to call.”

“I don’t blame her for hating him.” I confessed what Dismal Dain had advised me back in my freshman year. After Mac had a good laugh, I told him Dain’s horrible advice to Lily.

“No, that’s impossible,” he said, shaking his head in disgust. “He sounds like the very opposite of a counselor.” He stared out the window for a few seconds, then back at me. “You’ve described a caricature. He doesn’t sound human. I know you’re not kidding, but I find it hard to believe someone like that is still employed.”

“You’re not the only one,” I muttered.

“No wonder Denise wanted to kill him,” he mused. “As if being in school and trying to figure out who you are, who you want to be, aren’t hard enough. I can understand why she was pounding that shovel so intensely now.”

I shivered at that image, and we spent the rest of the drive in silence.

Once we got home, Mac helped me carry the heavy bags back to my potting shed behind the garage.

“I promised you dinner,” he said as we walked back to the patio. “How do you feel about grilling steaks here instead of going out?”

“That sounds great. Much better than going out.”

“Good. I’ll run up to the store and get everything we need.” He pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me. “I had a good time at the nursery.”

“I did, too.”

He lifted my chin with his fingers and kissed me.

“There you are!”

We were both startled enough to jump away from each other. I turned to see who had spoken.

The girl standing at my open back gate was very beautiful and very young. And very blond, naturally. She wore a short black leather jacket, faded denim jeans, and boots. And she was grinning ecstatically at Mac.

Mac looked completely flummoxed. “Callie?”

I exhaled slowly, feeling myself deflate. Another blonde? And could she be any younger? What was with this guy? And what was with me for buying into his act again?

“I guess dinner’s off,” I said stiffly. “Have a good time with your ‘friend.’ See you around.” I walked away quickly and crossed the patio to my kitchen door, feeling like a complete idiot.

“What? Wait. No. Shannon!”

I didn’t stop; just kept climbing the steps. I had to get inside before I said something I would be sorry for later.

“Uncle Mac?” the blonde said. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”

I blinked and turned to take a second look.

Uncle Mac?

Chapter Nine

“Callie is my sister’s daughter,” Mac whispered while his niece locked up her bicycle.

I had sort of figured that out in the nick of time. “Do you know what she’s doing here?”

“I don’t have a clue.”

I was almost afraid to ask, but I went ahead. “Does your sister know she’s here?”

His forehead creased with concern. “Callie, does your mother know you’re here?”

She averted her gaze. “Um, not exactly. I thought we could maybe call her together.”

“So she’ll yell at me, not you?”

She bit her lip. “She probably won’t yell at you, Uncle Mac.”

He gave her a cynical look. “Who are you trying to kid?”

“I guess you’re right.” Callie sighed. “She yells at anyone who’s got to tell her bad news.”

That doesn’t sound good, I thought. Had this happened before? Did the girl run away from home often? And where did she live? Close enough that she could ride her bike to Mac’s garage apartment, apparently. So why hadn’t I heard about Mac’s sister and her daughter before now?

“Okay.” Mac pulled out his cell phone. “No time like the present to get yelled at.”

“Wait,” Callie said, grabbing Mac’s arm. “Here’s the thing. She’s in Brussels.”

“Brussels.” Mac repeated the word and stared at his niece as if he hadn’t understood her. “As in Belgium? As in Europe?”

“Yeah. She’s working on a trial over there.” Callie checked her wristwatch and calculated. “And it’s, um, about midnight there.”

He glared at the teenager. “So if I call her, I’m going to wake her up.”

“Yeah. So are you sure you don’t want to wait until morning?”

“No,” Mac said brusquely. “Because when it’s tomorrow morning in Brussels, it’ll be the middle of the night here.”

She grimaced. “Oh yeah.”

“I’d rather wake her up than have her wake me up.” He winked at me, letting me know he wasn’t quite as frazzled by all this family drama as he seemed.

“Let’s go inside,” I said. “It’s warmer and you’ll be able to hear the phone call better.”

“Good idea,” Mac said.

Callie lifted her backpack, and once she was in my kitchen she set it against the far wall.

I pointed to the table. “Have a seat.”

“You have a dog,” Callie said when Robbie presented himself to her. “What a cutie.”

“His name is Robbie and he’s really friendly.”

“Can I hold him?”

“Sure. He loves the attention.”

“Okay.” She sat down and patted her knees. Robbie hopped up onto her lap and gazed adoringly at her. “Oh, he’s so sweet.”

“He sure is,” I said, smiling. Anyone who liked my pets was okay with me. “Would you like a glass of water?”

“Yes, please.”

I poured three glasses and handed one to Mac, who stood leaning against the counter. He gave me a ragged look that I interpreted to mean, Holy Pete. I wasn’t expecting this.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. All I could think was, The weirdness continues. I wouldn’t be surprised by anything at this point.

I gave Callie her water and sat down at the table. Tiger, not to be outdone by the dog, immediately leaped onto my lap and made herself at home.

“How long has your mom been gone?” I asked Callie as I sipped my water.

She calculated in her head. “It’s been about ten days.”

“And you’ve been home alone all this time?”

“Oh no,” she said, stroking Robbie’s back. “Karl and Mavis are there.”

Mac filled me in. “Karl and Mavis work for my sister.”

“Like housekeepers?”

“More like bodyguards,” Callie said offhandedly. “Mavis cooks, too. Karl’s in charge of the grounds and he drives my mom to work.”

I stared wide-eyed at Mac. Wow, more things I didn’t know. The man was a constant surprise. “Your sister lives on an estate with bodyguards?”

Mac shrugged. “It’s complicated. And it’s not exactly an estate; just a few acres, but big enough to need a small staff. And her job is sort of odd. So, bodyguards.”

“Where do you live?” I asked Callie.

“Bel Air. That’s sort of next to Beverly Hills.”

“Right. I’ve heard of it.” No wonder Callie carried that sense of entitlement with her. Children of wealthy parents sometimes had it ingrained within them. It didn’t make her a bad person, just . . . entitled. I realized I couldn’t even tell her age, and I wondered if she was still in school.

And how did she get from Bel Air to Lighthouse Cove on her bicycle?

“How old are you, Callie?”

“Sixteen, but I’m practically seventeen.”

“In six months,” Mac pointed out casually. “That doesn’t quite qualify as practically.”

“But I’m mature for my age.”

Mac chuckled, but left it at that.

“Is Callie short for something?” I asked.

She smiled. “It’s short for Calla Lily.”

“That’s pretty.”

“I like it. It’s different. My mother was a flower child.”

“When she was young,” Mac added. “She grew up to be a shark.”

A little confused, I turned back to Callie. “Are you still in school?”

“Um.” She cast a cautious glance at her uncle, who was watching her every move. “Well, that’s the thing.”

Mac raised one eyebrow. “That’s the thing? Exactly what thing is that thing?”

She made an exasperated sound. “Uncle Mac, you’re being weird.”

“Uncles are supposed to be weird,” he said, as if that explained everything. It didn’t, of course, and I expected him to revisit her comment about that thing shortly. And if he didn’t, I would. Because now I was desperate to know what that thing was.

Mac still hadn’t made the call. I figured he wanted to hear Callie out completely first.

“What does your mom do, Callie?” I asked, although I was fairly certain I knew.

“She’s a lawyer.”

Just as I suspected. “Thus your shark reference.”

Mac grinned.

“So she’s a lawyer. That sounds interesting.” I sipped my water. “What kind of law does she practice that takes her to Europe?”

She pursed her lips in thought. “I’m not sure this is exactly right, but she calls it white-collar crime.”

“So her clients are businessmen?”

“Well, sort of, but not exactly.” Callie scratched behind Robbie’s ears and sent my little dog into spasms of ecstasy. Whatever else happened here today, my dog was seriously in love. “I mean, I suppose they have white collars, but they’re more like war criminals and drug kingpins than actual businessmen. And she worked with some mafioso guys a few years ago. And there was that gang member a while ago. Remember him, Uncle Mac?”

“Oh yeah.”

I blinked. Mac walked over and stood behind me, gave my shoulders a comforting rub, then reached down to take hold of my hand in his. I clutched his hand tightly and contemplated the fact that he had a sister and a niece who dealt with dangerous criminals.

“So,” I said, trying to sound casual. “I’ll bet that’s a really intense job.”

Callie nodded. “She does a lot of yoga.”

I could feel Mac’s arms shaking and knew he was laughing. This was the strangest conversation I’d ever had with anyone.

“How did you get here, Callie?” I asked, still clutching Mac’s hand.

Her eyes brightened. “I figured it out all by myself. Did you know there’s no direct route from LA to here if you’re not driving a car? So basically, I rode my bike from my house to the Culver City Metro station and took the Metro to Union Station in downtown LA. I got a ticket on the Coast Starlight train to Oakland and from there, I transferred to the Capitol Corridor train to someplace called Martinez and then I got on the bus to Ukiah.”

I was sort of impressed. This was one determined, very smart girl.

I didn’t want to look at Mac because I knew his eyes had to be bulging out of his head. His sixteen-year-old niece had been wandering around the train stations in downtown LA, Oakland, and Martinez? Fascinating.

“Once you get to Ukiah,” I said, prompting her to continue, “it’s pretty easy to take a bus to the coast.”

“I was going to do that, but since I had my bike on the train with me, I found this really cool app with some great bike routes. So I ended up riding along Highway 253 to Highway 128. And I ended up here.”

“That’s a long ride.”

“Yeah. I didn’t really realize how long it was when I decided to go that way. I mean, I passed other riders on the road, but it’s kind of lonely. But I just kept riding.”

Mac shook his head, then looked at me. “Do you know that area?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve ridden along Highway 253 a few times. It’s a tough ride through the hills, but the scenery is beautiful.”

It could actually be treacherous and some areas were indeed desolate, but Mac didn’t appear ready to take in that much reality. He seemed to be trying to control his breathing. I couldn’t blame him.

“It was so much fun,” Callie said, sounding younger than she had before. “I like to ride my bike.”

“Yeah, me, too,” I said, fascinated by her ability to switch from worldly teenager to happy kid in the span of a sentence or two.

“So, how did you find me?” Mac asked.

“That was the easiest part. When I rode into town, I just went into a store and mentioned your name and asked directions.” She leaned in closer, as if to share a secret. “Uncle Mac, are you aware that a bunch of people around here know where you live? Isn’t that weird for you?”

“Not anymore,” Mac said. “That’s how it is living in a small town.”

She smiled at him. “Do you have a lot of friends?”

“I’m getting to know more and more people and they’re all good folks.”

“That’s so nice.” Her voice was wistful now. “In our neighborhood, nobody really talks to anybody because we all live behind these really high walls, so you can’t even see the houses. But here I saw people sitting on their front porches and that looked like fun, too. I miss seeing you, Uncle Mac, but I’m glad you’re happy.”

“I’m happy about that, too, and I’m glad you’re here.” He held up his phone and wiggled it. “But I think we’ve procrastinated long enough. I’m going to make the call.”

“Okay.” She bent over and buried her face in Robbie’s scruffy neck, almost as if she could hide from her mother.

“I hope this goes through,” he muttered, and pressed a button on his phone. He paced around the kitchen, waiting for the call to go through, and after a few long seconds he stopped and stood at attention. “Lauren? It’s Mac.”

He paused for a long moment, then said, “Yeah, sorry to wake you up, sis, but it’s important.” Another pause. “Listen, Callie showed up here a little while ago. She’s fine, but it looks like she’s going to stay with me for a few days until you get back to town.”

Callie looked pale now. She stared out at nothing and continued to pet Robbie. I felt sorry for her and began to wonder where her father was. Neither she nor Mac had mentioned him.

“School? What about school?” His eyes narrowed in on Callie as he listened to his sister. “She’s suspended? Ah. Nice of the principal to text you.”

Callie winced but kept her gaze on Robbie, not daring to make eye contact with her uncle.

Mac held the phone away from his ear and I could hear Callie’s mom yelling from halfway across the kitchen. Belgium had never seemed closer. Both Mac and Callie looked a little shell-shocked by now.

“Maybe she can go to school here,” I said.

Mac gaped at me, then suddenly grinned and held up his thumb.

Callie, on the other hand, glowered at me.

I could hear her mother saying something but couldn’t understand the words. Mac nodded. “Yeah. Her name is Shannon. She’s my contractor. And my landlady.” He winked at me. “Yeah, she’s suggesting that Callie go to school while she’s here.” Lauren said something, and Mac replied, “Yeah, it’s a darn good idea. She’s really smart like that.”

There was another long pause while Callie’s mother spoke at length.

“I’ll talk to the school on Monday,” Mac said. “When do you get home? Wow.” He nodded. “Okay. Be careful. I’ll keep in touch. Bye, sis.”

We were all silent for a few long moments.

“That seemed to go well,” I said, then watched as Mac and Callie began to laugh. “So . . . it didn’t go well?”

Mac came back around and squeezed my shoulders lightly. “It went as well as could be expected, I guess. My sister is a force of nature, but she agreed that your idea is the perfect solution. Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek.

Callie grumbled.

“Sorry, kiddo,” he said, “but it’s the best way to keep you here. Otherwise, your mom’ll send Karl up here with the limo and take you back home.”

“I don’t want to go home with Karl,” she whined, sounding a little like a spoiled brat for the first time.

“Yeah, yeah, you can dial back the attitude,” Mac said easily, pulling out a chair and sitting down next to his niece. “Karl and Mavis do their best.”

“I know.”

“Look. You can stay here for a while, at least as long as your mom is gone. But if you’re going to stay, you’ll go to school. That’s the deal.”

“Do you know how long she’ll be gone?” I asked.

Mac shot me a look that said plenty about what he thought of his sister for leaving a sixteen-year-old girl home alone with “bodyguards.” He finally said, “It’s always hard for Lauren to gauge how much time these things will take.”

“I can imagine.” And I would try not to judge the woman for making difficult choices.

Callie sighed as though she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. “A new school. Where I don’t know anyone. Are you sure that’s necessary, Uncle Mac? Maybe you could homeschool me.”

Mac snorted, and I couldn’t help laughing. Callie was grinning, too, as if this was one of those family jokes they’d chuckled over before. It was lovely to see that Callie had a good sense of humor, just like her uncle. Gallows humor, it seemed to me, but at least they were laughing.

“Hey, you’ll like it here,” Mac said. “Everyone is friendly. It’s no big deal. You’ll go to school, you’ll meet some nice new kids. Might even learn something.”

“Kids aren’t nice,” she muttered darkly.

I frowned at Mac and saw him clench his jaw. “They’d better be nice to you, or I’ll kick their butts.”

“Oh, Uncle Mac,” she droned, drawing his name out to four syllables. “You just don’t understand.”

“Oh, Ca-a-a-al-lie,” Mac replied in a high-pitched falsetto. “I feel your pain.”

She giggled and the tension was broken. For now.

“Let’s take a walk to the pier for dinner,” Mac suggested, and gave his niece’s cheek an affectionate tweak. “And you can fill us in on how you managed to get suspended.”

*   *   *

While Callie used my powder room to wash her hands and freshen up after her long trip, Mac paced the kitchen. He looked a lot more worried than he had a minute ago when Callie was sitting in the room.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “I had no idea she was on her way up here.”

“That’s obvious. You don’t have to apologize.”

“What am I going to do with her?” he muttered.

“If you’d like her to stay in the second garage apartment, I have no problem with that.”

“But she won’t have any supervision.”

“I hate to say it, Mac, but I doubt she has much of it at home, either.”

“It’s that obvious, huh?” He rubbed his forehead, clearly puzzled as to his next move. “At least if she’s in the other garage apartment, she’ll be right next to me. I can keep an eye on her. Probably.”

“If you want to supervise her more closely, you could both move into Jane’s bed-and-breakfast. She has a couple of suites with two bedrooms attached to a sitting room. But that seems like a drastic move.”

“Yeah, it does. Callie’s basically a good kid,” he said, sounding a little desperate to convince me. “She’ll probably be okay here.”

“Of course she’s a good kid,” I said, patting his arm. He seemed so discombobulated, and I couldn’t blame him. “She’s smart, too. Made it all the way here, didn’t she? She came to you because she doesn’t want to be on her own, Mac. So, let’s just move her into the second apartment. She’ll appreciate having her own space, and she’s not going to sneak out and go anywhere. She loves you, so she’ll comply with your rules.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

I hesitated, then added, “And if she wants to spread out a little, she’s welcome to use my kitchen or the rest of the house, for that matter. That goes for you, too. I know this is stressful for you.”

“That’s generous of you, Irish.” He wrapped his arms around me and held on. “I’m not sure what to say.”

“Just say you’ll buy me a yacht when this is all done. And maybe something with diamonds.”

He laughed, just as I’d hoped he would. “I’ve got to tell you, this is about the weirdest thing that’s happened to me in a long time. My niece doesn’t usually track me down and show up unannounced.”

I gazed up at him and smiled. “I believe it. You looked pretty shocked to see her.” I wasn’t about to mention my own reaction when I first saw Callie at the gate.

“Shocked is putting it mildly,” he said, then chuckled sheepishly. “You know, I’ve faced down enemy gunfire and been ambushed by insurgents, but none of that ever stunned me as much as Callie did this afternoon. I love her, but what do I know about taking care of a teenager? Nothing.”

I believed it.

*   *   *

On the short walk to the pier, Callie began to sound more and more like a normal teenager as she bounced from one topic to another. “I can’t believe I’m actually feeling excited about starting school in a new place. Okay, I wasn’t, but now it’s sort of like an adventure, right? I mean, nobody knows me here. I can be whoever I want to be.”

With her arms open wide, she spun around in a circle.

Mac shook his head and laughed at her antics. “I’ve got an idea, kiddo. Why don’t you just be Callie?”

She lifted her chin proudly. “That’s exactly who I intend to be, Uncle Mac.”

“Good.” He grabbed her in a one-armed hug. “I like her the best.”

We turned at the corner and headed west toward the pier. From here we could see the sun turning into a hot orange ball on the horizon. The deep blue sky was splashed with streaks of coral and fuchsia as the earth moved toward sunset.

“That sunset is so cool—wow. And isn’t it cool how we can just walk to the pier? What’ll we get? Pizza? No. Fish? That’ll be better, because riding my bike all that way made me really hungry and protein would probably be best for me. So, fish.” Callie turned to me. “I totally love your hair. Do you color it? Are those extensions? Do you curl it?”

I smiled at the mile-a-minute conversation and the abrupt change of subject. “No. It’s all real and all mine.”

“You’re so lucky,” she said. “My hair is so boring. Maybe I’ll dye it red while I’m here.”

My chin dropped. Is she kidding? “Don’t you dare dye it another color. Your hair is beautiful.”

“You sound like my mom,” she said amiably.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Oh, you should,” Callie assured me. “She’s really smart and pretty. Don’t you think, Uncle Mac?”

“She’s a knockout,” Mac agreed, “and so are you.”

Callie studied me until I began to feel like a smear on a microscope slide. Finally, she said, “I can tell you’re really smart.”

I raised my eyebrows. “I like to think so.”

“She is,” Mac said, but Callie ignored him.

“What do you do for a living?”

She was making my head spin with her rapid-fire switching of subjects, but my job description rolled off my tongue with little effort. “I’m a building contractor specializing in Victorian-home renovation and repair.”

She stopped walking and stared at me. “Wait. You build stuff? Like houses and stuff?”

“Yes.”

Her mouth hung open. “That’s the coolest thing. I’ve never met anyone who does that. Like on the DIY Network? I totally love those shows. I, like, watch them all the time. You could do a show on their channel, I bet. Can I watch you work sometime?”

“Uh, sure. Maybe on the weekend.”

“Oh, my God. I would love that.”

“Keep moving, kids.” Mac nudged her forward and we continued to stroll toward the pier.

I hesitated to mention it, but finally said, “My sister has a show on the DIY Network. It’s called Concrete Facts.”

“Are you kidding?” she shrieked. “With Chloe Hammer and Dirk Bodette, right? I love that show! Is Chloe your sister?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, wow. She’s so smart and funny, and they’re so cute together.”

“Aren’t they?” Everyone loved Chloe and Dirk. Everyone except Dirk’s wife.

“Their show is a real public service,” Callie said earnestly. “I mean, they actually help people avert disaster.”

“That’s sort of the point of the show.” My sister, Chloe, had been trained by our father, just like me. Her television show was important to her. She felt as if it gave her the opportunity to really help people.

“But wait,” Callie said, frowning. “Chloe has blond hair. How come?”

I would’ve considered the question rude coming from anyone else. “Her hair was strawberry blond when she was young, but the red faded away and she’s been a blonde ever since.” I used to be really jealous of my sister’s hair, but I liked mine just fine now.

“She’s beautiful.”

I smiled. “I think so.”

“So are you.” Callie laced her arm through mine. “I’m so glad you’re my uncle’s girlfriend.”

“Oh.” I frowned, unsure of how to respond. What in the world was I to Mac? I was a friend, for sure, but what else? “I’m really not his—”

“We’re going to a fish restaurant, right, Uncle Mac?” she asked, completely ignoring my hesitation.

“Yeah.”

“I hope they have scallops.”

“They do.”

“I love scallops,” she confided happily, and squeezed my arm. “Isn’t this the best day ever?”

*   *   *

I offered to call Ms. Barney over the weekend to let her know that Callie would be enrolling in the high school temporarily on Monday. Mac was uncharacteristically nervous about the whole procedure and I couldn’t say I blamed him. So I agreed to go along with him and Callie on Monday morning. That’s how I found myself once again walking down the hall of Lighthouse Cove High toward the principal’s office.

Ms. Barney had already contacted Callie’s principal in Bel Air to let him know she would be attending here for the next two weeks or so. I had warned her that Callie had been suspended, so it wasn’t a surprise. We’d managed to squeeze the truth out of Callie over dinner the night before. She’d been suspended because she’d locked another girl in a gym locker after the girl snapped a picture of Callie taking a shower and posted it on a social-media site.

Once the shock and horror wore off, Mac and I both agreed that the world was a much different place than when we were in high school.

Ms. Barney gathered up all the forms Mac had filled out and stuck a big paper clip on them to keep them together. “Callie, I’m assigning you to Mr. Jones’s homeroom class. I’ll take you there now, if you’d like me to.”

“Yes, please, ma’am,” Callie said, clearly nervous. She shifted her backpack that I’d filled with various office supplies the night before.

“I guess we’ll be going,” Mac said, “unless you need anything else from me.”

“No,” the principal said. “I think we’ve got all the forms and information we require.”

She and Mac shook hands and Ms. Barney said, “Thank you so much for coming in with Callie. And if you ever want to be a guest lecturer, our creative writing students would love to hear all about the life of a thriller author.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Mac said. “Maybe when my next book comes out.”

“Wonderful,” she said, winking at me.

I grinned at Ms. Barney, who was too sharp to ever let an opportunity pass her by.

“And thank you so much for bringing Callie to Lighthouse Cove High,” she added. “We’re lucky to have her.”

Callie beamed, and I wanted to hug the older woman for making the teenager feel welcome.

“Behave yourself,” Mac said, giving Callie a tight hug. “Play well with the other kids.”

“Uncle Mac,” Callie said. “You’re so silly.”

“I love you, kiddo,” he whispered. “Call me for a ride home.”

“Okay.”

“See you later, Callie,” I said, giving her a hug.

She hugged me back. “Thanks, Shannon.”

Mac grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the principal’s office before we both burst into tears. As we walked down the hall to the exit, he exhaled heavily. “Jeez, why do I feel like I’m deserting my five-year-old at her first kindergarten class?”

“I feel the same way.” He pushed open the door and I walked outside onto the steps. “But she’s in good hands with Ms. Barney and especially with Mr. Jones. I should warn you that she’ll be in love with him by the end of the day.”

“Oh, great.” We crossed to the quad and walked toward the parking lot. “I’m not having the birds-and-bees talk with her.”

I laughed out loud. “Something tells me she’s way ahead of you there.”

“Yeah. And that’s just sad.”

*   *   *

Mac had decided to let Callie stay in the second garage apartment, but, strangely enough, Callie wasn’t all that thrilled to have her own private space.

Earlier that evening, the three of us had spent an hour in my kitchen, talking about Callie’s first day at school. She could barely stop talking about Mr. Jones, just as I’d warned Mac. Then uncle and niece went off to dinner at the pub and I stayed home to get some paperwork done.

My kitchen doorbell rang about nine o’clock. I was already in my pajamas and about to bundle up on the couch and watch a couple of shows before going to bed. I checked through the window to see who it was, then opened the door.

“Do you mind if I watch television with you?” Callie said. “I mean, unless you’re going to bed.”

“Not yet,” I said. “Come on in.”

“It weird,” she said as she curled up in the opposite corner of the couch from me. “I’m always alone at home and it doesn’t bother me. But here I’d rather be with other people.”

“That’s not weird. You’re in a strange place, and the garage apartment is basically set up to be a hotel room. It’s not the coziest place in the world.”

“Oh, it’s wonderful—I don’t mean that. I guess after going to all this trouble to be with Uncle Mac, I kind of want to . . . well.”

“You want to be with Uncle Mac.”

“Yeah. And you, too. Do I sound like a big baby?”

I felt bad for her. Callie was hungry for family and the kind of cozy home I had growing up. I didn’t know enough about Mac’s sister to make any judgments, but it sounded like her career was high pressure. With that stress and the traveling she had to do, it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t make it home often. And two bodyguards didn’t make for much of a warm family setting.

“Not at all,” I said. “You sound like you want your family around.”

“I guess so.”

The show began, and we were quiet until the commercial break. I muted the TV and turned to Callie. “So, tell me more about school. Did you like your classes?”

“Yeah. I did. And Mr. Jones is amazing, as I already mentioned.”

“More than once.”

She laughed. “And I had lunch with a couple of girls. Ms. Barney asked them to hang out with me, but they didn’t seem to mind. They were nice. Normal.”

I smiled. “We’re pretty normal around here.”

She pulled the blanket tighter around herself. “They told me something creepy, though.”

I frowned, hoping they hadn’t told Callie something that might have offended her. “What’d they say?”

“They said that there was some girl who died a bunch of years ago and that they just found her bones in my uncle’s new house.”

I couldn’t lie to her. “Yeah, that happened.”

“That’s so terrible.” She rubbed her arms as though she were cold, but I figured she was shivering from the story the girls had told her.

“It happened a long time ago. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“But it happened at Uncle Mac’s new house. Don’t you think that’s awful?”

“I do, Callie.” I made a quick judgment call and decided to tell her the truth about Lily. “I knew the girl who died. And I was there the other day when they found the bones. And, yeah, it was awful.”

Her eyes widened. “You knew her? Who was she?”

“A friend from school. She was really sweet and very talented. And really pretty, too. We all thought she ran away because her dad was such an awful man. But apparently she didn’t run away.”

Callie frowned and I could see she was thinking about all of this and getting more and more upset. “That’s so sad. How will Uncle Mac live out there, knowing that someone died inside his house?”

“How well do you know your Uncle Mac?” I asked lightly, hoping to defuse her fear. “You must know that he loves all that macabre stuff. In fact, he’s thinking of writing an article about the bones for a magazine.”