We needed groceries and Rose was busy painting a pot. That job shouldn't be interrupted, so I had gone to town instead of her. I had a couple of other things to see to in town and had been away from the castle for a couple of hours. I had just put the grocery bag on the counter and was starting to shed clothing when Rose burst into the room, wide eyed and obviously terrified.
"I'm so glad to see you. I'm scared. A guy came to the castle while you were gone. And I recognized him. I knew this guy, I mean I knew who he was. I had seen him before."
"Who was he?" I asked.
The words came out in a rush, and not in any particular order. I listened, not that I had much choice.
"I mean, I took liquor up to his room. Whole bottles of it. He would call down to the desk for it and the night desk clerk would send me to take it to his room. But he didn't see me today, thank goodness. I saw him first."
"Who?" I asked quietly. "Slow down and tell me what happened."
"He came to the castle. Just drove in as pretty as you please, like he owned the place, and parked in front of the front door. I was in the workshop and saw him get out. He looked familiar somehow but I didn't get it right then. I've never seen him in daylight before. Just when he opened the door and took the bottle of whisky.
"Who?
"When he looked at the workshop and started to walk over to it, I panicked and ran out the back door to the castle. He almost saw me. I never thought about the bathrobe hanging on the nail by the door. I just ran to the garden door and up the stairs to my room.
"He was in the workshop for a little while and then walked back to his car. I saw him through the window. He just stood there, then looked up and seemed to be staring at all the windows. Then he walked all around the house and came in the back door. When I heard him on the stairs, I ran down the back stairway and through the bookcase door into the turret, bolted it from the inside and ran up the stairs to the top. When he finally came out the front door again, he looked up and that's when I recognized him for sure.
"Who?" I was beginning to feel like an owl.
"He went into the kitchen tower. He must have. I could hear him up there. He went through the kitchen tower door. He must have had a key to it. The one on the nail in the kitchen doesn't fit, and we could never open it."
"Who?"
She stopped and looked at me for a second.
"The man in the hotel. The man I took the whiskey bottle to. The man with the prostitute, except I think they are called sex workers now, or call girls. She was real nice. We would talk and drink coffee after she finished with him. There really isn't much to do after two AM in a hotel, when you're on night cleaning shift, I mean."
"Who?" Now I was being ridiculous. I tried it another way. "Tell me about it. What hotel, for instance?"
She stared at me for a few seconds more, then apparently realizing she wasn't making sense and that there were things that I didn't know, she said, "Maybe we better sit down.
We did, in the monster dining room of all places. She sat silently for a long while. I waited.
"Claire, I'm going to Vegas. I'll tell you later, when I get back. I don't know how long I'll be gone. I'll take my car. Can I borrow some money?"
I was so completely floored I forgot to say who. "Take the credit card. But where are you going? And why?
"Like I said, I know this guy. I mean I know who he is. I don't want to tell you my plan. It sounds crazy, even to me. But I'm leaving now and won't be back until I get what I want, or at least try. Don't wait dinner," she smiled at that.
"But it will be full dark by the time you reach Las Vegas?"
"This is going to be a night job, and I don't want to miss the first night." She smiled and walked up to her room. And that was the exact point where I lost any control of the situation. Sometimes you just have to let things go without an explanation. I hoped this was one of those times. So while Rose looked at me and I looked at the fireplace I said, "Go, then."