Anger contorted Alfred's face. Lilith recognized her rosy beret in the mastiff's jaws. Ed pulled her away from the window, pointing under the bed. Lilith protested in urgent whispers, arguing that Bär would sniff them out in no time, Panther especially. It would constitute the end of their campaign, and all three of them would be punished for breaking the rules. She rushed to the door. Ed blocked her, sticking the pad under her nose.
TRUST ME.
Their eyes locked.
"Why? Why should I trust you?" said Lilith.
"Does anyone care for my opinion here?" Panther's grumble got lost at about two feet above the floor. Ed seemed to be getting used to the idea of the talking dog, his eyes on Lilith.
She didn't breathe.
BECAUSE I'M YOUR FRIEND. IT'S WHAT FRIENDS DO.
"You are? Oh. I'm...I didn't...It's so...okay, I trust you." Seized by a multitude of feelings, she kissed him on the cheek, scooped up Panther, and slid under the bed, tucking herself as close to the wall as possible, hugging her whippet tightly and clamping his muzzle shut. Her heart chittered like a squirrel.
"I'm not an idiot, you know," mumbled Panther.
"Shhh!"
"What, he gets a kiss and I don't?"
"Panther! Will you kindly shut up?"
There was a knock on the front door, and the entire cottage shivered like a leaf in the wind.
"It does move," Lilith whispered. "I think it might be afraid of grandfather, did you feel that?"
"I thought we were supposed to keep quiet?"
Below, someone turned off the radio.
"Ed, darling?" The woman's voice cut through the sudden silence. "Get the door, please."
Ed, anticipating his duty, was already stepping out.
Lilith got busy blending in.
"Don't know why you decided to trust him," Panther grumbled under his breath.
"Will you be quiet?"
"How can we possibly hide from anyone under the bed when any fool, upon sticking his head down, will spot us like a pair of shiny morons?"
"That's enough."
Panther scoffed.
Lilith tucked her legs as close to her body as possible and breathed as shallowly as was tolerable. Dust tickled her nose. She sneezed into Panther's neck. He snarled. Lilith hissed at him, but the next moment, unable to suppress the urge, sneezed again. Panther bit her arm in warning. Lilith pinched her nose. Panther squirmed out of her embrace. At last, they lay still, breathing hard.
Indistinguishable voices echoed through the floor. A door slammed shut and the rush of footsteps followed. Bär must've been leading the party upstairs.
Lilith's stomach twisted into a knot.
The door opened. A pair of bright pumps strolled in.
"I tell you, Alfred," drawled the same female voice, "the kitchen would've been a better choice. I could offer you..."
Ed's sneakers shuffled in, then Gabby's flats, Daniel's loafers, and Alfred's polished lace-ups.
"Something to drink?"
"Ah! How quaint. I see you turned it into a studio. Very well. I rather like it here, Rosalinde, thank you. No time for a drink, I'm afraid," Alfred said cheerily. "Ed, my dear boy, I hope you don't mind."
"You're such a bore, Alfred." Rosalinde issued a forced chuckle. Her remark went unanswered.
Four paws blundered in. To Lilith's horror, Bär lowered his enormous head and sniffed the floor. Panther went stiff, the fur standing on his back. The mastiff peered right at them, dropped the beret, and barked something close to a mini-thunder.
At the same moment, the edge of the bed met the floor and clamped shut. Both Lilith and Panther were plunged into darkness filled with a delicious fragrance. They found themselves inside a giant flower, roomy enough to sit up. Light seeped through its veined petal-walls.
Lilith gave Panther her most penetrating glare. He shrugged, pretending to focus on the silhouettes of the people moving about the room.
Wow, thought Lilith. A wild rose. Grandfather's mansion is a groomed rosebush, and this cottage is a wild rose. The runt of the litter, just like us.
"...never fails," Alfred boomed. "Dogs don't lie, my dear. She was here, wasn't she?" Alfred walked over to Ed. "Would you like to tell us what happened? How she got here, where she went? Or, dare I ask, may she still be present in your room...hiding, perhaps?"
Ed remained motionless, his figure hunched by the desk.
"Really, darling? You let a girl in our house without letting me know?" Rosalinde issued a fake laugh. Her profile reminded Lilith of a movie actress more than a gardener. She turned to face Gabby and Daniel. "Ed would never let in a girl without my knowledge. We trust each other. It's very tragic that your daughter disappeared. I can't imagine—simply can't imagine. Is there anything I can do to help? Please, search the entire house if you must."
Ed hung his head deeper.
"I don't know what we're doing here, Daniel, we're wasting our time," said Gabby in a tone that could scare ice into a double-freeze. "It's obvious the boy won't talk. He doesn't talk in general, does he?"
"Ed talks when he deems suitable." Rosalinde sounded hurt.
"How often is that? Once a decade?" Gabby snapped.
"Gabby, please!" Daniel exclaimed in horror.
"If he has nothing to say, there is no point for him to say anything. He has the right to remain silent for as long as he wants." Rosalinde's voice fell an octave lower.
A mutual intake of air fizzed through the room.
"Ladies, we're not here to discuss Ed's choices, are we? We're here to find Lilith." Alfred padded the air around him in an effort to suppress the tension.
Rosalinde muttered something. Gabby sat stock still.
Daniel sighed. "Ed, anything you want to tell us, buddy?"
Lilith held her breath.
Ed shook his head no.
"He doesn't know anything. Sounds like the issue is closed." Rosalinde stood.
"No, it isn't." Gabby leaped to her feet. Lilith detected the beginning of her mother's wrath. "Easy for you to say. Your step-son is sitting in front of you and you have nothing to worry about. My daughter, however, might be wandering the streets right now, lost, confused, and scared. For heaven's sake, can't you make him talk?"
"Is that how you raise your daughter, by making her do things?" Rosalinde retorted.
Both the girl and the dog squirmed closer, to hear better. A shadow fell over them. Bär pressed his nose to the petal and sniffed loudly. Lilith stiffened. Panther pretended to be dead. The mastiff sucked in the air a couple times, snorted, and waddled off. Lilith felt Panther's tongue on her cheek. She hugged him, straining to listen.
"My dear ladies, we won't succeed if we continue in this fashion." said Alfred.
The women faced each other in what looked like a glowering contest.
"Ed, my boy, let me ask you a question. Do you want to see your friend again...alive?"
Lilith's heart drummed. Her mind filled with images of blood-thirsty Rosehead tackling her in the deepest corner of the garden.
Ed snatched a notepad, scrawled something, and presented it to Alfred with force.
"I see. Very well."
"May I?" Gabby asked.
"I'm afraid this is between Ed and I," Alfred said venomously.
Gabby's mouth audibly clamped shut.
"Rosalinde, do you mind giving Gabby Ed's doctor's number?"
"Doctor Baumgartner?"
"Yes, the one and only."
Rosalinde clacked to the desk and rummaged for a piece of paper and pencil. "Why? Is something wrong with Lilith?"
"She's a very—" started Gabby. Daniel grabbed her hand.
"No, no. Nothing of the sort," said Alfred smoothly. "Only a precaution. She's been through a lot of stress lately. Thank you, my dear. Gabby and Daniel simply wanted their daughter to be evaluated, once she...turns up, of course."
"Thanks for clarifying, Dad. Appreciate it."
"Which I'm sure she will," Alfred continued.
"And if she doesn't?" said Gabby hysterically.
"You asked me for help, I'm helping. Your daughter is twelve years old and she's very resourceful. I don't think she's lost, I think she might be escaping our company out of boredom. She'll eventually get hungry and thirsty and will decide to grace us with her...erudite presence once again. I must say, I enjoyed it immensely at dinner the other night."
Lilith's stomach grumbled. She clutched at it, terrified. For a second, time stood still. Nobody seemed to hear anything. But the way her grandfather spoke, it was as if he knew she was present in the room. In effect, he gave her a warning, to resurface or else.
"Is that what you propose, Alfred? That we sit here and wait for her to turn up? Doing nothing? Doing absolutely nothing?" The wrath of Gabby Bloom arrived, and she dominated the room. "She is sick! Don't you understand?"
"Gabby!" cried Daniel.
Lilith wanted to fall through the floor, her eyes on Ed. He didn't flinch.
"I don't care who knows! She needs help!" Gabby shouted. "She is so naïve, she can't tell the difference between a kind stranger and a stranger who would take advantage of her. What if she got killed? We need to call the police. Right now!"
"Dad, Gabby is right. It's been long enough. I think we should," said Daniel.
"I don't think we need to go to such extreme measures," said Alfred.
"Why not? What harm will it do?" Daniel raised his voice.
Lilith couldn't remember hearing her father speak in such an agitated manner.
"If you won't call, I will!" Gabby collapsed into her husband's arms, sobbing. Startled, he carefully hugged her.
For the first time in her life, Lilith wished for her mother to continue, to succeed in calling the police, in asking them to turn the entire Bloom property upside down, to find the bodies in the garden and the terrible red gallery. Surely their trained dogs would sniff it out, surely they would realize that those were not paintings but remains of dead people. Lilith could almost see their uniforms, so unlike American ones. She imagined them filing out of cars and seizing Alfred Bloom, shock on his face. They would take him away, make him pay of his hideous crimes, make him leave her alone.
Rosehead can't kill me if I tell her not to, she suddenly realized. Ed said only an heir can stop her. That means once I'm heir, I can stop her.
A commotion filled the room. People were leaving. Lilith bit her lip, listening.
"Yes, almost forgot," said her grandfather. "Rosalinde, my dear, I regret to inform you that I'm looking for a new gardener, a bit more...suitable for my needs. Nothing personal, you understand. I know you despise dirt and all things organic. You wanted to help me out. I thank you for that. But really, I'm doing you a favor."
"Oh!" Rosalinde's voice trembled. "You never told me you were unhappy with my work."
"Well, I apologize for such short notice. I believe two days will be enough for both of you to pack? There isn't much, is there?"
"Oh," said Rosalinde again. "Let me...it's hot in here." She fled the room. Her pumps produced a rapid staccato down the stairs. Gabby and Daniel must have left already, as Lilith saw only three remaining outlines, those of Ed, Alfred, and Bär.
She waited breathlessly, Panther at her side.
"I warned you before, boy." Grandfather stuck his finger into Ed's chest. "If I find out you helped her in any way—"
Ed pushed Alfred's hand away.
Lilith's heart sunk.
"I see. Very well. We talked about this before, didn't we? I trust you don't want to meet your father's fate. Am I correct? My dear boy, let's not make this more difficult than it already is."
Alfred turned on his heel and strolled out.
Bär barked one more mini-thunder and waddled after his master.
Ed slammed the door behind them.