“You know Felix,” Simon said with a shrug. “He likes to improvise.”
Downstairs, Felix was running circles around the Hale family, and Bobby was yelling, “Orderly!”
“On it!” Angus said, chasing after Felix with a robe.
“Sorry about that, folks,” Bobby told his guests. “Never a dull moment around here, I can assure you. Now, where were we?”
“My brother and sister were trying to explain to you that this is quite a shock,” Senior told Bobby.
“Oh, Felix? Don’t worry about him. He’s harmless. He just thinks the Nazis are tracking him through his clothes, or so he says. Really, he just likes being naked.”
“Not…that.” Hale’s father gestured at the wrinkly blur that flashed across the end of the hall. “My uncle was dead, doctor. He was dead and gone, and now we are supposed to believe that he…isn’t.”
“I see how that could be quite a shock.” Bobby nodded gravely. “Reginald has been with us for a long time, and—”
“How long?” Elizabeth wanted to know.
“Well, I’m afraid Reginald’s medical records are private.”
“I’m the man’s next of kin—if he is who he says he is,” Senior spat. “I demand to know.”
“Reginald,” Bobby asked, “what do you say to that?”
“Tell them what they want to know.” Eddie eased closer to Hale’s mother. “Your eyes look like K2 at sunrise.”
“Oh, thank you,” she said.
“Doctor,” Senior said, trying to regain control.
“He’s been here longer than I have. As you know, your uncle was quite the explorer. When he was thirty-five, he was in a terrible plane crash. It shattered his leg and left him near death for many months.”
“That’s why he has that limp?” Senior asked.
Bobby nodded. “It is. The crash was in a very rural area. Local doctors did their best, but the leg never properly healed, and…” Bobby trailed off, looked at the floor. His voice softened. “And, in many ways, your uncle never truly recovered.”
“The ladies love a limp,” Eddie said with a wink.
“Yes they do, Reg. Yes they do.” Bobby patted Eddie on the back. “We’re very fond of your uncle, Mr. Hale. He’s been here for a very long time, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that he has been among strangers. Sometimes, people make their own family.”
Kat didn’t want to read too much into things, but she couldn’t help thinking that her father was speaking about her Hale. Her family.
“Do you know, doctor…” Hale’s father paused and then began again. “Do you know who this man is? Who he claims he is? And what those claims would mean?”
“Oh.” Bobby laughed. “Reg has claimed to be a lot of people through the years. Haven’t you, Reg? Let’s see…sometimes he says he’s descended from a duke. Then he’ll tell anyone who will listen that he was the first American to scale K2. Why, just last week he told me he discovered a tribe in the Amazon—”
“That’s true,” Hale said, whispering. “All those things are true.”
“You don’t say?” Bobby asked, then looked at Eddie like he was seeing the man for the very first time.
“A name!” Senior spat. “Did you know his name?”
“Of course. He said his name was Reginald Hale.”
“And you didn’t think it was odd that Reginald Hale is supposed to be dead?” Hale’s aunt asked.
Bobby tilted his head. “To tell you the truth, I was under the impression that the family knew Reginald was here.”
“Why would you say that?” Senior asked.
“Why…” Bobby’s eyes went wide in disbelief. In the dark, quiet room, Kat felt herself hold her breath. “Because of the checks, of course.”
They’d reached a set of double doors, and Bobby pointed to the gold plaque beside them, stating that they were about to enter the Hazel Hale Recreation Room.
The Hale family stood speechless.
“I was very sorry to hear of her passing,” Bobby told the family.
“Why…” Senior stumbled over the thought. “Why are you contacting us now? My uncle has been gone for half a century. Why didn’t he stay gone?”
Bobby removed his glasses, and when he spoke, he couldn’t hide the guilt in his voice. “I guess that’s because the checks…stopped.”
“If he is who he says he is, he’ll have to prove it,” Senior told them.
Bobby looked at Eddie. “I’m sure Reginald wouldn’t mind. Would you, Reg?”
“I climbed K2,” Eddie said in response.
“So he has no family?” Hale’s uncle asked.
Bobby looked confused. “I thought you were his family.”
“He means heirs,” Hale said. “What about it, Reg? When you die, who’s going to get your half?”
“Scooter!” Elizabeth said, feigning offense. “But I wonder, Uncle Reg, do you have any children?”
Eddie took her in. “Maybe I’ll adopt you.”
“If you’d like us to perform a DNA test, I can recommend a very good facility not too far—” Bobby said, but Hale’s father’s laugh cut him off.
“A billion-dollar corporation is on the line,” Senior said. “We’ll find our own lab, thank you very much.” Then he spoke to the lawyer. “You’ll take care of that, won’t you, Garrett?”
Until then, the trustee had stayed at the back of the group, glancing at his watch, staring at the walls. Mentally, the man was already far away, on an island with his stolen fortune. Reginald didn’t matter to his plan. This was nothing more than a delay. An annoyance. And whatever became of the Hales, both long-lost and not, would be none of his concern in a matter of days.
If Kat hadn’t hated him so much, she might have warned him he was making a classic newbie mistake.
“What’s that?” Garrett asked.
“The DNA test,” Senior said again. “You will handle that, won’t you?”
“Oh,” Garrett said. “Of course. Right away.”
Then he walked purposefully down the hall, past a very naked Felix running from a very frustrated Hamish, and into the cold.
The rest of the Hale family delegation wasn’t far behind, but at the doors, Hale stopped briefly. Simon had placed cameras at each entrance, standard for any facility of the kind. And Hale looked squarely into one, mouthed the words Bye, Kat to the girl he knew was watching.
And then he was out the door. And then he was gone.
“What do you think, Kat?” Simon asked, turning to her.
“I think we’re ready for phase two.”
“It would have been easier just to let the Bagshaws kidnap Garrett,” Simon said.
Kat sat there silently, not wanting to admit he was right.
When Kat walked into the lab, it was decidedly different from the first time she’d seen it. Before, there had been dust and grime, a smell of disuse and old chemicals, and it had felt a little like walking into a tomb. But now, everything was alive. Music boomed from the back room (classic jazz); spotlights cut through the dark. There were at least a dozen whiteboards lining the walls, each covered with the same kinds of formulas and checklists she’d seen in Silas’s original lab.
Kat felt fascinated and out of her depth, but that was nothing compared to the magnetic pull of the small device that sat on a tray in the center of the room, bright lights shining down upon it.
“Hello, Miss Bishop.”
Kat pulled away from the prototype as if Silas’s voice were a warning, and she’d been caught.
“You can touch it,” he told her. “It won’t bite.”
Kat smiled, embarrassed. “Sorry. I just…I don’t understand any of this.”
“That’s okay,” Silas told her. “I don’t understand what you do. From where I’m standing, that makes us even.”
“So how’s it going?” She was almost afraid to ask, but she had to know.
“Fine.” Silas took a seat on a stool and eyed his design. “I think. Maybe.”
Kat totally knew the feeling.
“How was your Big Score?” Silas asked.
“Our what?” Kat asked, then had to laugh. “Oh, the Big Store? It went as well as could be expected. It bought us a little more time, at least.”
A wide smile spread across the old man’s face. If Kat didn’t know better, she would have sworn he was having the time of his life.
“I’m glad to have my assistant back.” Silas pointed to Simon, who was dragging computers and cables into the back room.