"Idiot," Willie snapped. "You know you shouldn't drink more than one, Matt."
"I can hold my liquor," Matt protested. "I'll prove it." He proceeded to walk in a straight line to the base of the staircase where I stood. He took one look at me and tucked his hands behind his back. "Hell," he said. "I was hoping you'd be in bed by now."
"And miss the joy of you walking in straight lines?"
He grunted. "Go on, then. Lecture me for being out drinking." He sighed, half closing his eyes. "I deserve it."
Part of me wanted to walk him up the stairs and tuck him into bed. But I knew now was my best chance of getting answers so I remained standing on the first step where I was the right height to look him in the eye.
"So why don't you want to face me?" I asked.
"Because I'm drunk."
"But you walked in a straight line."
"Not that drunk. Just drunk enough for you to disapprove."
"Have I said I disapprove?"
"You don't have to." His gaze lowered to my mouth and for one heart-stopping moment I thought he'd kiss me in front of the others. "I can see the disapproval on your lips."
"My lips?"
"They're pinched and hard. I'm considering how best to fix them."
One of the men cleared his throat, and Matt seemed to recall that we weren't alone. He squared his shoulders.
"Excuse me, India. I should freshen up before we go to the convent."
"I'm not sure you should come," I said.
He grunted. "Try and stop me." He took a step to the side and paused, as if he expected me to move and block his way. When he realized I was staying put, he climbed the stairs.
"Well," I said to the others after he'd vanished from sight. "I don't know about you three, but I need something to fortify my nerves before we sneak onto convent grounds. Who wants a brandy?"
* * *
Matt slept for an hour and I must have dozed off on the sofa because I opened my eyes to see him talking quietly to Cyclops and Duke by the fireplace. Willie sprawled in an armchair, her head tipped back and her mouth open. She snored loudly.
"Ready?" I asked the men. It was a little after midnight, the perfect time to head to the convent where the nuns kept early hours. "We need digging equipment, black clothing and something to light our way."
Matt opened his mouth.
"Do not order me to stay behind," I told him before he could speak.
"I wasn't going to. I was about to suggest you borrow some trousers from Willie but changed my mind."
"You're right to change it," I said. "Willie's smaller than me and her trousers wouldn't fit."
"That's not why I changed my mind," he said, voice husky.
I was about to ask him what he meant, but he began giving orders to Duke and Cyclops. Willie awoke and dazedly asked what we were doing.
"Going to the convent," I said. "If you hadn't woken up we would have left you behind."
"Damned lucky you didn't," she growled. "I'm as important to this mission as you are, India. Maybe more, since you can't wield a shovel on account of you being all delicate."
"Thank you, Willie, you are sweet. I've never been called delicate before."
A short time later I sat in the coach with Cyclops and Duke. Matt insisted on driving and Willie insisted on sitting beside him. I knew she wanted to be near him to keep an eye on him, and I suspected he drove so he didn't have to sit with me and risk me interrogating him about the reason for his uncle's visit.
I wasn't sure if he ought to drive so soon after admitting to being drunk, but the horses were well behaved enough that they wouldn't follow any silly orders he gave them, and Willie would be there if he nodded off. And anyway, he seemed quite sober in the few minutes we were together in the stables preparing the coach. He did an excellent job of avoiding me and seemed in control of the situation and himself. The others obeyed his commands when he gave them and didn't seem in the least concerned that he wanted to drive.
We'd brought the stable boy with us and he remained with the horses and coach one street back from the convent. It was a middle class area so he shouldn't be troubled. Even so, Matt told him to whistle if he needed us.
We each carried a shovel, pick or small trowel to the convent gate, only to find it locked. I swore under my breath, earning a wide-eyed stare from Willie.
"Wash your mouth out, India," she hissed. "This here's a house of God."
"Sorry," I muttered. "I'm having a bad day."
Matt used a pair of slender metal tools to unlock the gate. He held it open for each of us to slip through. While the others walked ahead, I remained behind with Matt as he shut the gate.
"What did your uncle want?" I asked, tackling the question that had been on my mind head-on. I could no longer avoid it, it occupied my entire waking moments, and so it simply blurted out.
"Don't ask me that, India," he said, his voice a low rumble.
I wished it wasn't so dark so I could see his face. But the moon hid behind clouds and we'd shuttered our lanterns. "It was about you marrying Patience, wasn't it?"
He quickened his pace.
"He found a way to convince you to do it, didn't he?"
The silence was so profound it was a tangible thing. It blanketed us as we followed the others to the rear of the convent. "I'll find a way out," he finally said.
My pace slowed. My heart plunged to my stomach, leaving a hole in my chest. I hadn't expected to feel so empty upon hearing him admit it. Then again, I hadn't truly expected him to tell me his uncle was forcing his hand and that he had gone along with it.
Matt stopped when he realized I'd fallen behind. He slung the pick over his shoulder and held out his free hand to me. I took it without a word and together we headed past the convent outbuildings for the small copse of trees that Father Antonio had referred to as woods.
I glanced back at the hulking form of the convent with its chimneys reaching into the inky sky from the razor sharp spine of its roofline. No lights shone, and the dark windows reflected nothing. Yet I felt like we were being watched. I tightened my grip on Matt's hand and passed through the thicket into the trees.
It was even darker in the woods but a dim light dancing between branches ahead gave me something to aim for. We soon caught up to Willie, Duke and Cyclops in a clearing barely large enough for all of us to stand in.
Duke leaned on his shovel, the lamp at his feet. "What about here?" he whispered.
Willie didn't wait for an answer. She thrust her shovel into the bed of leaves and began to dig.
"It's as good a place as any," Matt said, swinging his pick into the ground.
I knelt at the clearing's edge and cleared away the decaying matt of leaves then pushed the gardening trowel into the soft earth. After what I gauged to be thirty minutes, an ache settled into my hand yet I'd made little progress. I looked up, expecting to see much more progress from the others, but despite a few strategically placed holes, they had covered very little ground.