My Father's House

Chapter 24

I was beginning to realize the library toward the back of the mansion was one of Kael's favorite rooms. He led us inside and brought the laptop over to where I had sat on the sofa, taking in the fresh air from the open windows.

"Here. Let's see about those letters." He took a seat to my right. Garrett sat on the arm of the couch on my other side. Garrett gave me a quick wink, and I glared at him in return. I knew he was indicating that we didn't need help deciphering those letters now that we had the invoices. That wasn't accurate though. We weren't analysts. I wished he would be more careful. If Kael figured out what we had stolen, we could be in very real danger.

Glancing to my right, I noted Kael's concerned expression. He couldn't suspect we were up to something, could he? My hands shook a little as I tried to type in my account information and password. After two tries to get in, I finally saw my inbox and opened the email with the scanned letters.

"Print them." Kael said, getting up and heading for the desk. Once we had the whole stack, he settled in on the couch beside me. He thumbed through them, removing the ones from the last month. "This might take a while." He started scratching on a blank pad beside him, the letters spread out across his lap.

"Does it look like it might be something?" Garrett asked getting up to look over his shoulder.

"Have some breakfast and come back, Garrett. I'll know by then." Kael never moved his eyes from the page when he spoke.

Garrett let out a huff, acting as if he had been treated rudely. He walked from the room, closing the door behind him. I stood up, finding the idea of breakfast far less insulting. I glanced down at Kael and caught him watching me.

"What?" I asked. Deception has never been a gift of mine, but I tried to look innocent.

"Nothing," he replied and turned his attention back to his letters. I headed to the door, thankful for once that he wasn't one to pester me with questions like Garrett.

Only half an hour or so had passed when Kael came back into the kitchen, smacking the wad of pages onto the bar where Garrett and I sat, enjoying our fruit and coffee.

"I got him," he announced.

"Gideon Harper? You know where he is?" Garrett questioned.

"South," he nodded, "Just like last time; I should have known. Clever of him to leave me those letters just in case." He walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Garrett shook his head and looked at me, asking, "You have any idea what he's rambling about?"

I shrugged and looked back at Kael. He explained, "In the letters, he keeps talking about south and Guntha, only it wouldn't seem like it to you, but anyway, it's a village with a small outpost we kept there, reserved only for emergencies or hiding cargo if it got too hot up here." He took a swig of coffee and made a face, apparently regretting his choice in beverage. "I'm guessing he headed there because he knew that was where they would take you if I failed...or he already uncovered that they had taken the shipment themselves. Keep your enemies closer." He mumbled the end to the common phrase.

"What enemies?" I asked, finding it hard to follow his garbled train of thought.

"Mason. Madeline's new crew."

"So he's near the outpost then?" I asked.

"Something like that. Though not exactly." He poured the remainder of the coffee down the sink.

"The least conspicuous way to Guntha is by water. If I take the boat, I can probably be there late this evening. I'll leave in the next hour," he said as he headed for the door.