Chapter 22: What He Said

Tobias's POV

My aunt left the house at ten past midnight.

Pearl had given the order in front of the board, and the board had voted on it in under four minutes, which is a record for that room.

Rosalind lost the seat, the keys and the east wing.

She was allowed two suitcases and the car.

I carried the second suitcase down the steps myself.

I wanted her to see me do it.

She stood at the open car door in her gray cardigan, with her pearls on and her chin up.

"I did it for this family," she said.

"You did it for the chair."

"Same thing, Tobias. It was always the same thing."

"It wasn't," I said. "Not once."

She looked past me at the lit windows of the house.

"She'll bore you in a year," said Rosalind.

"I hope so," I said. "I've been told it takes about that long to get used to being happy."

I shut the car door for her.

It was the last courtesy I owed, and I did it properly.

Then I went upstairs and found the long hall empty and the candles burned low.

The staff had gone. Noelle and Dennis were asleep in two chairs by the fireplace, at an angle that suggested neither of them had decided to be.

I put a blanket over each and turned off the lamps.

Pearl was alone at the head of the table, with her cane across her knees.

"Five minutes," she said. "Sit."

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