Harper looked at her for a long moment. “Unusual?” he said.
“Strange, out of the ordinary.”
“Other than the cat?”
“Other than the cat, yes.”
He studied her with attention for a moment. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m just, I was curious. Whether anything…” She glanced around the room. “This is going to sound very odd.”
“It already sounds very odd, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Yes. Well.” She straightened slightly. “I was wondering whether you had perhaps noticed anything, oh I don’t know, unusual about the house. Recently or in general.”
“You’re being rather strange,” he shot her a look. “Have you had a good night of sleep?”
“I’ve slept very well,” she said, offended slightly. “I’m just saying that I have been noticing strange things around the house.”
There was a brief pause, and then something seemed to click for Harper. An amused expression formed on his features.
“Are you asking me if the house is haunted, Miss Hosmer?”
“I’m not….not specifically….”
“Because if you are asking me if the house is haunted,” he said, calmly, “I would like you to know that I have reviewed the structural reports, the maintenance records, and the estate accounts going back fourteen years, and at no point has haunting been listed as a line item.”
“That is not the point,” She replied, “I was not asking about haunting specifically.”
“Then what were you asking about?”
He looked back at her, expectantly. Their gaze met for a brief moment, and she had to look away. Once again, it made her feel things that she had no business feeling and it was a disarming act.
“Nothing,” she said, gesturing vaguely. “It doesn’t matter. I was just, never mind.”
“You came to interrupt me in the middle of reviewing the quarterly accounts, and asked me if anything unusual had happened to me, and now you are telling me it doesn’t matter? I don’t think that’s the best use of my time, and you should at least make yourself clear.”
“It was a passing thought.”
Harper looked at her for a moment in the way he had when he was deciding whether to pursue something or let it go, and she could see the calculation happening behind his eyes.
He stood up, and gathered the cat against his chest as he rose, one hand supporting her. Then, he crossed from behind the desk toward the window.
“The east drainage,” he said. “The groundskeeper tells me the work will be done by Friday. I want to make sure the dogs are kept from that section of the garden until the ground settles.”
“I’ll tell them,” she said.
“Tell them specifically,” he said. “Your dog Biscuit in particular has a habit of going wherever he pleases regardless of whether or not he should be there.”
“Biscuit is a free spirit,” she said. “I try not to control him. It’s a useful thing to do, and I suggest you try it as well.”
He ignored her comment and carried on, “Biscuit is a hazard.”
“In your opinion only,” she laughed. “And you should know by now, that as far as I am concerned, your opinion is not fact.”
She paused, and saw that he was still holding Soot. The cat had settled against his chest with her chin on his shoulder and her eyes fully closed, the picture of contentment. Harper was looking out the window still.
Temperance watched this for a moment, and it filled her chest with an odd sense of peace.