Duncan looked over his shoulder and seeing no one, reached out and tried the latch. It didn’t move, locked from within.
He moved to inspect the windows, checking each to confirm they were secured. They were all closed and locked. He looked up at the house. The windows were closed, drapes pulled over the dark rectangles of glass.
Duncan crept back through the yard and returned to the front of the lodge from the other direction, checking for anything out of the ordinary. He saw nothing. He didn’t even see Lucy until he was almost right in front of the bench. She’d pulled her cloak around her shoulders and the hood over her head so only her eyes peeked out. She blended perfectly into the shadows.
“All is secure,” he said, sitting in the empty spot beside her. “Now we wait.”
Without having to confer, he turned one way and she the other, their backs touching. He stared into the distance, the little he could see through the landscaping close to the house. Pembroke Lodge really was the perfect place to lose oneself. Or hide.
“I hate waiting,” Lucy said.
He smiled. “I would never have guessed.”
“Don’t bring it up.”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“You know exactly what I’m referring to. I told you never to say another word about it.”
She had. She’d threatened everyone at the Farm with bodily injury if they ever again mentioned how she’d almost blown up Mr. Powder’s laboratory.
“It’s hard to forget the day one almost died.”
“So dramatic,” she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “How was I to know that adding the second compound too soon would cause the whole mixture to become volatile?”
He turned toward her. “Because Mr. Powder said it would?”
“I don’t recall that.”
“What about the written directions? You don’t recall those either?” But of course, she hadn’t paused to read the written directions. He’d been her partner that day early in their training, which had thrilled him, and he’d been distracted by working with her and not noting that she wasn’t paying attention to their instructor. He’d left their table for one moment so he might fetch a glass vial. He’d said, “Don’t touch anything.”
And she’d added the second compound, five minutes too soon, and the next thing he knew, there was an explosion and glass shards flying everywhere. He and another agent had acted quickly, dousing the flames with a blanket and then smothering the whole concoction with sand. But if they had hesitated, the entire building might have exploded.
“Because of you, I had to read three books on explosives and test on them before being allowed in the laboratory again.”
“So did I.”
Duncan recalled that she’d scored higher than he had as well.
“Neither of us would have had to do any of it if you’d just waited five more minutes, as you were supposed to.”
“You sound exactly like Will right now.”
Duncan closed his mouth. The last thing he wanted was to sound like her brother.
“He has the patience of a saint,” she said. “You should have made him your partner.”
Duncan didn’t point out that not only was Will not in the class that day, Will wasn’t the Galloway he was interested in. “That would have been the safer choice, but you keep things interesting.”
She glanced at him. “I do, don’t I?”
She really did.
“And my patience has improved,” she added.
“I wouldn’t go that far—”
She smacked him, and he grimaced. “Ow.” Her patience had improved, as had all of their skills, but he knew she didn’t like to be complimented and flattered. Lucy Galloway liked a challenge.
