Used by The Beast by Rebecca Howard

Author:Rebecca Howard [Howard, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-09-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12: MAEVE

My pulse was in my ears as I crept across the creaky floor of the front room in Gael’s big old Victorian, heading for the bookshelf-lined study that shared a wall with it. It was almost 10 o’clock and my uncle wasn’t home yet—it wasn’t unusual for him to be out until the wee small hours—but I felt as if every step I took would set off a landmine.

When I reached the French doors, I suddenly knew with absolute certainty that they would be locked and that Gael would walk in and catch me in the act, and I’d have to explain why I had agreed to sabotage his personal computer on Kieran’s orders. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the handle turned easily and I stepped inside. A monstrous antique desk, hand-carved from solid mahogany, took up about half the space, and on top of it was a leather-bound Day-Timer and the sleek, black laptop I had seen Gael use a dozen times since I’d arrived in Cleveland.

I looked around the darkened room before taking one final step and lifting the computer from the top of the desk. The device Kieran had given me was thin and slid easily underneath, so that when I put the laptop back down, it looked almost exactly the way it had before. My breath hissed out in a sigh of relief and I tiptoed back out of the study, not noticing the shadow moving across the wall next to me until it was too late.

I think I actually peed myself a little when I heard Fiona’s behind me. “Still up, miss?”

My heart practically jumped out of my mouth, but I think I did a passable job of not looking like I’d been hit with an electric cattle prod.

“Fiona!” I gasped. “I, uh, didn’t see you there. I thought you’d gone home for the night.”

“Just on my way. Sorry for startling you.”

I grinned sheepishly. “No problem. You have yourself a good night.”

“And you, dear.” She shuffled along toward the front door, and I was just about climb the stairs when she turned back toward me. “A word to the wise, Maeve: Mr. Flanagan doesn’t like people in his study.”

“Uh,” I grunted stupidly. “I mean, I was just—”

She held up a hand. “It’s none of my business, miss. Good night.”

I watched the big door open and close behind her, fighting a wave of nausea as my heart rate started to return to normal. I then went to the kitchen and fixed myself a cup of tea, which helped me to calm myself, but my heart began to gallop again when I heard a key in the front door. Gael was home early! Kieran said I had to keep the device in physical contact with the laptop for at least an hour and it had barely been twenty minutes!

My mind raced, and I quickly decided to head my uncle off at the pass. Before he could get more than a few steps in the door, I swept out of the kitchen and met him at the bottom of the staircase.

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