Page 104 of Charlie
Liv
“Liv, wake up. You have to wake up.”
Opening my eyes, I saw Lumi shaking my shoulders.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Conor. He wants everyone to gather downstairs. He doesn’t look like himself. Did you tell him that we know about the snake?”
“No. What time is it?”
Lumi bit her lip. “It’s one in the morning and he’s waking up everybody. I think he found out that we were in his room. He’s very upset.”
Like me, Lumi was in her sleepwear. Hers consisted of a blue chemise in a flower pattern with a kimono over, and big bulky Mickey Mouse slippers that looked like she’d stuffed her feet into two Mickey Mouse teddy bears.
“Okay. You stay here with Nathan and River, while I go down to see what’s going on.”
“He wantseveryoneto come down.”
“Until I know what he wants, I want you to keep Nathan and River here.”
“But my mom is downstairs.”
“Lumi. Please stay with River and Nathan. Your mom or I will come and get you if we want you there.”
Music sounded from downstairs and I heard doors opening and closing. The whole house was waking up. With a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, I put on some casual clothing and walked downstairs. What I saw made the blood in my veins pump faster.
Music was playing in the great room and bottles of champagne stood on the table next to trays of flute glasses. Conor was motioning for everyone to come in and take a seat on the floor or in one of the chairs or sofas.
He waved me closer, but the expression in his eyes scared me and my instincts told me to run the other way. What if he’d heard the news about the police finding a body in Liverpool? If Conor had killed Jim Maddox, then he would know that his time was running out.
I knew from my time here that Conor had powerful people in his circle of friends. Maybe someone had called to warn him.
“I just need to use the bathroom real quick.” I diverted to the small powder room, where I called up Kit.
“Hello?”
“Are you awake?” I whispered into the phone.
“I am.”
“Conor has gathered us all for some kind of meeting. He looks a bit unhinged. I’m going to record the meeting so I can play it for you later.”
“No, just keep me on the line.”
“Okay.”
With my phone in my pocket I walked back into the living room, where Maximum and Atlas stood in the back of the crowd with morning hair. I stayed next to them and gave a silent nod before I took out my phone and held it in my hand along my leg.
Maximum yawned but nodded back while Atlas looked away. He was probably conflicted that I had called their dad a monster and threatened to go to the police to rat him out for what he did to Nathan. I didn’t blame Atlas. The boy had shown rebelliousness by going into Conor’s room to see what his father had hidden in the locked closet. For us to discover the snake in there had to have been even more shocking to Atlas than me since he loved his father, and I didn’t.
“Are we all here?” Conor asked and after a quick count it was established that River, Nathan, and Lumi were missing.
To buy time, I lied, “They’re on their way down. Lumi is waking up the two sleepyheads.”
“Good, because we have something to celebrate.” Conor’s words made the people in the room exchange smiles of anticipation.
“Let’s all share a toast.” He pointed to the two trays where champagne had been poured in beautiful glasses.
