The downstairs windows were dimly lit, but the upstairs windows were dark.
“If I didn’t see that sign there,” Buddy said, nodding at the sign that read, “Lost Angels, An Infant Sanctuary,” “I’d think we were at the wrong address for sure, or it was a place nearly deserted. Maybe it is. Maybe someone bought it, and it’s no longer an orphanage.”
“Then why the sign?”
“I don’t know. Whoever bought it might think that’s cool. I mean, look at it. The gardener must be legally blind.”
There were no signs of life around the house, no cars, no one outside.
“I feel this is it, Buddy.”
“So, I guess we’ll go in to see what’s what,” he said.
“No.”
“No?”
“I don’t want you going in with me. Wait in the car.”
“Are you sure? I mean…”
“I’m sure,” I said.
I couldn’t tell him why, exactly, but the feeling I had had back at the motel was much stronger here, and those famous instincts Ava often accused me of not having were alive and behaving like sirens and alarms.
“Well, I don’t think I should let you go…”
“Please, Buddy. I agreed to let you come along with me this far. Please.”
“Okay, if that’s the way you want it.”
“I do,” I said. “If I need you, I promise I’ll come out to get you.”
He nodded.
“Lock the doors,” I said when I opened mine and stepped out.
I heard the click and looked back at him. He was sitting forward, his face caught in the dim glow of the slowly brightening half-moon. His face looked made of wax and in danger of melting away completely.
I walked up the gravel drive to the front steps. Just as I reached the top, the door opened, and Mrs. Fennel stepped out of the shadows and into the dimly lit front doorway. I gasped and drew back. She smiled.
“We expected you sooner,” she said.
Ava came up to stand a foot or so behind her.
I took another step back, glanced at the car, and considered running back to it.
“There’s no need for you to run away, Lorelei. No one is going to hurt you,” Mrs. Fennel said softly.
“Even though you’ve done a lot that could hurt us,” Ava added.
“Now, stop,” Mrs. Fennel said. “You know what your father told you.”
Ava smirked. “We won’t hurt you, but that doesn’t mean we’ll leave him alone,” she said, nodding toward the rental car.
“There’s no need to threaten her,” Mrs. Fennel said. “I know my girl. Come on in, Lorelei. You want to know so much, and you’ve come so far.”
She stepped back. Ava disappeared inside. I looked back toward Buddy. He had never seen Mrs. Fennel, so he wouldn’t know that they had beaten us here. I hoped he hadn’t seen Ava standing next to her. I was afraid for him, but what drew me back up those stairs was my own need to know about myself as much as anything else. Mrs. Fennel kept her smile.