“Can you follow us in Julia’s car?” Liam asked. “I’ll go slowly,” he promised when I hesitated. “Give her the keys, Julia.”
She started to protest and then realized how she was and nodded.
We stood there while she fumbled through her purse. I continued to look toward the club entrance and around the parking lot.
“You all right to drive?” Liam asked me. “I didn’t even consider that.”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay.”
He took the keys from Julia and handed them to me. Then he opened his car door and helped her in.
“Wait,” Julia cried. “What about Lorelei?”
“Julia, you just gave me your keys for her to follow us. I said I’d take her home afterward.”
“Oh. Right,” she said, laughing.
Liam shook his head and smiled at me. “Let’s get her home,” he said, “and to bed.”
I nodded and went to Julia’s car. After I got in and started the engine, I looked to the side, where I thought I saw someone standing in the shadows. Liam sounded his horn, and I had to back out to follow them. When I glanced in the rearview mirror, I was sure I saw the man who had stopped at the bar to talk to Julia. I was looking at him so hard that I nearly hit the rear of Liam’s car when he stopped at the driveway entrance. He looked out of his window at me. I indicated that I was fine, but he didn’t look confident about it. I was fine. The alcohol had no effect, as usual, but I was definitely spooked by the man in the shadows. He gave off a familiar vibe. My mind raced. He’s one of us, I thought. He must think I’m a Renegade.
I drove on, following them and fleeing him at the same time. About fifteen minutes later, we turned up what I thought was a new street but actually was the long driveway to the Dolans’ New England mansion. I realized that because of the height, there was a clear view of the ocean. The large house had been built with that view in mind. It had what looked to be at least a forty-foot tower that reminded me of a lighthouse, a peaked turret and projecting bays wrapped in glass to accommodate the ocean views. As I followed Liam around the front of the house to a garage with five doors for five cars, I looked up at the second story of the house and estimated that there were more than a half-dozen bedrooms. Liam pulled close to what I could see was a side entrance to the house and waved at me to drive up beside him.
“Just leave it in front of the third garage door,” he said, and went around to help Julia out. She looked as if she had fallen asleep. I parked and stepped out as he was guiding Julia toward the entrance. He waved for me to catch up. Julia leaned against Liam’s shoulder, her eyes closed. He nodded at the door, and I rushed forward to open it.
“We’ll get her upstairs,” he told me.
I followed him as he continued through a small entryway and then into a wide hallway, dimly lit by small chandeliers all the way to the main entrance of the house and its winding marble stairway with a rich, dark mahogany balustrade. Above that was a very large chandelier, also dimly lit. The house was dead quiet. I had been wondering if Mr. Dolan would hear us and come out. He wouldn’t be happy about Julia, I thought. He might even blame it on me.
Julia groaned and then tried to walk completely on her own. When she stumbled, she laughed. Liam smiled at me and shot forward to get a good grip on her as she started up the stairs.
“Where’s your dad?” I whispered.
“He’s away for the weekend,” he replied. At the top, we turned right and followed a similarly dimly lit hallway to the first bedroom on the right. Liam opened the door.
It was much larger than any bedroom I had ever had, even larger than my father’s bedrooms in New York, Nashville, and California. Despite its size, it looked cozy and warm, with walls of gentle pink, a soft darker pink rug, and light maple furnishings, including a four-poster canopy bed. The windows were large and with drapes of white with swirls of pink. On one wall, I saw shelves of all sorts of dolls—dolls from other countries, antique dolls, and rag dolls. There looked to be a few hundred.
“Whenever Dad went anywhere, he brought home a doll or two for her,” Liam explained, seeing where I was looking.
There was even a doll on her bed, between her oversized pillows.
Julia smiled and stepped forward to embrace her doll. “Someone I can depend on,” she said.
“Why don’t you help her to bed?” Liam whispered. “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
“Okay.”
He left, and Julia sat on her bed, looking a little stunned.
“How did we get here?” she asked, and laughed. Then she closed her eyes and wobbled.
“How about you get to sleep?” I said, and knelt down to take off her shoes. She laughed and then moaned and fell back onto the bed.
“Look at me. The one who should have known better,” she muttered to her doll.
I helped her undress and searc