Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 31 - Across the Pond - III

  Compared to her brief ride in the back of a London police cruiser, the drive out to the Laushire estate felt like an eternity. Hailey could have flown it in no time at all, but she waited patiently in the back of the stately car Laushire had sent for her, trying to keep calm and remind herself that she needed more direction if she was ever going to find Malton. Who better than his biggest rival?

  The lawyer Laushire had sent got her out without too much trouble, to the shock of every officer in the station. Technically, Hailey was still in the country illegally, but he managed to talk her way out of the station and into the personal custody of the Laushire residence in mere minutes. Some loopholes of the law she couldn't begin to understand, plus what she assumed was a bit of bribery, and she was well on her way out into the city.

  She probably would have loved this part... Hailey sighed as she watched the landscape go by. They were still within the London sprawl, but there was a charm to the place she'd never felt in the Seattle area. Laushire's mansion had rolling gardens and a stately path leading up to the huge structure, with a wide portal leading inside. It was all so... familiar. Hailey had seen it before, and so had Jessica.

  In fact, the design wasn't all that different from Kendra's home back in Rallsburg. Kendra must have paid for the design and construction to imitate her childhood home. Hailey was surprised—she'd assumed her old professor would have wanted nothing to do with her father or her home. Things weren't exactly adding up, and she really wasn't in the mood to puzzle them out.

  As the car rumbled to a halt, the driver leapt out and opened the door for Hailey, offering his hand. She ignored it, heading straight through the huge double-doors without a moment to spare.

  A servant waited just inside, wearing a set of finery and with the most pompous voice Hailey had ever heard outside of TV. "May I present his lordship, Sir Thomas Laushire."

  Thomas Laushire was just inside, exactly the same as every picture Hailey had ever seen. She'd studied the man in one of her business classes, and he was even more imposing in life than in a staged photograph. Thomas stood at the top of the winged staircase, along with his wife, both sharply dressed in business attire. His short red hair, the same as his wife and daughter, lit up in the sunbeam that shone through the tall window overlooking the main foyer. It was an impressive sight—and Hailey was having none of it.

  "Welcome, Miss Winscombe," Thomas called out.

  Hailey shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't have time for all that. I need to find him."

  "You're looking for Cornelius, I presume?"

  She nodded. "He's got a lot to answer for."

  "I don't disagree." Thomas glanced up at the elderly man who'd driven and escorted Hailey inside. "Thank you, Collins. You may go."

  Hailey glanced over her shoulder at the bowing man, who quickly retreated from the foyer along with the pompous servant. "...Collins? Like the guy in Rallsburg?"

  "The McCreary family has been with us for many generations," said Mary. "We were devastated to hear of their son's fate in May."

  Sure doesn't sound like it... "He seemed like a good guy," Hailey offered awkwardly. Truth be told, she hadn't really known him, except the rare occasion he popped by class to bring something to Kendra—and the day he'd died while Hailey was trying to fly people away from the golems to safety. She shuddered.

  "You were a student of Kendra's, correct?" asked Thomas.

  "Yeah."

  "Is she..." Thomas trailed off. His mouth seemed to be having severe difficulty staying open.