Keeper: Chapter 12

Sorry about the missing day, got a bit tangled up this week.  v.

Chapter 12

Jamie tidied his paint and assorted other jars and with Del’s help brought them back out to the porch studio.



“That was pretty quick thinking on your part,” Del said with a proud smile. Jamie grinned.



“It was wasn’t it? You weren’t so bad yourself.”



“I do try,” Del responded. He sniffed the jar of what was supposed to be toxic acid. His nose wriggled at the smell. “So what exactly is that stuff. It smells evil.” Jamie laughed.



“Paint and rubbing alcohol. I figured the paint would give it color and the alcohol would tingle. If it had gotten into his eyes it would have burned like hell but no real damage would have been done.” Del nodded his approval and they went back into the kitchen so Jamie could wash off his hands.



“Do you know a Stedovan?” Jamie asked as he dried his hands on the towel looped through the refrigerator’s handle. Del shook his head.



“Doesn’t ring a bell.”



“Hmm,” Jamie thought for a moment. “Del what do you know of the keeper’s house? Or what did you know before you came?”



“Not much,” Del replied. “Mostly that it is the keeper’s house so therefore whoever lives here must be the keeper. There are rumors that the house knows the false keeper.”



“So in theory, if the man had shown up and taken residence here as temporary keeper he would be recognized as keeper because he occupied the house?”



“Sounds true. Which might explain why they tried to move so fast. No one has really met you,” Del said.



“You have,” Jamie said as they moved back towards the parlor to straighten it for the High Talbot’s arrival. Del snorted.



“No one of note has met you,” he amended. “The High Talbot authorized me to work here. If I had been daft enough to buy this fellows story, especially if you had met your end with the boulder last night, then he would for all appearances be accepted. He would answer calls and my guess is that there would be no mention of his being interim anything where company could hear. He would just be called Keeper and folks would accept that since he was in the house.” Jamie straightened the chair and set its feet back into the indentions in the carpet. Del wound the rope back up into a coil. Jamie pretended not to notice that the cut Del had made to free their prisoner had been mended and the rope was now just one long piece.



“So he could have pulled it off.” Jamie said. He thought of House. “In theory.”



“In theory yes,” Del said. “There are those who would have been so rattled they would have bought the story as a life line. As a rule folks like me look after the house and those that live in it. We don’t get mixed up in wider doings.”



“House?” Jamie asked.



“Yes Keeper.”



“If I were killed with the boulder upstairs, what would have happened?”



“The housekeeper would have sought out the High Talbot and I would have sealed all entrances and exits until another Keeper came.”



“So if I had died you would have let this man is as the new Keeper?”



“No,” came the reply. “He is not Keeper.”



“How would you know?”



“Because you are the Keeper.”



“Yes but if I was dead how would you know who the new Keeper was?”



“He would wear the key.”



“I see,” Jamie said. Del was staring at him with an amused look on his face and Jamie remembered the brownie could not hear the house speak. Jamie shrugged and lifted the chain, pulling the medallion everyone seemed to refer as the key from his shirt. “So if he had been wearing this he would have been accepted as the Keeper?”



“No,” came House’s reply.



“Why not?” Jamie asked with a frown.



“He could not be Keeper.”



“Why not?”



“Because you are Keeper.” Jamie sighed. He had the feeling that House was not an esoteric thinker.



“If I were dead.”



“No even of you were dead he would not be Keeper.”



“Why not?”



“He was not human.”



“So a Keeper must be human?”



“Yes.”



“Why?”



“I do not know.”



“You just know that it is.”



“Yes.” Jamie turned to Del.



“Did you know that the Keeper has to be human?”



“No,” Del said shaking his head. “But it makes sense.”



“Oh?”



“Human’s aren’t tied to any of the houses so they would be outside of any conflict. A keeper’s job is to resolve the conflicts with an outsider’s perspective.”



“Makes sense I suppose,” Jamie agreed. “On more question House if you don’t mind.”



“Of course not Keeper.”



“Did you sense anything coming into this house after we let the man in?” Del’s eyebrow rose at the question.



“No Keeper.”



“Nothing at all? Not even a flicker of something?”



“Nothing at all.”



“I see, thank you.”



“So the house couldn’t sense the smoke?” Del asked.



“Seems that way. I wonder if that is because the smoke wasn’t really alive or because it was tied to the virus like thing someone slipped into the calling cards,” Jamie mused.



“I couldn’t tell you,” el replied. “For that we would need an expert.”



A knock sounded on the door. Del jumped but looked to Jamie before moving to answer it.



“I think by now everyone realizes I am still alive.” Del walked into the hallway and opened the door. On the porch was a tall man dressed in a black suit. Jamie could see the suit had tiny gray pinstripes. The stripes were dark gray and almost blended with the black as if the owner thought that even pin stripes were too ostentatious. He was, by Jamie’s estimation nearly seven feet tall. He was thin however, not as though he were starved but as though he as built that way. One hand was wrapped around the top of a black cane with a sliver knob handle. He had a top hat on his head and piercing green eyes. He didn’t look overly unfriendly but Jamie had the feeling he was a bad man to cross. At the moment he had a frown on his face. His gaze however was not aimed at Del. It was aimed at the bag the intruder had brought with him.



“Or more aptly the remains of the bag,” Jamie thought. The satchel looked as though something inside had exploded from it without bothering to open it.



“Probably explains where the green smoke snake came from,” Jamie said into the quiet. The tall man’s gaze snapped to him. Del cleared his throat. The tall man looked down.



“Good day your Lordship,” Del said with a little head bob. “Thank you for coming so quickly, please won’t you come in?” Del stepped out of the way and the tall man crossed the threshold.



“Keeper Fulton,” Del said. “I would like to present to you his lordship the High Talbot.” The High Talbot removed his hat and Jamie was surprised to see the man had hair the color of straw. Somehow he had expected it to be black.



“A pleasure to meet you sir,” The man said his voice rolling out in smooth tones. He inclined his head slightly.



“The pleasure is mine of course,” Jamie replied. “Please, won’t you come have a seat in the parlor?”



“Thank you,” the High Talbot said. He held out his hat which Del took immediately. He then shucked his coat, handing it to Del as well. Del turned and whisked them both off as the High Talbot followed Jamie into the parlor.



“We have had some what of an odd day today,” Jamie began as they both seated themselves. “Thank you for coming so quickly, I hope it hasn’t inconvenienced you in any way.”



“It would be more inconvenient to have a discomfited Keeper,” the High Talbot said with a friendly smile. “Not to presume too much but I suppose that … thing on your porch is tied to your odd day?”



“It is, although it does come in at the end of the story,” Jamie confirmed.



“The end? Well I suspect the beginning must be quite something.”



“It is actually,” Jamie replied. “My day started with someone trying to kill me.”