Imagining Us

Ch. 33- Maybe...

The closer that Esi got to her destination, the more she convinced herself that what she was doing was above and beyond. Luka could have come to her. Well, more like they could have found a central location or something.

The whole dinner thing was strange now that she thought about it.

What was he planning?

Her suspicions were aroused a little too late as her GPS showed that she had ten minutes before she arrived at her destination.
There was such a distinct difference as she drove into Westport. The high hedges and even higher trees that acted as walls for these large estates.
Esi knew that the Danvers were well off—Porte with his various vehicles.

However, this was borderlining on ridiculously rich.

She turned onto Greenbriar Lane, barely able to see the houses through the thickets. It was so dark with minimum street lights, very unlike how it was in the city. Her GPS eventually announced the destination on her right.

She turned her car into the driveway, only to be stopped by a gate flanked by a high stone wall.
Esi squinted her eyes and realized that there was a wire fence running through the trees, protecting the property.

There was a device with a flashing red light built into the wall with what appeared to be a camera.

She rolled down her window.

Click.

"Good Evening," came a deep voice from the intercom. "Could you please state your name and your reason for being here?"

Esi felt a little awkward with her head sticking out of her window into the cold Connecticut weather.

"Good Evening. I'm—she cleared her throat—My name is Esi...Elizabeth Solomon, and Luka Danvers should be expecting me for dinner," she answered.

"Ahh yes, Miss Solomon. We were expecting you," the voice responded. "Could you please hold your ID up to the camera?"

Esi dug her license out of her bag and held it up to the camera.

"Thank you... and could you please look directly into the camera."

A red light scanned down her face.

She hadn't anticipated security or even biometrics just to have dinner.

"Thank you again," he said. "You now enter."

Click.

Esi drove up the crushed stone driveway—she could hear the crunching of the stones as her car drove over them. There were soft lights on either side. When she glanced up, she noticed that the design of the lamps were reminiscent of the late 1700s' gas lamps.

Up ahead she could see the makings of a large fountain and behind it an even larger stone structure—a large sprawling house. The windows of which were lined with vines.
She would have loved to see it in the day—to be able to properly admire the architecture. But even now, illuminated by the soft yellow lights, shadows dancing against the stone walls, the twinkling night sky as a backdrop, it was a sight to behold despite the biting of the wind.

The car neared the fountain in the middle of what she could only describe to be a courtyard.

Where was she expected to park?

The driveway went around the fountain and led back out into the direction that she came from and along a path to the right. She could spy several closed garage doors to the side.

She turned right to drive around the fountain. As she was doing so, one of the large double doors at the front of the house flew open, and a figure scurried out towards the driveway.